National Tell A Joke Day

Believe it or not, there are health benefits to making each other laugh – it’s just part of our nature as humans! So where does laughter even come from? Well, jokes and humour have been around for the whole of hominid history spanning thousands and maybe even millions of years!

Laughter is part of our biology, the idea that we can tell jokes and perceive them is a cognitive process. For example, if we see something funny (we can call that the humour stimuli) or someone tickles us (physical stimuli) this can cause a seizure-like activity in the brain and body which causes us to laugh uncontrollably.

Ever heard someone say “Laughter is the best medicine?” Well, that’s scientifically proven! Not only does sharing jokes draw people closer together, it triggers healthy and emotional changes in the body. Laughter can strengthen your immune system, boost your mood, relieve you of pain, and protect you from stress as it’s found to be a natural painkiller! A study in Norway even found that people with a strong sense of humour outlived those who didn’t laugh as much.

Those feel-good feelings we have when we laugh come from the increase in oxygen intake as well as a rush of endorphins. When you laugh you breathe in richer oxygen which increases blood flow to the brain. Endorphins are chemicals (hormones) that are released into the body during pleasurable activities like laughing, exercising, seeing people we love, cuddling our pets etc… Endorphins are basically our happy hormones! Next time you laugh or feel happy pay attention to the changes in your body, it’s pretty magical!

There’s no better time to learn about the history of jokes than on National Tell A Joke Day, so let’s dive in!

Laughter is instinctive to us however, we do not find everything funny for a reason. The art of joke-telling comes with a nuanced skill. Telling a joke requires skill in verbal phrasing as well as having a full appreciation for the social dynamics of your culture/social circles. For example, what Henry VIII found funny in the 1400s is totally different to what a British teenager in 2023 would find funny. In short, people find jokes funny that they can often relate to, recognise or understand.

Funny jokes also have an ambiguous quality, they play with the mind while the mind seeks out its meaning. Have you ever had someone say, “Don’t you get the joke?” Some jokes make us work to find the punchline and when we do it’s like an endorphin-fruit-machine leaver has been pulled in our brains and we are flooded with laughter. On the other hand, you may get the joke but just not find it funny or the punchline was a bit too simple and easy to predict. Comedy is a complex thing when you break it down.

Jokes can often take the form of stories, anecdotes or even something as simple as knock-knock jokes. Funny jokes have an ambiguous quality which is why it can be a challenge for stand-up comedians.

Throughout history, there have been comedy figures from court jesters to minstrels, clowns and comedic performances in plays dating back to ancient Greece! Comedy even came in the form of poetry and music.

Comedians only became a thing in 1300s. You’ll recognise these figures as jesters and minstrels. They wore bright eccentric clothes with bells on their shoes and were often found with instruments in their hands. They would do everything from performing songs to doing magic tricks and telling stories. Jesters were usually the only figures who could mock royalty and get away with it as they were usually adored and treasured by Kings and Queens. 

Today, we see the likes of Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, Romesh Ranganathan, Sindhu Vee, Alan Carr, Suzi Ruffell, Mae Martin and many more glittering comics take to stages across the globe. Every comic is different in their style of joke-telling and socio-economic background (i.e race, gender, sexuality, nationality, class etc…) but all have relatable qualities that lead us to laugh our socks off night after night.

Whether it’s jokes about parenting, being single, grieving, being a teen or being a socially-awkward individual, comedy finds a way to be relatable to us and make light of our struggles in life.

Comedy clubs have popped up all over the country and of course, with our Netflix/TV subscriptions, we have a gateway to endless comedy series and films. Laughter is on tap for us all!

So now we’ve gone over a brief history and science of laughter let’s test out some jokes on your family members on National Tell A Joke Day! First up… Knock-knock jokes!

Woo your family parties with the following family-friendly knock-knock jokes! We love a knock-knock joke at DOWTK. They are the epitome of corny jokes but they never fail to bring a smile to your face.

 

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Ice cream.

Ice cream who?

ICE CREAM SO YOU CAN HEAR ME!

 

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Canoe.

Canoe who?

Canoe come out now?

 

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Tank.

Tank who?

You’re welcome.

 

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Hatch.

Hatch who?

Bless you!

 

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Hatch.

Hatch who?

Bless you!

Prepare to LOL, ROFL and LMAO all day long at these funny clown jokes… Clown jokes include riddles, scenarios, slap-stick comedy, wordplay jokes/puns and lots of physical humour.

Q: Why was the movie “Nemo” so funny?
A: It starred a clown fish.

 

Q: What did Robin say when the Joker lets him go?
A: What a nice JESTure.

 

Q: What happened when the lion ate the circus clown?
A: He felt funny.

 

Q: Why did the clown cross the road?
A: To get to the rubber chicken.

 

“I was going to become a clown like my father… but he had big shoes to fill.”

If you’ve already made your comedy debut in the family with knock-knock jokes, maybe it’s time to go one step further with some mischievous practical jokes… Practical jokes are also known as pranks. They are usually tricks played on someone in order to make them look silly and make others laugh. Just make sure to keep these lighthearted within your family.

Playing tricks on someone who is vulnerable or who you know will be upset by your practical joke is not funny and shouldn’t be carried out. The aim of practical jokes is to make everyone in the situation laugh, even the person who has had the practical joke done to them. Here are a few light suggestions…

 

Cover TV remote in tape

If you’ve got a family of TV lovers put a small strip of tape over the sensor on the remote and wait for them to use the telly. Watch how long it takes them to work it out and try to suppress your giggle fits while the situation unfolds…

 

Eat a fly

Place a raisin inside a napkin and keep it in one of your hands. Using your other hand, pretend to swat a fly while your child is watching. Take that napkin and pretend to pick up the fly with the napkin and then eat the raisin. This is one of the popular practical jokes that will make your kid feel disgusted thinking that you have eaten the fly.

