The ba-dum-tss is the signature sting of comedy drummers, a tradition stretching back to vaudeville and burlesque stage bands whose percussionists punctuated every punchline live. It moved into radio, late-night talk shows and sitcoms, and from there into internet meme culture, where a 1-second clip does the same job under text posts and edits. It sits in a whole family of joke punctuation, alongside the cartoon slip whistle, the game-show wrong-answer buzz and Nelson's mocking ha-ha.