“Slept like a log last night. Woke up in the fireplace” is a joke that has been printed on several images. “I slept like a log last night. I must have. I woke up in the fireplace” has been cited in print since at least January 1961, when it was credited to Hollywood columnist Mike Connolly (1914-1966).
The line has frequently been credited to British prop comedian Tommy Cooper (1921-1984), but it’s unlikely that Cooper said it as early as 1961.
Wikipedia: Mike Connolly
Mike Connolly (1914 – November 18, 1966) was an American magazine reporter and primarily a Hollywood columnist.
19 January 1961, Raleigh Register (Beckley, WV), “Hollywood-Vine News and Views” by Erskine Johnson, pg. 4, col. 4:
That weekend hangover line:
“I slept like a log last night—I must have because I woke up in the fireplace.”
22 February 1961, Chicago (IL) Daily Defender, “Try and Stop Me” by Bennett Cerf, pg. 10, col. 1:
Mike Connolly started off the new year by reporting, “I slept like a log last night. I must have. I woke up in the fireplace.”
31 December 1965, Detroit (MI) Free Press, “Judd Arnett Says: The Tops of the Year,” pg. 14-B, col. 7:
AND BEST NEW YEAR’S EVE ADVICE OF THE YEAR—Johnny Carson’s reminder: “You have had enough when you feel as though you had slept like a log—and wake up in the fireplace.”
Google Books
Devon: Accessible, Contemporary Guides by Local Experts
By Simon Heptinstall
Richmond: Crimson
2008
Pg. 77:
They later formed the basis of his (Tommy Cooper’s—ed.) act although he deliberately got them wrong for humorous effect, along with his West Country accent and a sequence of surreal one-liners, such as: ‘I slept like a log last night and woke up in the fireplace’ and “I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day, he wasn’t half mad.”
Twitter
Spoonful of Tea
@tradingnothing
“I slept like a log last night. Woke up in the fireplace.” Tommy Cooper lol
1:01 PM - 22 Jan 2009
Twitter
Crap Jokes
@TheCrapJoker
Slept like a log last night..
Woke up in the fireplace.
11:15 AM - 13 Mar 2015
Twitter
Excuse the Pun
@ExcuseThePun
Slept like a log last night.
I woke up in the fireplace.
3:10 PM - 13 Oct 2016
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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