Seven Original Jokes

[trough]

It's fairly well-known that there are meant to be only seven original jokes in the world, but can anybody find me a list of those jokes?

[WoWo]

I think the idea is that rather than 7 Jokes there are 7 principles of comedy.

So for example slapstick is one and parody another.

Somebody getting slapped with a fish is funny for the same reason somebody tripping over a banana is funny. So the theory is that the root of all such jokes is slapstick.

I did read something about it on the BBC website once but can't find it.

[trough]

Thanks for your reply. My original question was very badly worded. In fact my impression is similar to yours, but by "seven jokes" my inference is that there are seven formats or structures, as opposed to subjects or themes. I could be misinterpreting, though.

[Ray The Grey]

I think was a joke in itself and actually was based on the more common idea that there are only seven original storylines/stories. A comedian said there were only seven original jokes which God told to Adam...