Line #42 Main/HistoricalLongevityJoke


1	->''"Something tells me that the first three of kings you set were Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar."''
2	-->-- ''[[Series/{{Chespirito}} El Doctor Chapatín]]''
3
4	Alice makes fun of Bob's age by suggesting that he was alive during a time period that's well beyond living memory. For example:
5
6	-->'''Alice:''' I'm writing a paper on the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]]. Do you remember where you were when [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln Lincoln]] died?
7
8	This could also work with Alice being a very naive character who doesn't realize how insulting she's being. Alternatively, it could involve Bob making a self-deprecating joke of this nature when he's made to feel old:
9
10	-->'''Alice:''' You didn't have iPhones when you were a kid?!
11	-->'''Bob:''' No, there was only so much we could pack on the ''Mayflower''.
12
13	If the usage of this trope is followed by the revelation that Bob is ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and was actually living back then, it's a SubvertedTrope. If it was previously established that Bob is ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, this trope does not apply at all. It is also not just any joke about Bob being old but has to include some reference to him being alive during a period in which no living person could have lived. Contrast WhileYouWereInDiapers, its polar opposite when the older character diminishes the younger one.
14
15	----
16	!!Examples:
17
18	[[foldercontrol]]
19
20	[[folder:Advertising]]
21	* In a Duracell battery commercial featuring the Puttermans, Herb and Flo remind their children, Trish and Zack not to get their grandmother too excited, as she's probably a bit weak. Before finding out that she's still going strong and dancing to mambo music, this exchange occurs between Trish and Zack:
22	-->'''Trish''': She has been running on the same Duracell batteries since...\
23	'''Zack''': The ice age? ''(laughs)''
24	[[/folder]]
25
26	[[folder:Comedy]]
27	* On his album ''Wonderfulness'', Creator/BillCosby told a story about his ''Series/ISpy'' boss Sheldon Leonard and his wife on their honeymoon. He made a point of remarking that this was a long time ago, "probably before there was hair."
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
31	* In ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'', Riley once asked his grandfather Robert if he remembers traveling on a slave ship from Africa to America centuries ago, to which Granddad replied, "I'm not ''that'' old!"
32	-->'''Riley:''' ''(under his breath)'' You ain't that young either.
33	* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin once asked his dad if dinosaurs were around when he was young. His dad [[TheGadfly confirms it]] before his mother tells him Calvin's grades are already bad enough.
34	* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Pickles}}'' strip, Earl is reading a biography of UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt, and Nelson asks if Earl voted for him.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
38	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Emperor Kuzco describes his [[EvilOldFolks elderly]] [[EvilChancellor adviser]] Yzma as being living proof that "dinosaurs once roamed the earth". This is just one of many jokes about how unfathomably ancient she is.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
42	* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheDialOfDestiny'': Teddy asks Indy if he met the Wright Brothers, when Indy points out that they were born just after the Civil War, Teddy adds that he figured they went to school together.
43	* In ''Film/SpaceCowboys'', the titular retirement-age crew of astronauts become stars of a television talk show. The host asks if they fought in "the war". They (and the audience) are led to believe he means the Second World War (or barring that, the Korean War), a not unreasonable question given their ages... and then he follows with "[[UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar North or South?]]"
44	%% * There was a joke in ''Film/BabyGeniuses'' where a old woman tells a teenager she was reciting mantras before he was born, and the teen retorts that she was reciting mantras before Buddha was born.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Jokes]]
48	* A staple of [[YourMom Your Mom Jokes]].
49	--> Yo mama so old she was a waitress at the Last Supper.
50	--> Yo mamas so old she sat next to Ben Franklin in kindergarten.
51	--> Yo Mamma’s so old she stripped at Abraham Lincoln’s bachelor party.
52	--> Yo mamma’s so old she dated George Washington in high school.
53	--> Yo mama so old, she once called Christopher Columbus and sold him a cruise to America.
54	--> Yo mama so old, she was friends with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushim_(Uruk_period) Kushim.]]
55	* There is a joke in Finnish that doesn't translate to English directly. A man bought a car, and he bragged that it used to belong to a big celebrity, because the person who sold it told him it's Jesus's old car (Jeesuksen vanha), which in Finnish also literally means "as old as Jesus".
