Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Thank you to Raycon for sponsoring this video! Head to raycon.yt.link/iYxYHO9 to get 20% off sitewide!
Balatro's Legendary Jokers are all based on famous Jesters throughout history! Both from classical plays, and real life! Allow me to explain the origins of Yorick, Perkeo, Triboulet, Canio, and Chicot, and how their actions led to their abilities in Balatro!
#balatro #lore #jesters
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Additional Credits:
Lockstin Austin Lockwood
Nosidda Addison Wiegand
Chapters:
00:00 Yorick
01:52 Triboulet
03:38 Raycon
05:02 Perkeo
06:44 Canio
07:30 Chicot
Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 1 is one of the most widely known Shakespearean moments. In which he also says:
"This skull has lain in the earth three-and-twenty years ... Sir, this skull belonged to Yorick, the king’s jester”
But that detail is important because of Yoricks ability in Balatro.
Every 23 cards you discard, makes Yoricks multiplier grow by 1.
Aw… because he himself is discarded, a dead jester… no wonder he’s got a sad face.
Next up, Tribulet,. Who makes your kings and queens give times 2 mult when scored.
That is fitting of Court Jesters generally, as most of them served under kings, queens and nobles.
But the real Triboulet… is a bit complicated, because there are two of them… or three.
The first was the jester and playwright of Rene of Anjou, a french duke in the mid 1400s.
But the 2nd and 3rd Triboulet served King Louis XII, and then King Francis I, after Louis died. And those latter two, are often thought to be the same person.
Triboulet was doing his usual shenanigans, but decided to step it up today, and slapped the King on the butt!
This… was a bit too far for the King,
So the King said “Jester that is enough! I should have you hanged! Though you will be allowed to live if you can give me a more offensive answer.”
Quick with witty words, Triboulet replied:
“I'm sorry your majesty, I mistook you for the Queen!”
He was spared, and now in Balatro, Triboulet gives bonuses only to kings and queens.
Perkeo creates negative copies of consumables when you’re done shopping, and is based on Perkeo of Heidelberg. A Jester with dwarfism and a mild lazy eye, who served Charles III Philip, who doesn't know how to order his name. He was the Elector, Count, and Duke of Palatinate-Neuburg and Berg, in the early 1700s.
Those places are parts of Germany today, and to this day Perkeo is a mascot of sorts to them, featured on various statues, stained glass windows, drinking songs, the Heidelberg Universities institute of physics, and much much more, throughout the area to this day.
What the card ability has to do with the real deal though is fun… in a bit of a sad way.
See, Perkeo is thought to have had Type 2 Diabetes, which, for better and worse, gave him an ability he loved to play up. Drinking… a LOT of drinking.
Perkeo became known as the guardian of the Great Heidelberg Tun. which was the castle's freaking gigantic wine barrel.
And as a party trick, and part of the party, he would drink between 5 and 8 GALLONS of it. Keep in mind, the dude’s got dwarfism, guy put away consumables HARD!
Hence the ability of making negative consumables. If you dont know, negative cards dont take up the limited space you have. So you really can jam pack 8 consumables into 2 space. What a lad.
This pointy-hat sad man grows in multiplier power every time a face card is destroyed…
Canio like Yorick, is another famous but fictional Jester. This time from the 1892 Italian opera Pagliacci. Oh hey the poster, thats just him, perfect!
In short, the story is about Canio, the Kermit the Frog of his own production company, and how he killed his wife and her lover, on stage, because of the affair.
So the connection to growing after destroying face cards, the kings queens and jacks… tracks.
Chicot: Who disables the Boss Blind effects. Effectively turning the boss levels into regular levels.
In the late 1500s, Chicot was the court jester of King Henry the III and IV of France. And he’s the only Jester in History to also lead an active political and military life. To the point where he fought alongside Henry IV in various campaigns and skirmishes. Daftly disabling duelists with his swordplay, both on foot and horseback. Which is likely why he’s able to disable bosses. He’s skilled enough to step up to soldiers and generals alike.
At one point, he even captured Count Chaligny, who was pretty upset about losing to a buffoon. So yeah, Disabled the royal guy!
Look it says "Gullible" down here.
Thank you to Raycon for sponsoring this video! Head to raycon.yt.link/iYxYHO9 to get 20% off sitewide!
