Humor Across Borders
I love to laugh. I appreciate just about every kind of humor - dark, slapstick, observational, wordplay, juvenile, and even the kind that challenges boundaries, as long as it punches up and not down. Funny people, those who drop clever jokes or send video gems, are my favorite people. I’ve considered filming every outing with one friend because I’m convinced she’s viral material just waiting to happen. Humor is a universal human experience, but it speaks in a thousand dialects. I’ve come to see humor as one of the most surprising bridges between cultures. Humor can build empathy while also revealing how much we still have to learn. It can also be a difficult barrier to break without learning language and context.
When I reflect on teaching in diverse classrooms, I remember thinking, “Should I include jokes in my lecture?” At the same time, I realized I needed to update my cultural references. My brilliant Coming to America bit to teach trademarks and service marks went completely over the heads of my 20-year-old students, regardless of nationality. Even with the Golden Arches being ubiquitous! It turns out Eddie Murphy is no longer common ground.
Even with updated material, jokes don’t often translate because they need context. A professor might include a pun about American politics and hear crickets. Humor reveals a personal frame of reference. It teaches how others see the world, what they value, and what cultural context they carry. Even humor in my native language of English isn’t always understood between countries. While my dad and I loved watching Monty Python, some people hate it because they say they don’t “get” British humor. Of course, I do not like Mr. Bean, so to each his own…
Still, laughter crosses boundaries in the best of ways. Physical humor, like slipping on a banana peel, can draw laughs just about anywhere. Comedians like Chris Farley or Lucille Ball are masters of the power of physical humor that connects audiences across the globe. My grandmother showed me the I Love Lucy chocolate factory episode as a child, and it is a core memory. I also still remember watching a man fall dramatically with an umbrella, one hand grabbing at the Shoney’s window atrium (IYKYK) for balance. Our entire post-church, elementary-school-aged Thomson crew laughed until we cried (he was fine). It’s humanity in action (well, maybe not for that guy, but thanks for the laughs).
One night I was sitting at dinner in Nairobi, and I shared that I had eaten a tree tomato that morning at breakfast, and I was surprised at how tough the skin was. I may have made some faces illustrating how I was trying to eat it. My Kenyan colleague started laughing so hard, she could not contain herself. All she could get out was “You don’t eat the skin!” My clumsiness and lack of knowledge made the whole table, including me, laugh until we cried. It was one of those really good laughs where your cheeks hurt and you feel like the world is going to be ok. I learned something too – how to eat a tree tomato. In these moments, laughter is a generous response. She let me in, helped me learn, and offered grace rather than judgment.
In global classrooms, humor can serve as more than entertainment. It can be a tool for empathy and engagement, if we use it wisely. Humor can be fragile too though - who gets to laugh and who gets laughed at? Jokes about religion or stereotypes can backfire. We should practice discernment, curiosity, and cultural humility in classrooms and in life. That means embracing what I’ll call “intercultural humor literacy,” - the ability to understand not just the joke, but the values and assumptions behind it.
In Piotr Pluta’s TEDx talk Intercultural guide to humor (at home and abroad), he shares how humor can reduce distance and build trust between cultures. Pluta explains how we can lose part of our personality in a new culture, because we miss casual interactions, like water cooler talk, and we fail to convey our own humor because the language or references are different. He challenges us to learn from our failures.
In the context of global education, this is incredibly useful to faculty who give lectures to diverse classrooms, to domestic students who meet international students new to the campus and country, and to students who study abroad and may feel disconnected. Practicing empathy in interactions, explaining background and context, and helping others learn through humor will do more for the confidence of a student than anything I’ve seen. As Pluta said, humor helps us show our personalities, and by doing so, we have given others insight into our lives, our cultures, our values, and our backgrounds.
Laughter creates permission to critique and to question. When a Lebanese student in one of my classes shared a joke about local politics, there were both giggles and questions: “Why is that taboo here? What does that say about local discourse?” Humor opened up a pathway to cultural literacy and reflection. Students notice how much meaning lies beyond words, in tone, in timing, in shared background.
Beyond building connection, humor plays an integral role in language acquisition. When students “get” a pun, they’re often decoding culture more than just learning new vocabulary. It builds confidence and invites playfulness in learning. If you’ve never mispronounced a foreign word into something accidentally vulgar, are you even trying?
The moment a student “gets” a joke in their non-native language or in a different culture also feels like a huge victory. Chinese jokes often rely on homophones and double-meanings, because the language is tonal. A mispronunciation, of which I had many, made my Chinese friends laugh, but I remember a time I understood! 我明白! (My cultural faux pas and the subsequent laughter at my expense appears to be a trend. I’ll take it if I can learn from it.)
Humor, when used thoughtfully, is a humanizing tool. It invites vulnerability, curiosity, and joy. It reminds us: we are fallible, we misinterpret, we bond in the unlikeliest moments. Like over a tree tomato. Which are delicious, if you eat them right.
So, laugh together, especially when things feel dark. Create spaces in global education where laughter is intentional, reflective, and curious, where one student’s pun becomes a lesson on worldview, and another’s use of irony becomes a window into power dynamics.
Humor is central to seeing each other as whole and complex. In dark times, laughter is radical. I have found myself seeking people, experiences, and entertainment that make me laugh more in the last few months than ever before. Across borders, humor is a bridge we build, one shared laugh at a time.
Below are some funny clips of some of my favorite comedians and shows, using language learning, context, intercultural misunderstandings, and culture to deepen our understanding of each other. Warning: some have NSFW language.
I’d love to hear what makes you laugh!