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
59	* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'':
60	-->'''Dick:''' Wait a second, you had a youth, too?!\
61	'''Mary:''' Yes, Dick.\
62	'''Dick:''' Well, what was it like, or can you still remember?\
63	'''Mary:''' It was wonderful. We lived in log cabins we built ourselves. Oh, and when Mr. Lincoln came to town, we were all aflutter!
64	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Giles is often on the receiving end of this, being an older StuffyBrit librarian among the younger Scoobies.
65	-->'''Giles:''' I'll be back in the Middle Ages [section of the library].\
66	'''Jenny:''' Did you ever leave?
67	* An episode of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' had Cliff write a joke for ''Series/TheTonightShow'' to be delivered by Johnny Carson on Doc Severinsen's birthday. The joke is "Doc is so old that on his first birthday, he didn't blow out the candles. They didn't have fire yet." Only Lilith finds it funny.
68	* Happened OncePerEpisode in ''[[Series/{{Chespirito}} el Doctor Chapatín]]''. When someone made a comment about his age, the doctor would angrily ask if he is implying that he is old. The man would deny it, [[DistinctionWithoutADifference just to make a worse comment about his age]].
69	-->Something tells me that you are the doctor that healed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc's feet.]]
70	* Creator/CharlieBrooker's "Death to 2020" makes this a RunningGag about President Biden, with Queen Elizabeth II remembering him attending her coronation in 1953 "as an old man", and the narration introducing him as a hero of the US Civil War.
71	* One episode of ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' has Drew helping a senior member of the Winfred-Louder board write a speech. Drew suggests throwing in a joke about how the board member has been around for so long that he can remember when they used to greet each other by saying "Hail Caesar!"
72	* One episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' has Daphne's mother Gertrude complain about how people these days drive so recklessly, and how back in her day, everyone's driving was much better. Cue Roz's young daughter Alice innocently asking "Is that because you rode on dinosaurs?"
73	* ''Series/ILoveLucy'': Ethel loves to crack this sort of joke about Fred. There's some RealitySubtext here, too, as Vivian Vance ''despised'' working with William Frawley and often complained "He should be playing my father, not my husband" (she was 22 years his junior).
74	-->'''Fred''': What do you need a new lamp for? Abraham Lincoln read by candlelight.
75	-->'''Ethel''': Stop dragging your boyhood friends into this, Fred.
76	* ''Series/MamasFamily'': When Bubba's studying for a history test, he reads that the Southern women were frequently left unprotected during the Civil War. Cue him earnestly sympathizing with his grandmother about how scared she must've been.
77	* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': Barnaby once asks his sergeant how old he thinks Barnaby is. He replies that he's done speed dating, not carbon dating.
78	* ''Series/MockTheWeek'':
79	** Creator/BruceForsyth was subjected to quite a few of these up until his death in 2017.
80	--->'''Rob Beckett''': On today's show we'll be talking about the Jurassic period, where only dinosaurs and Bruce Forsyth roamed the Earth. [''audience laughs''] [[DontExplainTheJoke He's old, innee?]]
81	** On an episode during the 2020 US presidential election, Ed Gamble opined that Joe Biden would be the better president to deal with the COVID crisis because of his previous experience with pandemics: having lived through typhoid and whatever killed the dinosaurs.
82	* ''Series/ModernFamily'': In one episode, Alex goes to a therapist after having a breakdown about studying for a test. She asks the therapist if they had such a test when he was in school. Or Asian kids. He says no, but jokes that he did have other things to worry about, such as The Spanish Inquisition, sailing off the edge of the world, and understanding fire.
83	* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000:'' In the opening of ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E20SpaceMutiny Space Mutiny]]'', Mike whips out his encyclopedia set from high school so Crow and Tom Servo can research ancient Rome. But the bots instead complain that the encyclopedia is out of date:
84	-->'''Mike:''' Oh, come on, they're not that old. They're fine.\
85	'''Servo:''' Oh yeah? It mentions the lightbulb as a "charming theory."\
86	'''Crow:''' Yeah! And Congress is spelled with an "f." What is it, ''Congreff''?\
87	'''Mike:''' Well, I used them when I was a kid. They seemed fine then.\
88	'''Crow:''' The periodic table has three elements in it, Mike!\
89	'''Servo:''' There's a volume for the letter ''epsilon''.\
90	'''Crow:''' There's a mailing address for Macchu Pichu.\
91	'''Servo:''' It's got a picture of Stonehenge!\
92	'''Mike:''' So?\
93	'''Servo:''' ''Under construction?!''
