“What’s the difference between beer nuts and deer nuts?” (joke)

“What’s the difference beteen beer nuts and deer nuts? Beer nuts cost $1.90 while deer nuts are always under a buck.”
 
The “beer nuts”/“deer nuts” joke is a very popular one. In the early 1980s, beer nuts were about fifty cents and deer nuts were just under a buck. In versions from the 2000s, the beer nuts cost more.
 
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1984:
 
What’s the difference in beer nuts and deer nuts?
Beer nuts are 59 cents per bag and deer nuts are under a buck.
 
   
Google Groups: net.jokes
diff beer.nuts deer.nuts
D.A. Seifert
9/12/84
The following “jokes” are posted as a favor to Joe & John over at NSC. (so don’t blame der Beagle!)
 
1) What’s the difference in beer nuts and deer nuts?
Beer nuts are 59 cents per bag and deer nuts are under a buck.
 
Google Books
Girl with Curious Hair
By David Foster Wallace
New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company
1989
Pg. 214:
‘Len, Len, what is different between beer nuts and deer nuts. I hear this in a club on the Loop.’ (The Loooop.) ‘Beer nuts are fifty cents and yet deer nuts are just under a…buck!’
 
Google Groups: rec.humor
joke
Ben Hawkins
1/3/90
Q)  Which costs more, beer nuts or deer nuts?
A)  Deer nuts, they’re under a buck.
 
5 November 2004, The Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica), pg. D7, col. 3:
Tony Deyal was last seen asking what’s the difference between beer nuts and deer nuts. Beer nuts invariably cost a dollar while deer nuts are always under a buck.
 
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of One-Liners
By Geoff Tibballs
London: Constable & Robinson Ltd.
2012
Pg. ?:
What’s the difference between beer nuts and deer nuts?
Beer nuts are $1.90, and deer nuts are just under a buck.
 
Twitter
Woodie Anderson
‏@woodieand
Well look at that. Beer Nuts are $1.49. You know deer nuts are always under a buck! pic.twitter.com/lBwkhSKp02
8:51 PM - 28 Aug 2014