French Humour

Theodore Zeldin once said that nothing separates people more than their sense of humour and one thing's for sure is that the French sense of humour is completely different to ours. What I think is hysterically funny can be met with a blank stare or what they think is off the Richter scale of Humour, is just not in the least bit amusing to me. Jokes never translate from one language to another as there is usually a play on words or a cultural reference that we would never get as we haven't grown up in the same country and don't have the same cultural and social history. Many's the time I've felt I needed to explain some witty remark as it drops like the proverbial lead balloon. Boom Booooooooooommmmmmm...
Unlike the Irish, The French will never ever take the piss out of themselves .. they like to take the piss out of others .. other nationalities, other accents ( I know all about this!!!) or anyone who is "different" to them. They like to joke about sex and bodily functions, anything slapstick also cracks them up. I could tell the wittiest, funniest joke ever and it would be met with a shrug, but if I fall off the chair, why that is just priceless!!!! Boom Boom!!
That is why perhaps Rémi Gaillard is so popular , he's a guy from Montpellier who is hugely popular in France with his video gags. Some of his most famous pranks were 

• Stealing someone's lottery ticket and appearing to have won;
• Dressing as a chicken and laying flowers in front of roasting chickens
• Dressing up as a kangaroo and pushing people into a lake
• Pretending to be a well known soccer player and meeting the president of France
• Dressing up a giant spider and frightening the living bejasus out of people...

He is one of the biggest stars of Youtube and is a cult figure in France. HE is funny! See his latest escapade here:

BOOM BOOM!!