“Slept like a log last night. I woke up in the fireplace”

“Slept like a log last night. Woke up in the fireplace” is a joke that has been printed on several images. “I slept like a log last night. I must have. I woke up in the fireplace” has been cited in print since at least January 1961, when it was credited to Hollywood columnist Mike Connolly (1914-1966).
 
The line has frequently been credited to British prop comedian Tommy Cooper (1921-1984), but it’s unlikely that Cooper said it as early as 1961.
     
     
Wikipedia: Mike Connolly
Mike Connolly (1914 – November 18, 1966) was an American magazine reporter and primarily a Hollywood columnist.
 
19 January 1961, Raleigh Register (Beckley, WV), “Hollywood-Vine News and Views” by Erskine Johnson, pg. 4, col. 4:
That weekend hangover line:
“I slept like a log last night—I must have because I woke up in the fireplace.”
 
22 February 1961, Chicago (IL) Daily Defender, “Try and Stop Me” by Bennett Cerf, pg. 10, col. 1:
Mike Connolly started off the new year by reporting, “I slept like a log last night. I must have. I woke up in the fireplace.”
 
31 December 1965, Detroit (MI) Free Press, “Judd Arnett Says: The Tops of the Year,” pg. 14-B, col. 7:
AND BEST NEW YEAR’S EVE ADVICE OF THE YEAR—Johnny Carson’s reminder: “You have had enough when you feel as though you had slept like a log—and wake up in the fireplace.”
     
Google Books
Devon: Accessible, Contemporary Guides by Local Experts
By Simon Heptinstall
Richmond: Crimson
2008
Pg. 77:
They later formed the basis of his (Tommy Cooper’s—ed.) act although he deliberately got them wrong for humorous effect, along with his West Country accent and a sequence of surreal one-liners, such as: ‘I slept like a log last night and woke up in the fireplace’ and “I had a ploughman’s lunch the other day, he wasn’t half mad.”
 
Twitter
Spoonful of Tea‏
@tradingnothing
“I slept like a log last night. Woke up in the fireplace.” Tommy Cooper lol
1:01 PM - 22 Jan 2009
 
Twitter
Crap Jokes‏
@TheCrapJoker
Slept like a log last night..
Woke up in the fireplace.
11:15 AM - 13 Mar 2015
 
Twitter
Excuse the Pun‏
@ExcuseThePun
Slept like a log last night.
I woke up in the fireplace.
3:10 PM - 13 Oct 2016