[Insert segue if you feel like it] anyway, here are some анекдоты, or Soviet jokes. Humor develops in interesting ways under totalitarian regimes; Stalinism in particular led to some excellent gallows humor. An off-color joke could earn a lengthy prison sentence, so that punchline had better be worth it. Some reports state that upwards of 200,000 people were sent to the labor camps for telling jokes during Stalin’s rule (see this dissertation, page 18 of the PDF [page 8 of the actual dissertation]). Some examples:

“On a visit to a collective farm Khrushchev is chatting paternally with the farmers. ‘So how’s life?’ Khrushchev jokes. ‘Life’s great!’ the farmers joke back.”

“Brezhnev is giving a speech at the Moscow Olympics. ‘O….’ he says slowly, to applause. ‘O….’ even more applause. ‘O….’ the entire audience is on their feet, cheering. An aide runs in. “Comrade Brezhnev! Comrade Brezhnev! That’s not the teleprompter, those are the Olympic rings!”

“In a prison all the jokes have been told a thousand times, so the inmates number them so as not to waste time. ‘Number 67!’ Laughter. ‘Number 52!’ Laughter. ‘Number 41!’ One of the inmates starts laughing like mad. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ ‘I never heard that one before!’”

“Bear and Fox are sitting on the river bank. Hare comes up and asks: ‘Guys! Do you have any glue?’ ‘No,’ they answer. Hare runs off for a minute, comes back with a bottle of glue, and says: ‘Here you go.’”

“‘A joke’s a joke, but that’s enough!’ says Brezhnev, moving his eyebrows back down to his upper lip.”

For a good list, you can read the Wikipedia page for Russian political jokes.

See you all at practice, Lev “Sentenced to 25 Years for Violation of Article 58” Bernstein Secretary, Quiz Bowl at Radio Yerevan, 1922-1991