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The Oldest Joke In the World

But seriously. It is.

by Peter Gilstrap
Posted August 1st, 6:00am | News

While the classic Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner routine The 2,000 Year Old Man may be quite the chuckle fest, the concept has now proven to be no joke. In fact, the world’s oldest joke has been unearthed, and it predates the 2,000 year old figure by some 1,900 giggle-filled years.

According to a list of the top 10 oldest jokes compiled and published by the University of Wolverhampton this week, the hoary gag—which originated with the hilarious Sumerians—goes like this: “Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap.” You can almost picture an ancient stand up firing that one off…”Hey, these are the jokes, people. And don’t forget your waiters and slaves!” Well, maybe it’s not exactly a knee slapper by today’s comedic standards, but the ancient line does have one thing in common with about 90% of the jokes of today: It has “fart” in it.

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