Westerners believe that Russians are gloomy and reserved, but nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, the latest poll by WCIOM shows that 97% of citizens of Russia believe that they have a sense of humour.
97% of Russians believe they have a sense of humour
Among the 97% of fun-loving respondents of the survey, 38% of them consider themselves really funny. Males tend to estimate their ability to joke higher than women (41% vs. 35%) and younger people tend to think of themselves as great comedians more often. Higher educated people also think they are funnier.
- 48% of locals believe they are perfectly able to tell a joke and understand humour of others. 11% think they have this ability, but in a smaller degree.
- Only 2% of respondents in the research said they have no sense of humour.
These funny serious Russians
At the same time, 82% of respondents stated their family and friends are serious people. But it’s quite typical for them to joke and poke fun (56% said so).
Every second respondent (54%) admitted that they made jokes in the last few days. Only one in 10 people could not remember when he shared a funny story with others.
What people in Russia joke about
The most popular topics for laughs among locals are life and daily events (12%) and politics (7%). Historical events, crime and sex are not as funny, apparently: Less than 1% find such topics fun enough to joke about.
Other topics to make fun and how popular they are:
- Life and daily routines: 12%
- Politics: 7%
- Animals: 4%
- Family, romantic relationships: 3%
- In-laws relationships: 3%
- Professionals: 3%
- Kids: 3%
- About different nationalities: 3%
- Anything: 3%
- Other: 16%
- Hard to answer: 61%
Apparently, most locals find it hard to answer which topics they find the funniest. They are probably happy to candidly discuss anything.
Do you think that people from Russia have a good sense of humour? Tell us about your experience!
Read also:
- 50 Russian jokes
- 33 Russian jokes about men and women, love, and life
- 88 famous Russian proverbs and sayings, and their meanings
- What Russia is known for? 10 things that Russians are proud of
I feel like among all of my foreigner friends, russians are truly the funniest, even if they humour does have a “dark” note to it that may not suit everyone. The only thing that bothers me is how often their humour may be intollerant and offensive to others
Certainly, Russia is a nation of the best humour in the world. And Russian jokes are very smart and logic. There is nothing about black humour or jokes about suffering people. Finally, as statistics show all people around the world understand our humour and it seems very funny for everyone indeed.
Anastasiatikh,
I am trying to translate jokes from the site Anekdot.ru to my husband and he thinks that Russian humor is very dark and different type of humor, it’s more about how life really is. It’s sarcastic and cynical, that’s what he calls it.
In my opinion, all Russian people have a sense of humor, despite their age and well-being. All people living in Russia are very optimistic and cheerful. Every tourist who visits Russia will confirm this to you.
Yeezi, Russians are not optimistic. They always see something wrong in a situation or thing, typically, no matter how small, and make a big fuss about it. But Russians can be very open, warm and welcoming, once you get to know them and they see you as a friend. However, to people they see as strangers, Russians are not friendly at all. It’s different in western countries where people treat you similar, whether they know you closely or not, you are treated nearly equally friendly. It’s probably hard for you to understand if you haven’t lived in a small town… Read more »
The Russians have different sense of humour. For my part, I can not understand the French humorists, even if I understand all the words, there is nothing there to make me laugh. Or their vulgar comedies (not all !) that are simply chocking for us. My French friends consider the Russians as serious people, never smiling, all this because we don’t laugh at silly jokes. My ex French husband often said about me : “You laugh only when two dogs are quarrelling.”
Russian humour is greatest as they are known to have the world’s funniest comedians and leading comedy shows
😀 😀 😀
For the purpose of clarification, my comment about best and funniest comedy amd comedians was purely SARCASM… just saying
Do you only get your own humor? LOL
The reason why you are not aware of Russian comedians and comedies is the same why you are not aware of Japanese or Chinese comedies, unless the actor speaks English and participated in an American or UK production. You are simply limited to people speaking English. It’s not that these nations don’t have humor or great comedies, it’s just your cultural experience is limited by your knowledge of languages.
Just saying, Dude…
My cultural experience isn’t just limited to the English language. Maybe I forgot to mention that I’ve visited Ukraine eleven times over the last few years, including staying there for over six months on my last visit? I’ve seen the local comedy shows, Russian included. I might have spoken to people in Kyiv and from regional cities regularly during that time. I might well have also been to many lunch and dinner invitations from different demographics all over the country and been part of many a mealtime conversation and anecdote sharing sessions. Ah yes, did I forget to mention that… Read more »
Dude, what can I say? 😀 You’ve spent this much time in Ukraine (BTW, Ukraine is NOT Russia, LOL) and you didn’t manage to get the humor, that’s cultural insensitivity times arrogance. The jokes we publish on this site are hilarious in Russian (we copy posts on the Russian blog for women) and girls comment on the great selection. I guess, it’s your loss! BTW: Russians also don’t get what’s funny about a man falling and hitting his head, the perk of many English comedies. My husband tells be that Russian humor is “not humor, it’s just dark comments about… Read more »
I heard a joke in Russian: A man climbs Everest with his friend. At the summit he says to his friend, “I hate my new apartment. I live on the 5th floor and there is no lift.”