Have you ever wondered what type of jokes our ancient ancestors told? The following is recorded on an Egyptian papyrus text dated between the 18th and 16th century BCE: 'Man is even more eager to copulate than a donkey, his purse is what restrains him.' It killed them four thousand years ago!Humans have likely told jokes since they could speak and as language evolved so too did the sophistication of the jokes. A HISTORY OF THE JOKE traces its journey from ancient one-dimensional riddle to the variety of complex, and not so, modern types. A journey illustrated by almost 900 jokes, which makes it a book of jokes and a book about jokes.It also details when and why particular joke types were created, and as folklore what they reveal about a society. It is not, and never has been, just a joke.