Philogelos: The Laugh Addict

And you thought Monty Python was original...

In Philogelos, a fourth century (and arguably the first) joke book has been getting a bit of press lately. William Berg, a classics professor in the US, has translated it and created a digital iteration (see below). It is confirmation that there really are no new jokes.

Consider the brilliant "Dead Parrot" skit by the collective genius that was Monty Python (e.g. "he's resting"). 1600 years ago, when a man complains that the slave he purchased was dead, he's told, '"By the gods," answers the slave's seller, "when he was with me, he never did any such thing."'

You can literally hear Dangerfield, Rickles, Youngman, etc tell:

"A misogynist is attending to the burial of his wife, who has just died. When someone asks, 'Who is it who rests in peace here?', he answers, 'Me, now that I'm rid of her!'."

"I had your wife, without paying a penny". He replied: "It's my duty as a husband to couple with such a monstrosity. What made you do it?"

"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."

Articles on the translation(s): here, here, here, and here.

Translations of some here, here and here:

Greek here.

A "free highlights" version of his digital translation of this work can be found here.