>> If it wasn’t for those jokes would he be remembered anywhere as well?

You’re assuming the jokes make people dive deeper. In reality I know the jokes and didn’t have a clue who he was and never cared enough to find out. The reality is the probably didn’t make much of a difference to how well he or his work was actually known.

No, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant they wouldn’t even know the name.

Not that they actually know about him past the tough guy persona of the jokes.