94	* ''Series/TheNanny'':
95	** Niles occasionally makes these kinds of jokes about C.C. For example:
96	-->'''C.C.:''' The world was a different place when I was a girl.\
97	'''Niles:''' Yes, they thought it was flat.
98	** Fran occasionally sarcastically use this sort of joke on herself, especially when one of the kids makes an InnocentlyInsensitive comment about her age. Maggie once plans a party with a retro disco theme and asked Fran if she could borrow some of her clothes "from the olden days"; Fran snarks "No, they lost my luggage when I transferred from the ''Pinta'' to the ''Santa Maria.''"
99	* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'':
100	** After meeting an elderly lady, Tom tells Andy to, "Remind me to ask her next time where she was when Lincoln got shot." [[SarcasmBlind Andy promptly writes it down.]]
101	** In another episode, April claims that Ann lost her sorority sisters on the ''[[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic Titanic]]''.
102	* ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'': Creator/RuPaul's age is a very common target for gags, particularly during "roast" challenges, and Ru herself is fully onto the joke (despite being "only" in her 60s as of 2023):
103	-->[Season 5, Episode 7]\
104	'''Alaska:''' [=RuPaul=] is so old that her colostomy bag is made of wood.\
105	[Season 13, Episode 12]\
106	'''Kandy Muse:''' [=RuPaul=] is so old, I told her to act her age, bitch, she died.
107	* A common gag in ''Series/TrueJacksonVP'' with [[TheDitz Lulu]] seeing anyone over 25 as old. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Amanda]] being her normal target like asking if when she went to sleepovers she wasn't afraid that a pterodactyl would take her.
108	* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'':
109	** When Alan tells Charlie the husband of one of his hookups is at the door, Charlie mentions he should've told him "he was a Civil War veteran."
110	** Another episode has Alan dating an older woman, which leads to Charlie making a ton of these jokes at his brother's expense. At one point he describes her as "richer than God. Which she probably knew since he was ''this'' tall".
111	* In earlier seasons of ''Series/{{Vecinos}}'', every time Don Roque made an "in my times..." remark, Pedro comments on his times being hunting woolly mammoths, doing favors for Moctezuma, or something similar.
112	* ''Series/Warehouse13'':
113	** There's a plot relevant {{MacGuffin}} that belonged to Ferdinand Magellan which elicits this conversation (Slightly paraphrased):
114	--->Claudia: That's why it's a 24 hour watch... 'cause Magellan was the first person to sail all the way around the world.\
115	Artie: So you ''did'' pay attention in class?\
116	Claudia: Yes, now think back to ''your'' youth and try to remember what he said to you on deck the night he crossed the international dateline.\
117	Artie: I never get tired of those comments you know.
118	* ''Series/TheWestWing'':
119	** In the season two episode "[[Recap/TheWestWingS02E12TheDropIn The Drop In]]", when Leo is trying to get President Bartlet to approve a missile shield and he and Mrs. Landingham, the President's secretary, engage in SnarkToSnarkCombat about it:
120	--->'''Mrs. Landingham:''' You're testing that preposterous contraption again.\
121	'''Leo:''' It's not preposterous, it's not a contraption, and mind your own business.\
122	'''Mrs. Landingham:''' In my day, we knew how to take care of ourselves.\
123	'''Leo:''' Well, in your day, you could pretty much turn back the Indians with a Daniel Boone musket, couldn't you?\
124	'''Mrs. Landingham:''' Ah, sarcasm, the grumpy man's wit.\
125	'''Leo:''' Sharpen a pencil, would ya?
126	** In "And It's Surely To Their Credit," President Bartlet struggles with recording his weekly Saturday morning radio address to the nation. When it's time for the fifth take, he tries to crack a joke, and a SarcasmBlind Donna inadvertently triggers one of these:
127	--->'''Bartlet''': Five's my lucky number! "Fifth-Take Bartlet"--that's what Jack Warner used to call me.
