"One or two of them are jokes I've seen in people's acts nowadays, slightly updated. When he complains to the slave merchant, he is told: "He didn't die when I owned him." Comic Jim Bowen has presented them to a modern audience. When the professor is woken up for his shift, he feels his head, and says "How stupid is that barber? He's woken up the bald man instead of me."There is even a joke similar to Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch: a man buys a slave, who dies shortly afterwards. When it's the barber's turn, he gets bored, so amuses himself by shaving the head of the professor. They have to camp overnight, and so decide to take turns watching the luggage. A lot of the jokes play on the idea of knowing who characters are:A barber, a bald man and a absent-minded professor take a journey together. They had different stereotypes: the absent-minded professor, the eunuch, and people with hernias or bad breath were favourites. Considering humour from our own culture as recent as the 19th century is at times baffling to us today, the humour is surprisingly familiar. Written in Greek by Hierocles and Philagrius, it dates to the third or fourth century AD, and contains some 260 jokes. Britain's oldest joke, meanwhile, is a 1,000-year-old double-entendre that can be found in the Codex Exoniensis.A recent discovery of a document called Philogelos (The Laughter Lover) gives us an insight into ancient humour. According to research conducted by Dr Paul McDonald of the University of Wolverhampton, a fart joke from ancient Sumer is currently believed to be the world's oldest known joke. However, jokes have other purposes and functions, common to comedy/humour/satire in general.Jokes have been a part of human culture since at least 1900 BC. The desired response is generally laughter when this does not happen the joke is said to have "fallen flat" or "bombed". Jokes are typically for the entertainment of friends and onlookers.
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