 

Googly eyes

Stick googly eyes on the eggs you keep in the refrigerator. As soon as your kid opens the refrigerator door, they’ll be taken aback for a few seconds. This can be a fun prank for kids at night.

 

Wrap your kitchen cabinets in wrapping paper

While the kids are away, wrap your kitchen up in wrapping paper (or newspaper). When they come home continue to use the kitchen as normal not mentioning anything about the new kitchen. They will be left standing there confused for a few minutes trying to work out what is going on. After you’ve all laughed they can do the honours of unwrapping the kitchen because let’s be honest, who doesn’t love unwrapping things!!!

 

Pick a cup, any cup… 

Put a load of cups on your kitchen units or dining table. Place items under the cups these can be things like sweets, money, or random household items. Sounds like a fun game right? WRONG! Add a few cups of water to the mix.

All you need to do is fill up your cups put paper over the top of your keep and hold it tightly against it so it acts as a lid. Turn the cup upside down (like the other cups), and put it on the surface with the paper still underneath it. Once your cup is on the table and the water is still inside, remove the paper. The water should still have stayed inside.

Once you’ve done a few of these, call in the kids to play the game and tell them they can win things (which they can) but don’t tell them about the cups of water. When they lift the cup of water they will get drenched!

Who doesn’t love a good old Jape from time to time? Celebrate National Tell A Joke Day with some historical corkers! Here are some of the most ancient jokes that tickled the insides of the Romans, Ancient Greeks, the Chinese, and other past historical eras.

Let’s kick off the ancient comedy show with a joke from Ancient Greece. This joke is about a joke about a haircut in 300-400 AD and has been plucked from the world’s oldest joke book, “Philogelos” (“Laughter-Lover”)

“Asked by the court barber how he wanted his hair cut, the king replied: ‘In silence.'”

This is a joke from centuries ago taken from the “Master of Games” book created in the Qing Dynasty (1611 -1911).

• A homeowner hired a carpenter to install a locking bolt for his door. But the clumsy carpenter mistakenly installed it on the outside of the door, rather than the inside, meaning anyone could open the lock and enter. The homeowner was incensed, and raged at the carpenter, telling him he must be blind. The carpenter answered back: “It’s you who is blind.”The dumbfounded homeowner asked: “Me? Why am I blind?”The carpenter replied, “If you had insight, you wouldn’t have hired me.”

Ancient Romans joked about everything from misbehaving slaves to making fun of intellectuals and even lovers. Here is a joke about an intellectual from Philogelos (an ancient Roman anthology of jokes from the 4th-5th century)

• An intellectual came to check in on a friend who was seriously ill. When the man’s wife said that he had ‘departed’, the intellectual replied: “When he arrives back, will you tell him that I stopped by?”

I don’t know about you but when I think about the Victorian I think it must be the least funny era in British history as people were socially oppressed, condemned for pretty much everything and bound to extreme rules of politeness. I can’t imagine any cheeky one-liners being thrown around that people could openly laugh at or agree with. However, Victorians did enjoy a good old pun so here’s one we’ve found for you…

• Doesn’t it make you dizzy to waltz? Yes, but one must get used to it, you know. It’s the way of the whirled.

This a cheeky joke from an Italian book called Facetiae, written by Poggio Bracciolini. He was a medieval Italian scholar who gathered jokes from all over Italy from popes and peasants. He wanted to create a resource that made people cheerful and cured them of their anxieties – he was really ahead of his time! Here is the joke…

• Several persons were conversing in Florence, and each was wishing for something that would make him happy; such is always the case. One would have liked to be the Pope, another a king, a third something else, when a talkative child, who happened to be there, said, “I wish I were a melon.” “And for what reason?” they asked. “Because everyone would smell my bottom.” It was usual for those who want to buy a melon to apply their noses underneath.

Celebrate National Tell A Joke Day with a joke book for kids! If you’ve got a kid who’s eager to dabble in stand-up comedy a little inspiration won’t hurt. You can buy kid-friendly joke books on all kinds of topics from cat jokes to slapstick comedy instructions, funny stories, classic jokes, seasonal jokes, and so much more. Joke books are great ways to teach kids how the structure of a joke works too and important meaning is behind words. All you have to do is sit back and watch a comedy genius grow up before your very eyes…

Here are some of our suggestions:

Silly Jokes For Funny Kids, Andrew Pinder

Roald Dahl’s Whoppsy-Whiffing Joke Book

Minecraft: The Official Joke Book (Minecraft)

Wee Hee Hee: A Collection of Pretty Funny Jokes and Pictures

Horribly Hilarious Joke Book (Horrible Histories)

• Why did Adele cross the road? To say hello from the other side.
• What did the grape say when it got crushed? Nothing, it just let out a little wine.
• A crazy wife says to her husband that moose are falling from the sky. The husband says, it’s reindeer.
• Why was Dumbo sad? He felt irrelephant.
• Yesterday, I accidentally swallowed some food colouring. The doctor says I’m okay, but I feel like I’ve dyed a little inside.
• I was wondering why the ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
• Some aquatic mammals at the zoo escaped. It was otter chaos!
• Never trust an atom, they make up everything!
• It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things literally.
• A cross-eyed teacher couldn’t control his pupils.