History of Slipping on a Banana Peel

Since the beginning of the 20th century, slipping on a banana peel has been a fixture in physical comedy. A comedy trope, if you will. We’ve seen such legendary silent comedians as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy - all do a variation of the slipping on a banana peel gag.

But how did the “slipping on a banana peel” gag come into our lexicon? And why don’t we see people slipping on banana peels in 2019? Find out all this and more as we do a CH101 deep dive into the history of slipping on banana peels!

History of Knock-Knock Jokes

Knock knock? Who’s there? It’s time for the history of knock-knock jokes…

Knock-knock jokes are the classic question and answer kid joke. But did you know that its origin goes all the way back to Shakespeare’s Macbeth? Well it does.

In the episode we dive into the joke’s origin - and how Rowen and Martin’s Laugh In - helped it’s comeback into pop culture.

History of Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road

You know the classic childhood joke: Why did the chicken cross the road? Seems harmless, right? Well, this seemingly carefree joke has ugly disturbing origins - rooted in American racism. Eeewww!

We dive into the origins of this anti-joke - and show how things aren’t what they seem to be…