128	--->'''Donna''': Did you really know Jack Warner, Mr. President?
129	--->'''Bartlet''': [[DeadpanSnarker Yeah, because I used to be a contract player in Hollywood]] and I'm ''97 years old.''
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Magazines]]
133	* In ''Magazine/PrivateEye'', elderly journalists Bill Deedes and Alistair Cooke would frequently feature in such jokes (such as Deedes being the editor of ''Haaretz'' at the time of Christ's birth).
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Music]]
137	* "Rock of Ages" by Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden is a whole song of them doing this to themselves, up to claiming to have been in the Garden of Eden.
138	* The folk song "I Was Born about Ten Thousand Years Ago" has the narrator [[https://youtu.be/PnSmvRKoBtU claiming to be present during prominent biblical and historical events]].
139	[[/folder]]
140
141	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
142	* ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'': In "Grandma Flutter's 100th Birthday", after Tutter informs his friends about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin his grandmother's 100th birthday]], Pip and Pop ask Bear if when Grandma Flutter was as young as Baby Blotter, Tutter's baby cousin, there were still dinosaurs walking the Earth. Bear tells them "[[HaHaHaNo Wellllllll... no.]]"
143	* ''Series/LambChopsPlayAlong'': Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy sometimes joke about Shari's age in this way. For example, in one episode, Shari tells Hush Puppy the story of Myth/WilliamTell, and when she mentions that it took place in the 14th century, Hush Puppy remarks "You were probably there."
144	* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'': When not making fun of the show, Statler and Waldorf often make fun of how old each other is, like having dated Queen Victoria or gone to school with Shakespeare.
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder:Radio]]
148	* On ''Radio/JustAMinute'', it was a RunningGag that host Nicholas Parsons was subjected to these -- for context, Parsons hosted nearly every episode of the show from its debut in 1967 (just three months after the station it aired on was launched) until his death at the age of 96 in January 2020, chairing just over 1,000 editions of the show in total once you take into account the various television adaptations, and being absent from just 4 episodes. Such was Parsons' longevity that similar jokes started appearing in ''other'' BBC Radio 4 panel games.
149	* ''Radio/TheNowShow'':
150	** In a 2008 episode, introducing Barry Cryer as the guest stand-up because new, young comedians all have their own stuff going on, they call him "the man who showed Lord Reith where the photocopier was".
151	** Following UsefulNotes/JoeBiden's trip to Belfast to commemorate 25 years since the end of UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, they explained that he was a senator at the time of the Good Friday Agreement ... and a junior congressman at the time of Good Friday.
152	** And the following week: "Of course, Ireland has changed a lot since Biden first visited. Due to plate tectonics, it's no longer connected to Europe."
153	* In Series 79 Episode 1 of ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'', discussing Mary Berry starting her baking career in France (true), Jack Dee claims she got the idea when she heard Marie Antoinette saying "Let them eat cake".
154	[[/folder]]
155
156	[[folder:Video Games]]
157	* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'', Cranky villagers (who are portrayed as being slightly older than other villager types) will occasionally joke about whether they'd recognize any fossils the player dug up from "back in the day."
158	* In the first ''VideoGame/PajamaSam'' game, Sam can meet an old grandfather clock and can converse with him and ask about how old he is. The first time he asks if there was television when he was made, with the clock replying that no. The second time he asks if there were any cars. The clock says that he's pretty sure there weren't any cars either. The third time...
159	-->'''Sam''': What about wheels? Where there any wheels when you were made?
160	-->'''Clock''': That's not funny. Of course there were wheels! How else would I have gotten all these gears inside?
161	* In ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'', while Drake and his older friend Sully (who's in his 50s) are exploring rural France, they come across the ruined remains of an old car from the 1920s, so Drake jokingly tells Sully that it's "your first car". Sully is somehow able to identify the exact year and model of that car.
162	[[/folder]]
163
164
165	[[folder:Webcomics]]
166	* In [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/trying-to-be-a-good-friend/ this]] ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' strip, Pamjee comments "The problems of twenty-somethings have changed drastically since I was young" in response to her employee Ira's drama. He retorts "Yeah, but y'all were dealing with the industrial revolution, so it evens out."
