Pretty much every European country has an Onion
December 28, 2024 1:21 PM   Subscribe

Taking in all these jokes, and bearing in mind that I do not know the context, the culture, and the endless parade of satirical publications and their endless series of jokes of this caliber — jokes I do not take in, cannot take in — gives me a sense of the complexity, multiplicity and size of Europe, a vastness I quite often lose sight of when I take in news about Berlin or Brussels, when I read about Macron or about Rutte, now Secretary general of NATO. Europe! Just a continent full of people who apparently laugh at things that few others can understand. from Funny haha by Jan van Tienen [The European Review of Books]
posted by chavenet (5 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
This article has notes of “have I wasted my life”, but I found it charming. There’s something delightful about looking at Europe through its knockoffs of the Onion.
posted by Kattullus at 2:24 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]


Enjoyed the examples of various EU countries' jokes, and snorted at the 'Ameland' joke. Thanks for sharing!

I occasionally read De Speld but had not heard of the international ones. Reminds me of the time the 'The Netherlands Second' (Trump parody) video went viral a few years ago, and many Daily Show-type comedy shows all made their own parody along the same lines.

There are also the various Taskmaster spinoffs, which have given me a real insight into the Scandinavian mind. Some Norwegians' first instinct seems to be to always to add fire to a situation, and nobody knows how to use a siphon. Although New Zealand might be my favourite international version.

Interesting to find that these publications are sharing jokes. But then again, I'm reminded every Eurovision that senses of humor vary a lot between countries. It's a big continent!
posted by kwartel at 2:35 PM on December 28 [6 favorites]


(Germans, in my anecdotal experience, write longer satirical pieces than the Dutch do. Not for nothing does « Brevity is the soul of wit » translate into German as « Es ist allgemein bekannt, dass die Essenz geistreicher Bemerkungen nicht in ihrer ausufernden Länge liegt, sondern vielmehr in der kunstvollen Fähigkeit, eine tiefgründige Weisheit in möglichst wenigen, wohl gewählten Worten zum Ausdruck zu bringen. »)

oh my
posted by ginger.beef at 3:05 PM on December 28 [6 favorites]


Ok but the title confused me and now I want to read about the heirloom national onion variety of Poland vs France!
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:44 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]


In der Kürze liegt die Würze.

For the record.

The article could have benefitted from a few more references to specific titles. And at least alluded to the fact that Europe has a long history of satiric magazines.

Curious to know how much of the different works cited are considered by natives to be zingers or just lame. Comedy is hard.
posted by BWA at 5:18 AM on December 29


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