History Main / HistoricalInJoke

Given the [[CriticalResearchFailure painful lack of research]] that most writers perform before writing, it should come as no surprise that many Historical In-Jokes are [[AnachronismStew painfully inaccurate anachronisms]]. Or they may be [[AluminumChristmasTrees taken for being fiction]] by the audience.

* In ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'', the court historian is none other than Geoffrey of Monmouth, the man who wrote Myth/ArthurianLegend. Of course, that's a bit of ArtisticLicense (at best) and CriticalResearchFailure (at worst); the historical Geoffrey of Monmouth lived about 500 years after when Myth/KingArthur would have been alive (were he real-no one knows for sure). Given that the Kingdom of Camelot does not appear to even be ''on an island'', that caveat is somewhat beside the point. No one is pretending these people are English ''or'' anywhere in actual history.

* The HistoricalInJoke/SCPFoundation has its own subpage. The Wiki/SCPFoundation documents will often list dates when artifacts first came to their attention or notable containment breaches occurred. With some investigation, it's possible to link these dates and associated locations to major catastrophes. These include everything from TheTunguskaEvent to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1857_Basilicata_earthquake Great Neapolitan Earthquake]]. Also, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop the Bloop]] was a sound caused by [[KrakenAndLeviathan a continent-sized underwater creature]]. The site actually has advice against having an SCP cause the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, because there are already ''several'' articles that did.

** In TheMovie of [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa'', we find out that the Beer Hall Putsch failed because of our protagonists' activities.

* ''Film/TheMask'': In a deleted scene, Leif Erikson sailed to America not out of any desire to find new lands, but ''just to get rid of the [[ArtifactOfDoom mask]]''. When pressed by his colleagues to name the new world, he said, "Leave that to [[AmerigoVespucci the Italians]]. This land is now ''cursed''."

--->'''Ezio:''' "Istanbul? No doubt one of the many names for this city?"\\

--->'''Tanya:''' Just like old times, you commie scum!

* This is less a joke and more a plot point, but in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'', Jack the Ripper was a vampire created by Dio Brando to take out Jonathan, who, with the help of his mentor, destroyed him using the Ripple. FridgeBrilliance kicks in where we find out why Jack the Ripper was never caught or even identified: He was destroyed by Jonathan's [[ThePowerOfTheSun Ripple attack]] before anyone even began to suspect him, and even if they did, [[NotEnoughToBury they'd never find the remaining pile of ashes]].

* Recurring joke in ''Film/ForrestGump'' ([[BeenThereShapedHistory as Forrest inadvertently invents jogging and the smiley face, teaches Elvis to dance, etc.]]) The DVD includes a deleted scene of Forrest playing fetch with those nice police doggies playing with Mr. King and his sign-carrying friends.

* This is the entire premise of Creator/JasperFforde's ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series, extended to all fictional events from written literature as well.
** In ''The Eyre Affair'', for example, it is established early on that that universe's ''Jane Eyre'' ends differently from how it does in real life. Toward the end of the book, however, [[spoiler: Thursday goes into the novel]] in order to put things back to normal... but[[spoiler:, in her effort to catch Jane Eyre's attention without becoming mentioned in the first-person narrative, she ends up becoming the mysterious disembodied voice that is an integral part of real world ''Literature/JaneEyre'']].

* Umberto Eco's ''Literature/{{Baudolino}}'', being a historical novel about an influential liar, is full of these. Among other things, it gives an alternate explanation for the death of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and reveals the "true" origin of the works of the Archpoet and the letter of Prester John, as well as the correspondence attributed to Abelard and Heloise.
** As well as the inspiration for Wolfram von Eschenbach's ''Parzival'' and Robert de Boron's ''Merlin'' and ''Joseph d'Arimathe,'' the founding of Alessandria and its salvation from Barbarossa's wrath and the assassination of Emperor Alexios II Komnenos of Byzantium.

* In ''Film/{{Oscar}}'', mob boss Angelo Provolone asks his accountant Little Anthony why he doesn't remember something, to which Anthony replies, "You were in Chicago. It was St. Valentines Day?"

* In ''Theatre/{{Oscar}}'', mob boss Angelo Provolone asks his accountant Little Anthony why he doesn't remember something, to which Anthony replies, "You were in Chicago. It was St. Valentines Day?"

* In ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'', the court historian is none other than Geoffrey of Monmouth, the man who wrote the King Arthur legends. Of course, that's a bit of ArtisticLicense (at best) and CriticalResearchFailure (at worst); the historical Geoffrey of Monmouth lived about 500 years after when King Arthur would have been alive (were he real-no one knows for sure). Given that the Kingdom of Camelot does not appear to even be ''on an island'', that caveat is somewhat beside the point. No one is pretending these people are English ''or'' anywhere in actual history.

* ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle'': Funny Valentine insults Josuke's hair by saying that he will not allow his people to have that style. Music/{{Elvis|Presley}} would prove Funny wrong, though.

