ELI Workshop: What Are You Laughing At? Understanding American Humor

Do you find yourself feeling lost when people around you are laughing and you seem to have missed the joke? Humor is an important part of communication but can be a challenge to understand. Ideas about what is funny vary greatly from culture to culture. Jokes can include tricky wordplay and idiomatic expressions. Yet ‘getting’ humor can support academic, social and professional success. This small interactive workshop explores common types of humor and current examples of popular U.S. humor, followed by analysis and discussion of what makes the content funny. Please come prepared to participate actively in small group discussions (and to laugh)!