IIRC the earliest recorded thing thought to be a joke is some ancient summerian shit about a blind dog walking into a bar and saying “I can’t see a thing. I’ll open this one.”
Nobody alive today understands the joke, to the point it is even debated whether or not it was meant to be a joke. But it has all the hallmarks of the standard “X walks into a bar” style joke.
The same tablet had this bit of wisdom on it tho: “Something which has never occured since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap.” As well as what may be the first “yo momma” joke ever written down (but that part is damaged).
It may be this:
https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/worlds-oldest-joke-traced-back-to-1900-bc-idUSKUA147851/
I posted this on r/todayilearned a while back and they removed it. Typical reddit. 🙄 I learned it today, did I not?
The oldest British joke dates back to the 10th Century and reveals the bawdy face of the Anglo-Saxons – “What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked before? Answer: A key.”
Not the oldest but i like this one
Ea-nāṣir’s copper?
[off topic]
Not the oldest, but one worth anyone’s attention.
Ben Franklin’s fart joke.
