What is TikTok’s ‘why are chickens so funny’ joke? Origin of viral clip

TikTok has become obsessed with the ‘why are chickens so funny’ joke, but what’s it all about? Here’s what you need to know. 

Hundreds of thousands of videos are posted to TikTok each day, covering pretty much every corner of the internet and interest, but it’s only a select few that go wildly viral. 

Things like the ‘My Color Test’, the ‘Human Feeling quiz’, and even the ‘Reality Check’ questions have popped up on pretty much everyone’s For You page over the last year or so, but even they can’t hold a candle to TikTok’s newest obsession. 

It’s not a wild, daring stunt or an introspective quiz, but rather a simple joke about chickens and why they’re so funny. Yes, really. 

TikTok’s why are chickens so funny joke

It all stemmed from a clip that YeahTheGrays uploaded on January 5, which reached over 44 million views within less than 24 hours. 

In the video, a toddler is seen carrying a chicken before a female voice in the background tells them to tell their joke about the chickens. It’s a simple one, with the toddler asking: “Why are chickens so funny?”

The answer, and punchline, is simply the toddler saying “because” in an elongated manner and sounding similar to a chicken clucking. This is what sends the female over the edge and breaks out into contagious laughter. 

The sound doesn’t actually come from the new video but from a previous clip posted by Petcover on Instagram. That spawned plenty of reels over there, but they’ve not quite taken off like TikTok’s newest clip has. 

Either way, TikTokers are in love with the oh-so-simple joke. “This is the laugh I needed today,” one commented. “This is the best thing I’ve ever seen,” added another. “I burst out laughing harder than I expected,” another said.