A philosophical riddle is:
Q: What’s red and invisible?
A: No tomatoes.
The joke has been cited in print since at least the late 1980s.
Google Books
New Society
Volumes 83-84
1988
Pg. 60:
I was told a philosophical joke last week Question: What is red and invisible? Answer: No tomatoes.
This may not be very funny but it took on what seemed to me added meaning in the light of a recent attempt to seek out material to cram into the gaping maw of this ever-hungry column.
Google Groups: rec.humor
whoops!
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
12/12/90
(...)
What’s red and invisible?
No tomatoes
Google Groups: news.groups
ross and dave against the world
sine nomine
12/13/92
(...)
what’s red and invisible?
no tomatoes.
Google Groups; alt.locksmithing
Matthew E Cross
4/11/93
(...)
What’s red and invisible?
No tomatoes.
Google Groups: rec.humor
Tomatoes
Fai Chan
6/21/93
What’s red and invisible?
No Tomato!!! HA!HA!HEE!HEE!
Google Groups: alt.tasteless.jokes
What’s red..
Warrick Bell
3/6/94
(...)
What’s red and invisible?
No tomatoes.
Google Books
Laugh Out Loud:
A Selection of the Finest Internet Humour, Anecdotes and Wisdom
BY Vivienne Smithdorf and Vanessa Wilson
Sandton, South Africa: Vsquared
2004
Pg. 121:
What is red and invisible? No tomatoes.
Twitter
Dr. bess.wiss. Droso
@drosophila
*muahaha* Q: What’s red and invisible? A: No tomatoes..
12:46 AM - 9 Sep 2007
Twitter
Rich Wright
@richwright79
what’s red and not there…? No tomatoes
6:35 AM - 30 Mar 2009
Google Books
World’s Worst Jokes
By Tony Husband
New York, NY: Random House
2013
Pg. ?:
What’s red and invisible?
No tomatoes.
Google Books
Sensible Nonsense.. Frank’s Comic Pack:
Humour Pack Series
By Frank Paul
BookBaby
2014
Pg. ?:
What’s red and invisible? No tomatoes.
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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