* A Creator/{{Dark Horse|Comics}} comic involved the Hindenburg, Franchise/DocSavage, and Prof. Reinstein (the inventor) of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's super-soldier formula.

* ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'' {{RetCon}}s the death of Pope John Paul I and the murder of the Vatican's chief banker into part of a Mafia vs. Vatican conspiracy. Assuming they ''weren't'' in the first place.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', one scene had [[UsefulNotes/KingJohnOfEngland Prince John]] crying and sucking his thumb, lamenting how his mother always liked his brother over him. In real life, Prince John's mother was UsefulNotes/EleanorOfAquitaine, who really did favour her oldest son King UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart over John.

* In one ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' Elseworlds title set in the Old West, Batman is an agent of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln who repeatedly asks Lincoln if he can come back to Washington, as he has reservations regarding the President's security precautions...

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' has several, though "jokes" may not be the correct description. For a prominent example, Creator/WilliamShakespeare's talent comes as a result of a proto-DealWithTheDevil with Morpheus (he gets his talent, but Morpheus essentially becomes his patron in return).

[[folder:Advertising]]
* An Alexa commercial titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrjXxEW75hs "Before Alexa"]] shows many people in the past trying to do everyday things [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin before Alexa]].
[[/folder]]

*** Then again, none of the supernatural factions had a great deal of interest in the Third Reich. Even the most callous vampires aren't messed up enough to waste that much food (and even the freaks following the Path of Night want mortals to fear them, not some twat with a silly mustache), for the Werewolves it's just another sign that the Wyrm is winning, the fairies are the ray of hope that wants nothing to do with this mess, the war seriously fucks with the Shadowlands and leaves the Wraiths in a sad state, and the last thing the Technocracy wants is to display the wonders of technology as soulless forces of destruction. The Traditions are the only ones who might benefit, and they're on the run. Well, and maybe the Antediluvians, but their machinations are so subtle and far-reaching that the war is a footnote to them at best. The real question becomes why none of these groups stopped Hitler before things got out of hand.
*** The sourcebooks only say that the supernatural elements were not responsible for the war, it never says they didn't participate in it. Most of the major factions were subjected to division in the ranks of a greater or lesser extent as their members chose one side or the other.
*** Something of a running gag was that about half the Vampire clans and several other supernatural beings claimed Rasputin as a member.

* An Alexa commercial titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrjXxEW75hs "Before Alexa"]] shows many people in the past trying to do everyday things before the invention of Alexa.

** ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar World at War]]'' has one to its own series - in the [[VideoGame/CallofDuty1 first game]], the final level has you playing a Soviet soldier in the battle at Berlin, ending with you watching another soldier wave the Soviet flag over the Reichstag. The final level of ''World at War'' has the same setting, except now ''the player'' is the one planting the flag over the Reichstag.

** In ''The Eyre Affair'', for example, it is established early on that Nextiverse!''Jane Eyre'' ends differently from how it does in real life. Toward the end of the book, however, [[spoiler: Thursday goes into the novel]] in order to put things back to normal... but[[spoiler:, in her effort to catch Jane Eyre's attention without becoming mentioned in the first-person narrative, she ends up becoming the mysterious disembodied voice that is an integral part of real world ''Literature/JaneEyre'']].

** In ''Asterix in Britain'', Asterix introduces tea to the British and Obelix suggests introducing rugby to the folks back in Gaul ([[RugbyIsSlaughter rugby]] is quite popular in several European countries, including both France and Great Britain). One of the Britons mentions that they've started digging a tunnel between Gaul and Britain, "but it looks like taking a jolly long time, what!"
*** This pun was [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp even funnier]] when the comic came out in 1966 because the tunnel had been planned for decades at that point but construction always was delayed in the last moment. Back then it seemed as if it would never occur at all.

** Dewey becomes addicted to LSD in the late '60s and goes insane trying to record an absurdly complex concept album. This is a reference to Brian Wilson of Music/TheBeachBoys, who went through a serious mental decline while recording the LSD-influenced ''Music/PetSounds'' and ''Music/{{Smile}}'' albums.

** In ''[[WesternAnimation/IceAge4ContinentalDrift Continental Drift]]'', Scrat falls into the earth's core and causes Pangaea to break into separate continents, as well as the creation of the Sphinx, Easter Island statues, and Mount Rushmore. Breaking of the continents caused certain mammals to evolve into giraffes as they stretched their necks out to reach the other side of the chasm, and the Western Interior Seaway was drained to make a desert when Scrat pulled the acorn plug in the civilization of Scratlantis.

** ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar World at War]]'' has one to its own series - in the [[VideoGame/CallofDuty1 first game]], the final level has you playing a Soviet soldier in the battle at Berlin, ending with you watching another soldier wave the Soviet flag over the Reichstag. The final level of ''World at War'' has the same setting, except now ''you'' plant the flag over the Reichstag.