Balatro's Legendary Jokers are all based on famous Jesters throughout history! Both from classical plays, and real life! Allow me to explain the origins of Yorick, Perkeo, Triboulet, Canio, and Chicot, and how their actions led to their abilities in Balatro!
#balatro #lore #jesters
Help keep the channel alive!
Patreon ➤ patreon.com/Gnoggin
MERCH! ➤ gnoggin.net
Socials:
Bluesky ➤ https://bsky.app/profile/lockstin.bsky.social
Threads ➤ threads.net/@lockstin_gnoggin
Instagram ➤ instagram.com/lockstin_gnoggin/?hl=en
Additional Credits:
Lockstin Austin Lockwood
Nosidda Addison Wiegand
Chapters:
00:00 Yorick
01:52 Triboulet
03:38 Raycon
05:02 Perkeo
06:44 Canio
07:30 Chicot
Hamlet, Act 5 Scene 1 is one of the most widely known Shakespearean moments. In which he also says:
"This skull has lain in the earth three-and-twenty years ... Sir, this skull belonged to Yorick, the king’s jester”
But that detail is important because of Yoricks ability in Balatro.
Every 23 cards you discard, makes Yoricks multiplier grow by 1.
Aw… because he himself is discarded, a dead jester… no wonder he’s got a sad face.
Next up, Tribulet,. Who makes your kings and queens give times 2 mult when scored.
That is fitting of Court Jesters generally, as most of them served under kings, queens and nobles.
But the real Triboulet… is a bit complicated, because there are two of them… or three.
The first was the jester and playwright of Rene of Anjou, a french duke in the mid 1400s.
But the 2nd and 3rd Triboulet served King Louis XII, and then King Francis I, after Louis died. And those latter two, are often thought to be the same person.
Triboulet was doing his usual shenanigans, but decided to step it up today, and slapped the King on the butt!
This… was a bit too far for the King,
So the King said “Jester that is enough! I should have you hanged! Though you will be allowed to live if you can give me a more offensive answer.”
Quick with witty words, Triboulet replied:
“I'm sorry your majesty, I mistook you for the Queen!”
He was spared, and now in Balatro, Triboulet gives bonuses only to kings and queens.
Perkeo creates negative copies of consumables when you’re done shopping, and is based on Perkeo of Heidelberg. A Jester with dwarfism and a mild lazy eye, who served Charles III Philip, who doesn't know how to order his name. He was the Elector, Count, and Duke of Palatinate-Neuburg and Berg, in the early 1700s.
Those places are parts of Germany today, and to this day Perkeo is a mascot of sorts to them, featured on various statues, stained glass windows, drinking songs, the Heidelberg Universities institute of physics, and much much more, throughout the area to this day.
What the card ability has to do with the real deal though is fun… in a bit of a sad way.
See, Perkeo is thought to have had Type 2 Diabetes, which, for better and worse, gave him an ability he loved to play up. Drinking… a LOT of drinking.
Perkeo became known as the guardian of the Great Heidelberg Tun. which was the castle's freaking gigantic wine barrel.
And as a party trick, and part of the party, he would drink between 5 and 8 GALLONS of it. Keep in mind, the dude’s got dwarfism, guy put away consumables HARD!
Hence the ability of making negative consumables. If you dont know, negative cards dont take up the limited space you have. So you really can jam pack 8 consumables into 2 space. What a lad.
This pointy-hat sad man grows in multiplier power every time a face card is destroyed…
Canio like Yorick, is another famous but fictional Jester. This time from the 1892 Italian opera Pagliacci. Oh hey the poster, thats just him, perfect!
In short, the story is about Canio, the Kermit the Frog of his own production company, and how he killed his wife and her lover, on stage, because of the affair.
So the connection to growing after destroying face cards, the kings queens and jacks… tracks.
Chicot: Who disables the Boss Blind effects. Effectively turning the boss levels into regular levels.
In the late 1500s, Chicot was the court jester of King Henry the III and IV of France. And he’s the only Jester in History to also lead an active political and military life. To the point where he fought alongside Henry IV in various campaigns and skirmishes. Daftly disabling duelists with his swordplay, both on foot and horseback. Which is likely why he’s able to disable bosses. He’s skilled enough to step up to soldiers and generals alike.
At one point, he even captured Count Chaligny, who was pretty upset about losing to a buffoon. So yeah, Disabled the royal guy!
Look it says "Gullible" down here.
