Monty Python Accused of Parroting Earlier Work

Much earlier. But the 1600-year-old Philogelos: The Laugh Addict contains just the one-liner,

A man complains that a slave he was sold had died.
"When he was with me, he never did any such thing!"

not a fully developed sketch.

Other timeless gags from Philogelos, which surely ought to be online somewhere, but doesn't seem to be:

• Talkative barber to customer: “How shall I cut your hair?”
  Customer: “In silence.”
  
  
• An academic was on a sea voyage when a big storm blew up, causing his slaves to weep in terror. "Don’t cry," he consoled them, "I have freed you all in my will."


• Someone needled a well-known wit: "I had your wife, without paying a penny".
  He replied: "It's my duty as a husband to couple with such a monstrosity. What made you do it?"
  
  
• An Abderite sees a eunuch talking with a woman and asks him if she's his wife. The guy responds that a eunuch is unable to have a wife.
  "Ah, so she's your daughter? "
  
  
• A misogynist is attending to the burial of his wife, who has just died, when someone asks: "Who is it who rests in peace here?".
  He answers: "Me, now that I'm rid of her!"
  
  
• A young man says to his randy partner, 'Wife, what shall we do, eat or make love?'
  'Whichever you like,' she replies.
  'There's no bread.'

w/t: Slashdot

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