A performer brought a character named Helga to a company show for a culturally diverse audience where many spouses didn't speak English. People who couldn't understand the jokes still laughed together, proving humor works across language barriers when it taps into shared experience.
I did a show where everybody in the audience was of a different culture. Even from each other, they weren't all from the same country, and their wives didn't speak English. And the second part of the show, I got up, I did this character named Helga who told men where to go and how to get there. And I had been in communication with the bosses before and asked them if they would participate. Well, the gentlemen that stayed in the room who worked for the company, 'cause their wives went into the foyer and just started chatting, so that was a bonus because they couldn't understand me anyway. Plus, they wouldn't have gotten those in-jokes. But everybody was able to laugh at or with the boss. And it wasn't a language thing. It was a shared experience again about their humour. To me, that's the big takeaway for this episode is when you're looking at comedy within the workplace, you really are looking for shared experiences because that's how you build a connection and a confidence.
