Dead Parrot sketch written 1600-years-ago
Monty Python were not as original as we thought, one of their best jokes was written 1,600 years earlier by a Greek comedy duo.
Scholars have uncovered the 4th Century joke on Greek manuscripts attributed to a pair of jokers called Hierocles and Philagrius.
In the ancestor of the Dead Parrot sketch a man complains that a slave he has just bought is dead, "By the gods", answers the slave's seller, "when he was with me, he never did any such thing"
It is not known if when performing the joke Philagrius would then bang the dead slave on the counter.
By the law of the time when the Greek joke book was written, the seller of a slave was liable for damages if a slave he sold proved to be defecting.
'Philogelos: The Laugh Addict' is a collection of 265 jokes and is thought to be to oldest joke book in the world, though this is only because one penned by Bob Monkhouse got lost.
A new translation of the manuscripts is being published as a multimedia online e-book complete with video footage of comedian Jim Bowen bringing the ancient jokes back to life by performing them at a London comedy club.
Some of the jokes in Philogelos are strikingly similar to modern ones with subjects including farts, sex, ugly wives and assorted dimwits.
Samples of the 1600-year-old jokes
- Shopping for windows, a Kymaean asks if there are any that look south.
- A student dunce goes to the doctor and says, ‘Doctor, when I wake up, I’m all dizzy, then after half-an-hour I’m O.K.’ ‘Well, wait a half hour before waking up,’ advises the doctor.
- A student dunce is going to the city. His friend says, ‘Do me a favour and buy me a couple of fifteen-year-old slaves.’ ‘No problem,’ responds the dunce. ‘If I don’t find two fifteen-year-olds, I’ll get you one thirty-year-old.’
- One of a pair of twin brothers dies. When a student dunce runs into the surviving twin, he asks, ‘Did you die, or was it your brother?’
- A student dunce is shipwrecked in a storm. When he sees each of his fellow passengers holding onto items on board in order to save themselves, he himself holds onto one of the anchors.
- A student dunce is asked by someone, ‘Lend me a cloak to go down to the country.’ ‘I have a cloak to go down to your ankle,’ responds the dunce. ‘But I don’t have one that reaches as far as the country.’
- When the over-talkative barber asks him, ‘How shall I cut your hair?,’ a quick wit answers, ‘Silently.’
- An Abderite sees a eunuch talking with a woman and asks him if she’s his wife. The guy responds that a eunuch is unable to have a wife. ‘Ah, so she’s your daughter?’
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