For many of us, childhood meant being exposed to a steady stream of classic dad jokes. However, the term itself wasn’t officially recognized in dictionaries until 2014. Though it appeared on X (formerly Twitter) in 2007, and British publishers began releasing joke compilation books under this theme in 2013.
The earliest mention of dad jokes is credited to a 1987 editorial in the Gettysburg Times. Writer Jim Kalbaugh praised fathers for telling embarrassing jokes to their children—or, even better, to others in front of their children. Kalbaugh argued that this practice was “one of the great traditions of fatherhood worth preserving.”
Dad jokes seem to have universal appeal across cultures, notes Marc Hye-Knudsen, a humor researcher and lab manager at Aarhus University. For example, in Japan, they have a concept called oyaji gyagu, which can be translated to ‘old men’s gags’ or ‘middle-aged men’s gags’. In Danish culture, they’ve adopted the modern term ‘dad jokes’. But in the past, they referred to it as onkel humor (‘uncle humor’) and morfar vittigheder (‘grandfather jokes’).
So why are dads across generations and countries so invested in this corny kind of humor? Comedy critic and dad Jason Zinoman has an explanation. “The demise of a dad’s sense of humor begins in early parenthood while workshopping jokes in front of babies, tiny philistines who think peekaboo is a hilarious bit of misdirection,” he writes.
When kids grow into toddlers, they fixate on trivial things, making it easy to amuse them with silly remarks. “Like so many lazy comics, we parents pander. If jokes work, they stay in the set. Gradually, we become hooked on cheap laughs.”
As children become older, dads are reluctant to let go of the jokes they’ve come to love. “When their humor matures, they mock ours and, in their search for a critical language to express their contempt, the dad joke was born.”
Regardless of the audience, the biggest fans of dad jokes are probably other dads. For example, Zinoman recounts a moment he once shared with another father. At a kids’ birthday party, one dad mentioned he had just “cobbled together” summer camps for his child. Zinoman quipped that camps in the area are very “cobble-able”. Catching on, the other dad grinned and said, “Cobble Hill,” referring to a nearby neighborhood.
“The best argument for dad jokes is that bad art can be tremendous fun. Anyone who tells you differently has never cackled their way through an abysmal movie as they made fun of it with good friends, or gleefully beat a joke into the ground,” Zinoman says. “Some of the biggest laughs of my life have been from bad jokes, because what’s funnier than failure?”
“Believing wholeheartedly in something lame is very funny,” agrees Christian Smith, a comedian from Toronto and a father to a two-year-old. “The lamer the better and the more you do it with a mischievous grin, the more you’ll get away with it.”
He likes to tease his wife with this one: “Do you have a raisin?” he asks, knowing she’ll inevitably respond with a no. “Well, how about a date?”
In a world where many jokes aim to offend or belittle, dad jokes do the opposite—they’re harmless and bring people together. Another Canadian comedian Dylan Gott, who has a three-year-old son and is expecting another child this month, shares, “The key to a good dad joke is uniting the rest of your family against you.” This is especially helpful if others are feeling anxious. “You come in and say something that makes everyone forget about the tense situation.”
Moreover, dad jokes have been scientifically shown to positively influence children’s development. A study by The British Pscyhological society, led by Marc Hye-Knudsen, suggests that when fathers tell corny jokes, they push their kids’ limits for handling awkward situations. This helps children become more resilient to judgment and embarrassment, preparing them to grow into confident, empowered adults.