“Mommy, can i lick the bowl?” (joke)

Children often want to “lick the bowl”—the mixing bowl. A popular joke is:
 
Child: Mommy, can I lick the bowl?
Mother: Shut up and flush it like anybody else!
 
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1960.
 
 
Spring 1960, Midwest Folklore, “‘Shut Up and Keep Digging”: The Cruel Joke Series” by Brian Sutton Smith, pg. 17:
“Mommy can I lick the bowl.”
“Shut up and flush it like anybody else.”
 
Google Books
Western Folklore
1963
Pg. 92:
Mamma, Mamma, can I lick the bowl? Shut up and flush it! (S-S #56: HS 5: C 3: 1959)
 
Google Books
Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling’s Disgustingly Dirty Joke Book
By Jackie Martling
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
1997
Pg. 117:
A little girl walks out of the bathroom, and her mother’s making a cake.
 
She says, “Mommy, can I lick the bowl?”
 
Her mother says, “Will you flush it like everyone else?”
   
Google Books
Man Walks into a Bar:
Over 6,000 of the Most Hilarious Jokes, Funniest Insults and Gut-Busting One-Liners
By Stephen Arnott and Mike Haskins
Berkeley, CA; Ulysses Press
2007
Pg. 314:
“Mommy, mommy! Can I lick the bowl?” “No, flush it like everyone else!
 
Twitter
Dave Ormerod
‏@Daveoodle
@FenstarDeLuxe lick the bowl? You should flush it like everyone else nangdabbit!
3:54 PM - 5 Feb 2009
 
Twitter
Eddie Johnston
‏@eddiej
Little lad in the kitchen: “mummy, can I lick the bowl?” Mummy: “No dear, flush it like everyone else does” #doylejoke
9:24 AM - 24 Apr 2009
 
Twitter
Aamer Iqbal
‏@DrAamer
@nglngt Reminds me of a story a much younger cousin narrated: Kid to mom, “Can I lick the bowl?” Mom, “No, flush it like everyone else.”
12:02 PM - 20 Aug 2016
 
reddit
I always used to ask my mom if I could lick the bowl…
submitted August 31, 2016 by derekjb96
... She’d always say “No! Just flush it like a normal person!”