Russian Humour

One of my favourites is about soup.
Everyone in Russia knows that soup is at its best the day after it is made.
"Would you like some of yesterday's soup?"
"Oh, yes please!"
"Well come back tomorrow. I've just made it."

There is a lot of humour about the trials of life and its misfortunes:

Political candidate making speech - "Whilst in power my rival robbed the people of everything to make himself rich. I implore you to now give me a chance."
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Politician -"The banking crisis is over and the customers having nothing to lose."
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'It's as crazy as advertising vodka.'
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'No matter how much vodka I drink my body is still 80% water. I keep trying though.'

There is a lot of dark humour:

"Oh husband why are you beating me. I've done nothing wrong."
"I know. If you had then I would kill you."

and

"Husband I have a terrible pain in my head."
"Good. I have no need to hit it with the pan."

(n.b. There is no evidence to suggest that Russian men beat their wives. No more than any other nation!)

The language does not allow me to fully appreciate the stand-up comedians on the TV but I see a lot of physical humour in the acts - a lot of clowning.

Communist joke:
A train breaks down in the middle of Siberia.
Leninist: "The noble communist railway engineers will work costantly and diligently until the train moves again."
Stalinist: "The railway engineers are useless. Shoot them and find some more."
Neo communist: "Let's shut the curtains, go chuff-chuff-chuff, and pretend the train is still moving."

A favourite film from 1975 is a story about the uniformity of life in Soviet Russia. A man gets drunk with his friends. He ends up on a 'plane from Moscow to St Petersburg. When he gets there (still drunk) he tells the taxi his address. The taxi takes him to an identical block on an identical street. He enters an identical hallway with the same piles of clutter. He finds a door identical to his own and (eventually) the key fits! He enters and the furniture and layout are identical to his own in Moscow. When the (very pretty) owner arrives he tells her to get out of his house. The love story then gets going.