I am ancient. When I was your age there was a very old joke that went some thing like “Dr., will I be able to play violin after the operation?“ The doctor says: “absolutely.“ And the patient says “great, because I don’t know how play violin at all“. I was sure other old-timers had use this joke before my latest operation, and I was going to overturn it by saying “good because I actually do play violin.“, knowing they were expecting the other punchline. Alas, this joke has completely expired. No one under 30 or so has heard it. I looked like a damn fool.
That joke was famous for about 70-80 years. I know Henny Youngman told it but I doubt it was his.
You were telling a joke that was old long before you were born and you grew up in a world where others might know it because we were all watching old shit on television.
That television was mostly written by men who were born between the wars.
There's a precise birthdate where a child's life would never force them to watch reruns of Gilligan's Island and it is nearly the same as the birthdate for never watching Night Court or The Maltese Falcon.
Reruns died sharply and took a bunch of the 20th century monoculture with them. It's very surprising.
