“How do you keep bacon from curling in the pan?”/“You take away its tiny brooms.”

Bacon curls in the frying pan. This has nothing to do with the sport of curling, but there is a joke:
 
Q: How do you stop bacon from curling in the frying pan?
A: You take away its tiny brooms!
 
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1993, but became popular in 2004.
 
   
Wikipedia: Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice towards a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called rocks, across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a circular target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones. A game usually consists of eight or ten ends.
 
The curler can induce a curved path by causing the stone to slowly turn as it slides, and the path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms who accompany it as it slides down the sheet, using the brooms to alter the state of the ice in front of the stone.
   
Google Groups: alt.folklore.urban
Daylight Savings Times
Doug White
12/15/93
(...)
Question: How do you stop bacon from curling in the frying pan?
Answer: Take away its broom.
 
2 February 2004, The Globe and Mail (Toronto, ON), “Your Morning Smile,” pg. A2, col. 4:
Q: How do you stop the bacon from curling in the pan?
A: Take away their little brooms!
—Sara Borden, Kingston.
 
Google Groups: alt.humor.puns
A Porcine Story
Palema
2/3/04
(...)
speaking of pork, I read this online:
Q: How do you stop the bacon from curling in the pan?
A: Take away their little brooms!
 
Canadian Joe-ks, eh! (August 2005)
Canadian secret: how to keep bacon from curling in the pan…
(...)
Q: How do you keep bacon from curling in the pan?
A: Take away their little brooms.
 
Twitter
Tammy Nanos
‏@Tamji
Kitchen tip #47:  Keep bacon from curling in pan by taking away their little brooms.
5:36 PM - 31 May 2009
 
Twitter
Michael Bolton
‏@CurlingIsFun
How do you stop bacon from curling in a frying pan? .......
Take away their brooms!  😊
7:41 PM - 20 Sep 2009
 
reddit
How do you keep bacon from curling in the pan? (self.Jokes)
submitted January 2, 2014 by Solnai
You take away its tiny brooms.
 
Google Books
A Prairie Home Companion
Pretty Good Joke Book (6th Edition)
Introduced by Garrison Keillor
Prince Frederick, MD: HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
2015
Pg. ?:
How do you keep bacon from curling in the pan? You take away its tiny brooms.
 
reddit
How do you stop bacon from curling in the pan? (self.Jokes)
submitted January 24, 2015 by DecimusRex
Take away their tiny brooms!