This article first appeared on October 16th, 2011.
A Melbourne university recently ran a workshop to teach its international students the logic of Australian humour, highlighting the level of interest in quirkier aspects of Australian culture.
Hundreds of Russian, Indian, African and Chinese students at Swinburne University attended a lecture that attempted to explain the various elements of Aussie humour.
Michael Connell, a comedian and communications student, was tasked with explaining Aussie wit to students who mostly speak English as a second language.
“I thought the idea was a bit crazy at first,” Connell says.
However, he can understand why foreign students get confused when someone cracks a joke.
“We call people with red hair bluey and if we think someone’s being an idiot, we’ll sarcastically call him a legend,” he says.
The workshop included examples of bush poetry, a breakdown of slang and lame bar jokes. Clips of Lano and Woodley, Charlie Pickering and Scared Weird Little Guys were also shown.
With people of so many different backgrounds now calling Australia home, it seems only natural that these sorts of classes will catch on. Perhaps there’s another element of Australian culture you can cash in on.
