You've heard of Blink 182, but here's Bling 1892.  From Pick Me Up magazine.

Here's a precursor to the "Ask Alexander" search engine of the Conjuring Arts Research Center.

From The Ghost in the White House: Some Suggestions as to How a Hundred Million People (Who are Supposed in a Vague, Helpless Way to Haunt the White House) Can Make Themselves Felt with a President, How They Can Back Him Up, Express Themselves to Him, be Expressed by Him, and Get What They Want by Gerald Stanley Lee, 1920.

Here's a precursor to Devo's rubber coiffures.  From Popular Mechanics, 1932.

Here's a precursor to the "Abby Normal" brain from Young Frankenstein, courtesy of Cartoons Magazine, 1917.

This silly run predates the silly walks of Monty Python.  From Pick Me Up, 1892.

Before the James Bond character Pussy Galore, there was Totty Goodenough.  From Pick Me Up, 1892.

Here's a precursor to Margaret Keane's big-eyes paintings.  From Life magazine, 1920.

Here's a precursor to sharing selfies.  From Popular Science Monthly, 1920.

Here's a precursor to the British comedy series Keeping Up Appearances, and it's even captioned with that name!  From Cartoons Magazine, 1920.

Here's a precursor to the menacing "Rover" in the village of the cult series The Prisoner.  From Popular Mechanics, 1931.

Here's a precursor to Oscar the Grouch, a decade before his debut in 1969.  Courtesy of the Provincial Archives of Alberta.

Here's a precursor to the poster for the Anthony Hopkins film Magic.  "There was a concentration of terror in his eyes."  From English Illustrated, 1901.

Here's a precursor to The Log Lady of Twin Peaks.  From Popular Mechanics, 1931

Here's a precursor to Thelma and Louise.  From Die Bühne, 1936. 

Here's a precursor to the novelty "invisible dog leash."  From Jugend, 1911.

Here's a precursor to "A Boy Named Sue": a buoy named "Soon."  From English Illustrated, 1894.

Before the "Magic 8-Ball," there had to be a magic Figure 8.  Here it is, in The Saturday Evening Post, 1920.

This "home with or without a dining room" is a precursor to repurposing unused rooms in your house.  As Bob Vila said in "Why 7 Families Ditched the Dining Room," "Formal dining rooms are starting to go the way of the formal living room—out of service.  While many homes have dining rooms, the square footage devoted to them often isn't justified by the little use most families get out of them."  Our illustration is from Popular Mechanics, 1931.