167	[[/folder]]
168
169	[[folder:Web Animation]]
170	* In the ''WebAnimation/TheAnnoyingOrange'' TV show, Orange loves making jokes about Grandpa Lemon's age.
171	** In "The Day The Store Stood Still" Grandpa Lemon is recounting a story that involves the beginning of the universe, Orange adds "you were in preschool".
172	** Subverted in "Founding Fruits" where Orange jokes Grandpa Lemon only knew the history of the fruit version of the American Revolution because he was alive during that time, only to be shocked when Grandpa Lemon reveals he was indeed alive back then and is actually the still living Benjamin Franklemon, making him over 200 years old.
173	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In episode "Looking Old" Strong Bad has Strong Mad and The Cheat pull on his mask strings to make him look younger. It has the opposite effect when Strong Sad mistakes him for his great-grandmother and asks Strong Bad to remind him of "the time the Depression fought Abraham Lincoln naked in your front yard".
174	* ''WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting'': After Big D claims that he and his father killed a Methuselah vampire in the 90s, Kevin asks if he meant the ''18''90s. [[OlderThanTheyLook Big]] [[AmbiguouslyHuman D]] just chuckles.
175	[[/folder]]
176
177	[[folder:Western Animation]]
178	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', with his usual brand of mixing obscure trivia into his insults, mocks an older, retired spy:
179	-->'''Spy:''' You know, I used to be a spy just like you.\
180	'''Archer:''' Oh, who'd you spy for? The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_civilization Etruscans?]]
181	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS2E21NoLaughingMatterNoSpoilers No Spoilers]]", when Lincoln and his sisters try to throw their mother a surprise party without Leni's involvement (since Leni [[CannotKeepASecret always spoils the surprise]]), Luan makes jokes about how old their mom's getting, such as her social security number being 1, and all the guests from her first birthday being extinct. Lori is not amused.
182	* From the ''WesternAnimation/{{Muppet Babies\|2018}}'' episode "Animal and the Magic Mummy", when Statler and Waldorf give the babies a tour of the Ancient Egyptian wing of the museum:
183	-->'''Statler:''' This Egyptian rabbit toy's over 3,000 years old.\
184	'''Waldorf:''' Like him!\
185	''[Statler and Waldorf laugh]''
186	* On ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', [[{{Jerkass}} Oscar]] claims that [[SassyBlackWoman Suga Mama]] is so old she survived some of the greatest disasters in the history of mankind: the Hindenburg, the Titanic, the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and 30 years of]] ''Series/TheJeffersons'' [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking reruns]].
187	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'': When Miss Grotke gives the kids a project to do on ancient civilizations:
188	-->'''TJ:''' Ancient civilizations? Like back when [[SternTeacher Miss Finster]] was a kid?\
189	''[all the kids burst into laughter]''\
190	'''Miss Grotke:''' Actually, TJ, we're going to go back ''thousands'' of years, not ''[[TheMiddleAges hundreds]]''. ''[[[ActuallyPrettyFunny she starts laughing too]]]''
191	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' subjects Grandpa Lou to a few jokes like this:
192	** This joke from "[[Recap/RugratsS2E4ShowdownAtTeeterTotterGulchMirrorland Mirrorland]]":
193	--->'''Lou:''' Antiques, huh! Back in my day, we had no use for antiques!\
194	'''Didi:''' But Pop, I thought back in your day, there were no antiques.\
195	(''Didi giggles'')\
196	'''Lou:''' (''angrily'') Very funny! A fella could bust a gut around here!
197	** This joke from "[[Recap/RugratsS2E10ReptarOnIceFamilyFeud Reptar on Ice]]"...
198	--->'''Lou:''' In my day, dinosaurs didn't skate around with a bunch of ninnies in costumes.\
199	'''Stu:''' ''(to Didi)'' In his day, the dinosaurs were ''real''.
