Researchers have found a 4th century AD Greek joke book that contains a bit very similar to their "Dead Parrot" sketch (where a man complains to a pet shop owner that he has sold him a dead parrot, which the owner keeps insisting is "just resting"). The ancient Greek version is about a man complaining that a slave he has just bought has died. The slave's seller replies: "By the gods! When he was with me, he never did any such thing!"
That, and many other jokes were collected 1,600 years ago in "Philogelos: The Laugh Addict". It seems comedians back then (who if Mel Brooks is to be believed called themselves stand-up philosophers) made jokes about a lot of the same things as comedians today: sex, stupid people and farting. Good to see that we have advanced so far as a people…
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