“What is a cannibal?”/“Someone who is fed up with people” is a classic joke from the 1940s. A variation of the riddle is:
Q: Why did the cannibal live on his own?
A: He was fed up with other people.
“Why did the cannibal want to get away from it all? Because he was simply fed up with people!” was cited in print in 1981. “Why did the cannibal live on his own? He was fed up with other people!” has been cite in print since at least 2002.
Google Books
Fun and Fellowship Resource Book
By Helen Eisenberg and Larry Eisenberg
Grand Rapids, Mi: Baker Book House
1981
Pg. 89:
Why did the cannibal want to get away from it all? Because he was simply fed up with people!
January/February 1998, The Skeptical Inquirer, “Is Cannibalism a myth?” by Martin Gardner, pg. 15:
Or the cannibal who told a psychiatrist he was fed up with people? Asked how he liked the psychiatrist he replied, “Delicious.”
Google Books
Over 1500 Fantastic Jokes
By Guy Campbell and Paul Moran
London, UK: Dean
2002
Pg. 266:
Why did the cannibal live on his own?
He was fed up with other people!
16 June 2005, Evening Chronicle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK), “Pop the question?”. pg. 38:
Why did the cannibal live on his own?
Because he was fed-up with everyone else.
Google Books
Penguin Pocket Jokes
By David Pickering
London, UK: Penguin Books
2006
Pg. ?:
Why did the cannibal live on his own?
He was fed up with other people.
Google Groups: Palace of Adult Humor
Cannibals Jokes
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
10/28/06
(...)
Why did the cannibal live on his own?
He was fed up with other people!
Google Books
June 2007, Boys’ Life, “Think & Grin,” pg. 58, col. 2:
Martin: Why did the cannibal go to the psychiatrist?
Francis: Why?
Martin: Because he was fed up with people!
Dan Horning, Conshohocken, Pa.
Twitter
Luca_de_Monte_Carlo
@LarnacaLad
Why did the cannibal live on his own?
He was fed up with other people!
4:05 PM - 5 Aug 2009
Twitter
sharron_piedrah
@sharron_piedrah
Why did the cannibal live on his own? He was fed up with other people.
11:09 AM - 23 Sep 2009
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of One-Liners
Edited by Geoff Tibballs
London, UK: Constable & Robinson Ltd
2012
Pg. ?:
Definition of a cannibal: someone who is fed up with people.
Reddit—Jokes
Why did the cannibal live on his own?
submitted September 10, 2017 by DcaGuy
He was fed up with other people.
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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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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