Barney & Clyde by Gene Weingarten; Dan Weingarten & David Clark for June 26, 2023

Mr. Google shows me the Heege Manuscript is real and Smithsonian Magazine says it contains the first known use of “red herring” in English. But I did not search for an explanation of this story.

I’ve heard that one before, but it’s still funny.

Sorry Barney, it’s how you tell the joke. It was a real hoot the way Robinus of William’s first told it.

Most 15th century jokes involve farts, feces, or fornicating clergy, so that one is classy by comparison.

“Jesters, amiright?”

“Is this an audience or an Oil Painting?”

“I’ve seen livelier folks after the Plague went through…”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/31/mad-and-offensive-texts-shed-light-on-the-role-played-by-minstrels-in-medieval-society

“Take my huswife… Prithee!”

I found the world’s oldest known joke funnier. Of course, the fact that historians could tell it was a joke means it had to be pretty easy to get.

Seinfeld it’s not.

It doesn’t hold a candle to George of Carling’s “Seven Words You Can’t Say to the Spanish Inquisition. Seriously, Don’t Say Them.”

Sounds plausible