1001 one-liners

Description

Short, quick-fire jokes have been popular for centuries. Indeed the world’s oldest surviving joke book, the Philogelos, which was written in Ancient Greek, contains this classic doctor joke: Patient: ‘Doctor! When I wake up I’m all dizzy. Then after half an hour I feel fine.’ Doctor: ‘Well, wait half an hour before waking up.’ Meanwhile in Rome, they had a gag for every occasion, from senate orations and lavish feasts to throwing Christians to the lions. A Cicero stand-up gig was the hottest ticket in town. Shakespeare readily slipped one-liners into his comedies, while medieval jesters used pithy quips to amuse the royal court, well aware that if the joke backfired and somehow offended the monarch, their next audience might be with the executioner. ‘Dying on stage’ carried a more sinister meaning for comedians in those days. It’s not hard to see why one-liners remain in vogue with today’s comedians.