200	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Grandpa Simpson and Mr. Burns were originally written as UsefulNotes/WorldWarII veterans, as many grandfathers were in the early '90s. Despite the series' use of ComicBookTime, their status as WWII veterans, as well as Skinner's status as a Vietnam vet in his '40s, has never changed. As such, many of their backstory details cannot be reconciled with their ages and the longer the show goes on the more they are played for humor.
201	** Because the show has [[NoContinuity little continuity]], occasional gags have made Burns ''much'' older than this, ranging from claiming he watched [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_J._Corbett Gentleman Jim Corbett]] fighting "an Eskimo fellow", to giving his place of birth as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea Pangea.]]
202	* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SquirrelBoy'', Rodney evidently believes that Bob's childhood was during the time of cavemen.
203	* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'': In "WesternAnimation/KingOfTheRailway", the engines meet Stephen, one of the first steam engines ever built. Percy asks Stephen if he ever saw real knights in shining armor. Stephen tells Percy that he hasn't, as he may be old, but he's not ''that'' old. He then tells him "And before you ask, I never saw dinosaurs, either."
204	* ''WesternAnimation/{{TUGS}}'': In the episode "Quarantine", a heatwave hits the harbour, with O.J. commenting on it, followed by a sarcastic remark from Top Hat when the former's engine starts acting up.
205	-->'''O.J.:''' It's the longest heatwave I can remember.\
206	'''Top Hat:''' And you go back to the Ice Age, O.J., by the sound of your engine.
207	* In the cartoon, ''WesternAnimation/HareTrimmed'', Yosemite Sam, posing as a suitor for Granny after finding out she inherited a fortune, starts chasing her all over her house. She just giggles as she exclaims, "Land sake! Nothing like this has happened to me since [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the boys got back from Gettysburg]]!"
208	[[/folder]]
209
210	[[folder:Real Life]]
211	* During the 2008 presidential election, political comedians often made these sort of jokes about John [=McCain=]. They became such a meme that [[MemeAcknowledgment McCain made some about himself]] during an appearance on ''Series/TheTonightShow''.
212	* UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan also made one of these jokes [[SelfDeprecation at his own expense]]. During the 1992 Republican National Convention, he combined it with the "you're no Jack Kennedy" meme, saying of UsefulNotes/BillClinton, "This fellow they've nominated claims he's the new UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson. Well, let me tell you something. I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine. And Governor, you're no Thomas Jefferson."
213	* Bulgarian pop singer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Ivanova Lili Ivanova]] is often said to have been ancient at the time of the Pyramids or Noah's Ark.
214	* A variant with Hungarian mathematician [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erdős Paul Erdős,]] who joked he was "two and a half billion years old" because [[DatedHistory Earth was two billion years old when he was a child, and four and a half billion years old in his adulthood]]. His students would ask him what dinosaurs looked like, and he (eventually) came up with the answer "I can't remember -- I was already too old by then".
215	* Mexican actor Xavier López Rodríguez, better known as Chabelo. He held the record for playing the same character for the time, 57 years until his death in March 2023. So there were a lot of jokes and memes saying that he has been going on even longer: Like how when God created light, Chabelo already had a pending bill, or how Noah's Ark was built by Chabelo's long-standing promoter [[https://www.mueblestroncoso.com.mx/ Troncoso Furniture]]. These jokes were so common that whenever a long-lived celebrity died, Chabelo would be trending on Mexican Twitter saying how "He defeated another rival" with the last one before his own death being Queen Elizabeth II.
216	* Dick Clark was subject to a lot of these in his later years, including one where he told the M&Ms that he couldn't be their sponsor for the year 2000 (MM in Roman numerals) because he had been the millennial celebrity sponsor of the previous millennium.
217	* Queen Elizabeth II and actress Betty White were often subjects of these jokes before their deaths.
218	* Philippine senator Juan Ponce Enrile (a centennial as of 2024) has been variously claimed to have been around during the Big Bang, planted the apple tree in the Garden of Eden, washed the dishes of the Last Supper, walked across Pangea on foot, inspired Philippine hero Apolinario Mabini, and was somehow responsible for Hydra from ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica''. Yes, we're not making that stuff up.
219	* In France, Michel Drucker, a TV host who has been on television since 1964 and who has postponed his retirement several times, is often the butt of jokes about his supposed immortality.
220	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HistoricalLongevityJoke