This activity mirrors the Eurovision song contest, except that instead of music the contestants are stand-up comics. The public give points out of 10, and the best joke wins the contest.

It's only a laugh! What does it matter if we tell jokes about other people? Don’t be so sensitive, just smile!
 

Issues addressed

• Stereotypes and prejudice
• How humour is often used to maintain or fuel prejudice
• How power relations, privileges and our language are related
• Personal responsibility to respond to situations we disagree with
   

Aims

• To explore the basis of our humour
• To be aware of the effects of jokes and words on us, on those targeted by the jokes / words, and on the society at large
• To develop responsibility for taking a stand against the use of problematic jokes and language

Preparation / Materials

• Gather a variety of jokes and expressions appropriate to your group. Six or eight will be sufficient. Print them out so you have them on slips of paper, and put them in a hat or bag.
• A large sheet of paper or flip chart and pen to mark up the scores.
• Arrange a stage for the stand-up performances

Instructions

1. Explain the concept of the Eurojoke contest and ask for volunteers to perform as stand-up comics. Everyone else is the public. The facilitator is the moderator and score-keeper.
2. Ask each volunteer to take one joke out of the hat and to prepare to tell it.
3. Invite the comedians, one at a time, to perform their joke.
4. After each joke comes the voting. Explain that, to make sure the votes are impartial, everyone must shut their eyes and, on your giving a count of three, they should rate the joke by giving it a score out of 10 with a show of fingers.
5. Keep track of the scores on the flip chart.

Debriefing and evaluation

• Did you enjoy this activity? How did you feel playing this game?
• Which joke won and why? Which joke got the least votes and why?
• How did you vote during the game? What criteria did you use to judge a joke?
• What makes a joke funny?
• Why do we tell jokes? Why do we enjoy them?
• Did any of the stand-up volunteers refuse to tell the joke they had picked? Why? Why not?
• Is there anybody who abstained (didn’t vote) at some point during the game? Which joke was that in relation to, and why did they not vote?
• Did anyone feel personally affronted by any of the jokes? If yes, why? What was offensive? How does it feel?
• In general, how do you feel when you hear jokes about something you feel strongly about? Give an example or instance, and say how you reacted.
• Do the groups who were targeted by the jokes today have anything in common?

At this point in the debriefing, begin to direct the discussion to humour in general:

• Do jokes and humour in general reveal anything about the stereotypes and prejudices, power relations or privileges in our society? What?
• What makes a joke unacceptable or at least problematic? Is it the intention of the speaker or the offence taken by the target?
• Is criticism of offensive humour justified?
• Is ridicule of politicians or authority justified? Why? Why not?
• Are there limits to what or who may be ridiculed? If so, what are they, how are they decided, and by whom?
• Much offensive material is spread on social media. Should this material be regulated? By whom?
• How do you react when somebody tells a joke or makes a comment that you find unacceptable?
• Do we have a responsibility to react in these situations? What should we do?
• What is the most important thing you want to do differently next time you are in such a situation?

Tips for the facilitators

The choice of jokes is crucial as it enables you to keep control of an activity which could easily get out of hand. There should also be a variety of jokes, from the marginally to definitively offensive, to help people reflect on why some are problematic and others are not.

Jokes could include those which target people belonging to specific ethnic groups, to religion, country, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, profession, body size and shape, abilities and disabilities, life styles, opinions, and taboo and sensitive subjects. The Internet is a rich source of potential material for this activity; search “XX jokes” or “jokes about XX”.

Beware of jokes which might deeply offend some members of the group and use them only if you consider the group is ready and if you can ensure a safe environment for processing their emotions and thoughts. On the other hand, you do need jokes that are going to provoke!

It's also interesting to look at jokes made about us by others. Can humour help us to see ourselves differently? Can we learn something from them? To take just one example, in France people tell jokes about Belgian people, so what jokes do the Belgians, or people of any other countries, make about the French?

For instance, there is this British joke: “Why do French people eat snails? They don't like fast food!” Is it funny? Why? Why not? What does it say about the French and British attitudes to food?

Variations

You may like to run this activity looking at cartoons or memes. In this case, you will need some means of projecting the images so that everyone can see them.

You may like to take a look at the board game ‘Cards against Humanity’ (available for free online), either for gathering samples for this activity, or for the group to play with a critical eye.

Suggestions for follow-up

Take action: Start a collection of jokes that make you laugh and give you something to reflect on. Here are two to get you started:

• Heaven is where: the police are British, the chefs are Italian, the mechanics are German, the lovers are French and it's all organised by the Swiss. Hell is where: the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and it's all organised by the Italians.
• It’s not fair. There should be gender equality in the prison population.

Alternatively, make up your own jokes or cartoons to share with other groups and organisations.

Move on to another activity: Look further at how we discriminate against certain groups and then blame them for it. Try ‘Do it!’'. Alternatively, explore ways of how to respond best in difficult situations, use ‘Sharing discrimination’.