http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE4AD72J20081114?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=76
Ancient Greeks pre-empted Dead Parrot sketch Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:56pm EST By Daniel Flynn ATHENS (Reuters) - "I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it." For those who believe the ancient Greeks thought of everything first, proof has been found in a 4th century AD joke book featuring an ancestor of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch where a man returns a parrot to a shop, complaining it is dead. The 1,600-year-old work entitled "Philogelos: The Laugh Addict," one of the world's oldest joke books, features a joke in which a man complains that a slave he has just bought has died, its publisher said Friday. "By the gods," answers the slave's seller, "when he was with me, he never did any such thing!" (continued)
