A banana pun is:
Q: Why did the banana go to the doctor?
A: It wasn’t peeling well.
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1990.
Google Books
Super Sick Jokes and Riddles
By Joseph Rosenbloom and Sanford Hoffman
New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
1990
Pg. 16:
Why did the banana see the doctor?
It wasn’t peeling well.
26 March 1996, Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL), “Jokes on You!,” pg. 10E:
Why did the banana see the doctor?
It wasn’t peeling well.
Google News Archive
15 April 1996, The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), jokes from Kidsday (Newsday), pg. 3D, col. 2:
Why did the banana see the doctor?
It wasn’t peeling well.
25 October 1998, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Laugh Lines: Pint-sized Punch Lines,” pg. 2:
Why did the banana go to the hospital? Because it wasn’t peeling well. (Elizabeth Schofield, 6, Torrance, Hickory Elementary)
Google Books
Super Silly Riddles
By Charles Keller
New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
2002
Pg. 69:
Why did the banana go to the doctor?
It wasn’t peeling well.
Google Books
A Joke a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
By Bob Phillips
Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers
2008
Pg. 8:
Q: Why did the banana go to the doctor?
A: It wasn’t peeling well.
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Really Silly Jokes:
Humour for the whole family
By Geoff Tibballs
London: Constable & Robinson, Ltd
2011
Pg. ?:
Why did the banana go to the doctor?
Because it wasn’t peeling well.
Google Books
The Super, Epic, Mega Joke Book for Kids
By Whee Winn
Grand Rapids, MI: Zonderkidz
2016
Pg. ?:
Why did the banana go to the doctor?
It wasn’t peeling very well.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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•“It’s pretty crazy how there’s an entire profession we have to make wear body cameras because they lie so much” (5/14)
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More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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