I know this is very broad, but I was wondering if humor existed or was accepted thousands of years ago. I was thinking about the Bible, and wondered if anyone told jokes or did stand up routines (obviously not real standup, but something similar). Was it okay to be funny? Did people tell jokes?
The most famous Ancient Greek comedian is Aristophanes, whose 5th C BCE works were often victorious at the theatrical competitions in Athens. It would seem that it was considered a lower art form than tragedy, due to its positioning in the festival. There were certainly other comic playwrights at the same time, but we have very little of their work to go on. The humour involved was very varied - political satire ridiculing leading figures, wars and policies was common and sometimes the premise for a play (look up Lysistrata as a very famous example). There was a lot of joking about religion (Peace being a good example), art, slavery... You name it. There was also plenty of slapstick, scars logical humour, cock jokes and more. Cartledge's Aristophanes and his Theatre of the Absurd is a very accessible intro to this.
There's a long history of written humour after this, well into the later Roman Empire. One of my favourites is probably Lucian, whose damning satire of Roman politics and religion could probably take on Chris Morris for absurdity and pushing boundaries in a super clever way.
Before the Classical period, we don't have much written down so it's hard to know much about comedy. Homer's not exactly a barrel of laughs, but it does talk about humour and jokes happening. There is the odd but of merriment and laughter referred to in the Odyssey, and the gods are said to joke in the Iliad, so certainly the concept of humour seems to have been understood and accepted during this period.
hi! fyi, you'll find several examples in the FAQ