Quintessential Comedy | Devoted to British Comedy

This in itself reads like something from a jokebook, perhaps a distant relative of the Not the Nine O’Clock News sketch based on the discussion of a film about the Pythons (spoofing discussion and controversy over The Life of Brian upon its release).

[singlepic=57,320,240,,left]Hierrcles and Philagrius are the ancient Greek duo (residing in the 4th century) who apparently wrote the forerunners to many present day jokes, including the central theme of Monty Python’s Parrot sketch.

Philogelos: The Laugh Addict, which has been translated from Greek manuscripts, contains a joke where a man complains that a slave he was sold had died.

“When he was with me, he never did any such thing!” is the reply.

The book has been translated by William Berg, an American professor of Classics.

“The text of Philogelos comes to us from several manuscripts ranging from the 11th to the 15th Centuries,” Berg said.

“All of them trace back to an earlier original, probably - judging from the content and language - from the 4th Century.”

You can read them all here at the Philogelos website, along with some other classics:

Other jokes in the book include:

• Someone needled a well-known wit: “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?”

• 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? ”

• 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!”