History Main / ChickenJoke

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However, instead of a chicken being involved in the joke, another creature may also be mentioned in place of the chicken. It is also noted that this joke is very rarely told straight and that the reason it is told is that people expect a subversion. It should be noted that the original joke is actually a suicide joke with "The Other Side" referring to the afterlife.

* A ''ComicStrip/FarSide'' strip shows a chicken looking across a road at a sign that reads "THE OTHER SIDE. Why do you need a reason?"

* In ''VideoGame/{{Octodad}}'', we have the following conversation between two sailors:
-->'''Sailor A:''' The captain told me the real stinker the other day.\\

!Examples:

* From Larry Gonick's ''ComicBook/CartoonHistoryOfTheUniverse'', in which he illustrates the origin of language, which soon led to the first jokes:
-->'''First Caveman''': Why chicken cross road? Yuk yuk
-->'''Second Caveman''': Hmph. That one old already.

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* ''Crossy Road'' may be reminiscent of ''VideoGame/{{Frogger}}'', but the starting player character is a chicken.

-->'''Dunstan''': Why did the dragon cross the road?
-->'''Motley''': I don't know.
-->'''Dunstan''': To get his pension.
-->'''Motley''': I don't get it.
-->'''Dunstan''': Neither did the dragon -- he wasn't 65.
* One of Jo Anne Worley's catch phrases on ''LaughIn'' was "Is this another chicken joke?"
** Lampshaded on a 1968 telecast of ''[[MatchGame The Match Game]]'' where Jo Anne was a team captain. A question posed was "Chicken ______," to which everyone assumed Jo Anne would say "Joke." Her answer: "Soup."

** Lampshaded on a 1968 telecast ''[[MatchGame The Match Game]]'' where Jo Anne was a team captain. A question posed was "Chicken ______," to which everyone assumed Jo Anne would say "Joke." Her answer: "Soup."

-->'''Sailor A:''' The captain told me the real stinker the other day.
-->'''Sailor B:''' What was it?
-->'''Sailor A:''' "Why did the cod cross the road? [[{{Pun}} To get to the other tide.]]"

However, instead of a chicken being involved in the joke, another creature may also be mentioned in place of the chicken. It is also noted that this joke is very rarely told straight and that the reason it is told is that people expect a subversion.

-->'''Sailor A:''' "Why did the cod cross the road? [[{{Pun}} To get to the other tide.]]"

* One of Jo Anne Worley's catch phrases on ''Series/LaughIn'' was "Is this another chicken joke?"

* In the ''VideoGame/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego1997'' level featuring [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg Johannes Gutenberg]], the alchemist tells you the following joke if you try to drop the sooty chicken on his equally sooty oil lamp:

* In one of the ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' books (I don't remember which one), the protagonists are exchanging riddles, and then Eddy Dean tells this one: "Why did the dead baby cross the road? ... Because it was stapled to the chicken". As riddles are SeriousBusiness in his culture, [[TheGunslinger Roland]] is not amused.
** It serves again in ''Literature/WizardAndGlass'', when the characters travel inside Blaine, a sentient schizophrenic train which asks them riddles (it'll commit suicide with all its passenger if they don't manage to tell a riddle that it would be unable to solve). Blaine is ventually defeated by Eddie, who told it a series of jokes and various nonsense, including the chicken joke mentioned above.

* The "Honesty" episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresFromTheBookOfVirtues'' has Aristotle telling the joke "Why did the bobcat cross the road? To bother somebody else for a change!".

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* In the pre-show for ''Ride/MuppetVision3D'', Fozzie calls the penguins to the stage. When a chicken follows them, he stops her, noting that chickens are supposed to stay on the other side of the road. When he asks to someone "Why did this chicken cross the road?", the chicken [[TheUnintelligible clucks the answer]], which Fozzie finds funny and goes to tell the others.

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-->'''Tip''': Who ''cares'' why they cross the road?

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* Michael Stevens of ''WebVideo/{{VSauce}}'' did a video about the joke, appropriately called "Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?".

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* There was a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short where WesternAnimation/FoghornLeghorn is trying to eliminate a baby rooster. Foghorn tells him that the chicken crossed the road "to have a ball", and throws a ball into a busy 2-lane road to have him retrieve it. The baby rooster calmly walks out and gets the ball while narrowly avoiding speeding cars, then asks Foghorn to show him how to do it properly. Naturally, Foghorn gets his feathers plucked by two passing vehicles.

* A RunningGag in ''ComicStrip/{{Buckles}}'' has the eponymous dog attempting a "Why did the cat cross the road?" to Arden, while struggling to come up with a punchline. Then it was played with in a strip from June 20, 2013 where Arden attempts the same joke to Buckles, who reacts by panicking with his fear of cats and runs away screaming, to which Arden responds with "Forget it!...'''You're''' the joke!".

* Referenced in a series of commercials asking you to "cross the road" for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

* The March 1847 edition of the Knickerbocker was the TropeMaker: "Why does a chicken cross the street? Are you 'out of town?' Do you 'give it up?' Well, then: 'Because it wants to get on the other side!'".