The Best Gorilla Joke Of 1897

2020Image macro / fake historical documentsemi-active

Also known as: The Quiet Gorilla Joke · Gorilla Joke of 1897

The Best Gorilla Joke Of 1897 is a fake vintage newspaper clipping featuring a short joke about an escaped gorilla who mauls a zookeeper, ending with the bracketed caption "[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]." First posted on Tumblr in September 2020 by the comedy page thatsbelievable, the joke went viral for its absurd deadpan humor and faux-historical presentation, racking up over 141,000 Tumblr notes and inspiring fan comics across multiple platforms.

Overview

The Best Gorilla Joke Of 1897 is an image designed to look like a yellowed newspaper clipping. It presents a short joke in which a gorilla approaches a zookeeper and asks, "Did you hear about the gorilla who escaped from the zoo?" The zookeeper replies, "No, I did not," and the gorilla responds, "That is because I am a quiet gorilla," followed by the punchline "[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]," implying the gorilla attacks the zookeeper2.

The humor comes from the collision of an old-timey presentation with absurdist violence, the deadpan buildup, and the bracketed stage-direction style of the final line. Despite its title, the joke has no actual connection to 1897 or any real historical newspaper2.

On September 22nd, 2020, the Tumblr page thatsbelievable posted the image. The page, known for creating fake vintage media clips played for comedy, styled it as a period newspaper cutout complete with a serif font and aged paper texture2. The post spread rapidly on Tumblr, collecting over 141,000 notes within roughly a year2.

No evidence exists linking the joke to any actual 19th-century source. The "1897" date is part of the bit, adding to the absurdity by framing crude gorilla slapstick as genteel Victorian humor2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Tumblr
Key People
thatsbelievable
Date
2020

On September 22nd, 2020, the Tumblr page thatsbelievable posted the image. The page, known for creating fake vintage media clips played for comedy, styled it as a period newspaper cutout complete with a serif font and aged paper texture2. The post spread rapidly on Tumblr, collecting over 141,000 notes within roughly a year2.

No evidence exists linking the joke to any actual 19th-century source. The "1897" date is part of the bit, adding to the absurdity by framing crude gorilla slapstick as genteel Victorian humor2.

How It Spread

The image jumped from Tumblr to other platforms quickly. Two days after the original post, on September 24th, 2020, YouTuber Garold the Great uploaded a simple animation bringing the joke to life, picking up over 1,800 views in its first year2.

By early 2021, the joke had landed on Reddit. On January 6th, 2021, it was posted to /r/1800HavingFun (a subreddit for content styled as old-timey humor), where it earned over 1,400 upvotes in nine months2. Three days later, on January 9th, Reddit user i_consume_lean posted a five-panel comic to /r/dogelore that recreated the joke using Doge characters, pulling in over 4,000 upvotes2.

Fan artists also picked it up. On January 21st, 2021, DeviantArt user HareMadness posted a comic imagining the gorilla encounter, gaining over 4,000 views in nine months2. On May 18th, 2021, Tumblr user pillsburries shared their own comic version, which collected over 3,300 notes in five months2.

The joke's appeal to fan artists makes sense. The bracketed "[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]" leaves the actual mayhem to the imagination, which gave comic artists a natural punchline to illustrate.

How to Use This Meme

The meme works in a few ways:

- Share the original image as a standalone joke, typically in contexts where absurdist or vintage-style humor fits the mood. - Recreate the joke in a new medium. Many fans have drawn comics, animated shorts, or Doge edits that act out the scene. The format is: setup question, innocent answer, gorilla reveal, then implied violence. - Reference the bracketed punchline. The phrase "[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]" sometimes appears on its own as a reaction or punchline in comment threads when someone wants to imply chaotic off-screen action. - Riff on the fake-historical framing. Some users create their own "Best [X] Joke of [Year]" variants, applying the same aged-newspaper aesthetic to other absurd premises.

Fun Facts

The Tumblr page thatsbelievable specializes in fake vintage media clips, making the gorilla joke one entry in a larger catalog of faux-historical comedy2.

The joke's structure (setup, innocent response, violent twist delivered through bracketed stage direction) mirrors a style common in absurdist Tumblr humor of the late 2010s and early 2020s.

The /r/dogelore Doge version outperformed the /r/1800HavingFun post by nearly 3x in upvotes, showing how remixing a joke into an existing meme format can amplify its reach2.

Despite being titled "The Best Gorilla Joke of 1897," no gorilla jokes from 1897 are known to exist in any newspaper archive2.

Derivatives & Variations

Doge recreation

— Reddit user i_consume_lean adapted the joke into a five-panel Doge comic on /r/dogelore in January 2021, replacing the gorilla and zookeeper with Doge characters[2].

Fan comics

— Multiple artists created illustrated versions of the scene, including HareMadness on DeviantArt (January 2021) and pillsburries on Tumblr (May 2021)[2].

Animated adaptation

— YouTuber Garold the Great produced a short animation of the joke in September 2020[2].

