Funny Foreigner Jokes

Available for over a year

Not all joke varieties are good and healthy. Jokes about funny foreigners sail dangerously close to a wind that can take them into the territory of xenophobic punching down, especially when the teller of the joke is assuming a sense of superiority. But they have a history, a long history, and with the help of Professor Laura Ashe of Oxford University, Ian unearths an example from the 12th century. It's of a sideswipe at the Welsh, by way of an equal sideswipe at Cistercian monks. It might easily have been a joke about the French, another frequent target of early medieval humour, but it isn't. Nor is it entirely belittling, which as Ian discovers, is the ingredient that allows the funny foreigner joke to survive in some form to the present day. He also talks to Al Murray, aka the Pub Landlord, who often operates in this field and seeks to avoid the many attendant pitfalls. Producer: Tom Alban