Why did the chicken cross the road?

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" is a common riddle joke, with the answer being "To get to the other side." It is an example of anti-humor, in that the curious setup of the joke leads the listener to expect a traditional punchline, but they are instead given a simple statement of fact.
==References==
* Fozzie Bear attempts to tell the joke in episode 207 of The Muppet Show but his ventriloquist dummy Chuckie doesn't deliver the punchline.
* In episode 407 of The Muppet Show, Fozzie asks "why did the duck cross the road?" with the punchline being "Because he was tied to the chicken!"
* Following The Swedish Chef's segment on spring chicken in The Muppet Show episode 512, Fozzie asks Kermit the seminal question. Kermit replies, "Because an angry Swede was chasing them with a cleaver!" Fozzie's confused, "That's not it. Hey wait, yours is better!"
* In Episode 1604, Big Bird meets Eggberta, a chicken who intends to cross the road to get to the other side. The only issue is that she is too young to cross on her own. Big Bird ropes in Olivia to help Eggberta cross the street.
* The question of why the chicken crossed the road was the subject of two animated inserts produced for the 16th season of Sesame Street. 
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* In Follow That Bird, when the news anchor tosses the story to Reporter Kermit out in the field, the amphibian correspondent is caught off-guard telling a joke to his crew off camera and asking "Okay here's one: why does the chicken not cross the road? 'Cause it's chicken. Get it?"
* The Muppet Traffic Safety Show featured Fozzie Bear telling the old joke, with a chicken preparing to cross. 
* Fozzie explores the question in the "Fozzie's Comedy Corner" segment of the first episode of Little Muppet Monsters - but rather than simply asking "why" the chicken crossed the road, he also asks "how" the chicken crossed the road (the final answer being "very carefully"). Fozzie tells another chicken joke in the second episode; and he explored the classic joke yet again in the third episode, arguing with an offended chicken over which punchline is the funniest.
* In the pre show for Muppet*Vision 3D, as Fozzie gathers all the members of Nicky Napoleon and His Emperor Penguins for orchestra rehearsal, a chicken attempts to join in, but Fozzie tells the chicken he told her to stay on the other side of the road, then he asks, to no one in particular, "Why did this chicken cross the road?" to which the chicken clucks the answer. Fozzie finds it funny and decides to tell the joke to the penguins.
* In Episode 3020 of Sesame Street, Herry Monster sees a young chick at the end of the street and wonders how they will cross the road. When he then sees an adult chicken will accompany the chick, he then asks why the chicken is crossing the road.
* Big Bird describes tripping over a chicken during a flashback in Sesame Street Episode 4068. When Telly asks why they were crossing the sidewalk, Big Bird responds, "To get to the other side, I guess."
* In Episode 105: The Guest of The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, during a comedy act, Mr. Knox attempts to set up the chicken joke to Fox in Socks, but the Grinch heckles them with, "To get away from your act!"
* In Elmo's World: Helping, Baby Bear and Papa Bear show how they cross the street together. In the process, a chicken wants to cross the road, so they help her as well.
* In a Super Grover 2.0 segment, a chicken tries to climb over the Pretty Good Wall of China to get to the other side. "It's a chicken thing," she explains.
* In a 2015 Jokes! with Fozzie video, Fozzie asks "why did the chicken cross the Internet?" (answer: "to get to the other site!") 
* Chick Swagger, a rooster, is late because he had difficulty crossing the road in an episode of The Furchester Hotel.
* Baby Bunsen asks Baby Fozzie why the chicken crossed the amusement park in the Muppet Babies episode "Bunsen Knows All." Fozzie's answer is "To get to the other ride."
* The Museum of Modern Jokes in the Muppet Babies episode "Sam and the Skyscraper" features the joke "Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide."
==Honorable mentions==
* During the chaos caused by a hot air balloon landing in the middle of the street at the start of The Great Muppet Caper, a freed group of live chickens are shown crossing the road (one of whom Gonzo is obsessed with taking a picture of after she gets to the other side).
==See also==
*Chicken or the egg (theory)
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Category:Joke References