Frequently Asked Questions

The Best Gorilla Joke Of 1897

2020Image macro / fake historical documentsemi-active

Also known as: The Quiet Gorilla Joke · Gorilla Joke of 1897

The Best Gorilla Joke Of 1897 is a fake vintage newspaper clipping featuring a short joke about an escaped gorilla who mauls a zookeeper, ending with the bracketed caption "[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]." First posted on Tumblr in September 2020 by the comedy page thatsbelievable, the joke went viral for its absurd deadpan humor and faux-historical presentation, racking up over 141,000 Tumblr notes and inspiring fan comics across multiple platforms.

Overview

The Best Gorilla Joke Of 1897 is an image designed to look like a yellowed newspaper clipping. It presents a short joke in which a gorilla approaches a zookeeper and asks, "Did you hear about the gorilla who escaped from the zoo?" The zookeeper replies, "No, I did not," and the gorilla responds, "That is because I am a quiet gorilla," followed by the punchline "[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]," implying the gorilla attacks the zookeeper2.

The humor comes from the collision of an old-timey presentation with absurdist violence, the deadpan buildup, and the bracketed stage-direction style of the final line. Despite its title, the joke has no actual connection to 1897 or any real historical newspaper2.

On September 22nd, 2020, the Tumblr page thatsbelievable posted the image. The page, known for creating fake vintage media clips played for comedy, styled it as a period newspaper cutout complete with a serif font and aged paper texture2. The post spread rapidly on Tumblr, collecting over 141,000 notes within roughly a year2.

No evidence exists linking the joke to any actual 19th-century source. The "1897" date is part of the bit, adding to the absurdity by framing crude gorilla slapstick as genteel Victorian humor2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Tumblr
Key People
thatsbelievable
Date
2020

On September 22nd, 2020, the Tumblr page thatsbelievable posted the image. The page, known for creating fake vintage media clips played for comedy, styled it as a period newspaper cutout complete with a serif font and aged paper texture2. The post spread rapidly on Tumblr, collecting over 141,000 notes within roughly a year2.

No evidence exists linking the joke to any actual 19th-century source. The "1897" date is part of the bit, adding to the absurdity by framing crude gorilla slapstick as genteel Victorian humor2.

How It Spread

The image jumped from Tumblr to other platforms quickly. Two days after the original post, on September 24th, 2020, YouTuber Garold the Great uploaded a simple animation bringing the joke to life, picking up over 1,800 views in its first year2.

By early 2021, the joke had landed on Reddit. On January 6th, 2021, it was posted to /r/1800HavingFun (a subreddit for content styled as old-timey humor), where it earned over 1,400 upvotes in nine months2. Three days later, on January 9th, Reddit user i_consume_lean posted a five-panel comic to /r/dogelore that recreated the joke using Doge characters, pulling in over 4,000 upvotes2.

Fan artists also picked it up. On January 21st, 2021, DeviantArt user HareMadness posted a comic imagining the gorilla encounter, gaining over 4,000 views in nine months2. On May 18th, 2021, Tumblr user pillsburries shared their own comic version, which collected over 3,300 notes in five months2.

The joke's appeal to fan artists makes sense. The bracketed "[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]" leaves the actual mayhem to the imagination, which gave comic artists a natural punchline to illustrate.

How to Use This Meme

The meme works in a few ways:

- Share the original image as a standalone joke, typically in contexts where absurdist or vintage-style humor fits the mood. - Recreate the joke in a new medium. Many fans have drawn comics, animated shorts, or Doge edits that act out the scene. The format is: setup question, innocent answer, gorilla reveal, then implied violence. - Reference the bracketed punchline. The phrase "[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]" sometimes appears on its own as a reaction or punchline in comment threads when someone wants to imply chaotic off-screen action. - Riff on the fake-historical framing. Some users create their own "Best [X] Joke of [Year]" variants, applying the same aged-newspaper aesthetic to other absurd premises.

Fun Facts

The Tumblr page thatsbelievable specializes in fake vintage media clips, making the gorilla joke one entry in a larger catalog of faux-historical comedy2.

The joke's structure (setup, innocent response, violent twist delivered through bracketed stage direction) mirrors a style common in absurdist Tumblr humor of the late 2010s and early 2020s.

The /r/dogelore Doge version outperformed the /r/1800HavingFun post by nearly 3x in upvotes, showing how remixing a joke into an existing meme format can amplify its reach2.

Despite being titled "The Best Gorilla Joke of 1897," no gorilla jokes from 1897 are known to exist in any newspaper archive2.

Derivatives & Variations

Doge recreation

— Reddit user i_consume_lean adapted the joke into a five-panel Doge comic on /r/dogelore in January 2021, replacing the gorilla and zookeeper with Doge characters[2].

Fan comics

— Multiple artists created illustrated versions of the scene, including HareMadness on DeviantArt (January 2021) and pillsburries on Tumblr (May 2021)[2].

Animated adaptation

— YouTuber Garold the Great produced a short animation of the joke in September 2020[2].

Frequently Asked Questions