I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this game. We play a fun game most every week that’s pretty self-explanatory, called “Guess The Country“. There was the one about a man who snuck out a gigantic whale tooth from a museum that was pretty easy (Norway). And the one about the pet kangaroo that went on an underwear-stealing spree that was hard (Czech Republic). No matter what, winning requires a grasp of what’s unique in the world, what’s embarrassing and idiosyncratic and weird. That’s the joy of bizarre international news stories (in case you hadn’t noticed).

So it’s an microcosm of our entire show, is what I’m saying. I encourage you to play along by calling in, texting, or chatting your answer. There are prizes after all. And stereotyping huge swaths of humanity is good clean fun.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that there are funny pictures below. They have a simple format:

See that? This is an easy one. You’ve heard of Ireland. Ireland has redheads. Lots of redheads, it seems. At the risk of explaining the joke: where else besides top-o-the-mornin’ begorra Ireland would you find so many bloody redheads just standing around?

Let’s try another:

Ok. That one’s good in a bad way. Or bad in a good way; I’m not sure. Either way, I hope you get this one, because it’s pretty funny.

How about this one:

Wait… what? Oh, you didn’t know that about Liechtenstein? Yeah. Right next to notorious chocolate-hustler Switzerland — their most important trading partner. They’re crazy for that stuff (so I’m told).

Would you have gotten this if it were a Guess The Country question? Even with that big fake “Fürstentum Liechtenstein” sign? My guess is maybe not, because Liechtenstein doesn’t matter much to people outside Liechtenstein. Seriously. As a result, I think it’s probably not as funny — less ha! and more huh?

Now, if you’re American and want a bit of self-reflective and cringe-inducing humor, google “Meanwhile in America” sometime. You won’t learn anything new, really — but you will be reminded what the rest of the world thinks about you. I’m sure you’re familiar with the material…

Here’s an interesting generalization: the more you know about a culture, the more you can enjoy the jokes… and the more jokes out there, the more relevant a culture is. The fewer jokes… well, that place isn’t as important, is it? Doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile, or even interesting, just… less important. Kinda sad, actually.

There’s an awesome project called Mapping Stereotypes that is exactly what you’d expect it is. A great example of funny-because-it’s-true humor. Compare and contrast with a collection of “Meanwhile In” macros for every country in Europe. Hell, there’s thousands of versions out there, some of which are even good. Maybe I’ve even made some of them. Maybe. The thing is: I can’t come up with a better method for understanding places you hadn’t even heard of yesterday than by looking at funny pictures on the Internet today.

And hey, doing so might give you a little more preparation for when some jerk quizzes you on funny news stories. I think I’ve made my point.

Ok ready for a whirlwind worldwide tour? Let’s make with the funny…

(This next one? Precious.)

…oops how did that get in here?

Here’s a new one:

Of course, I couldn’t help but include this one:

What’s that you say? “I don’t get it”, you say? Stop whining and tune in to our dumb show! You may just learn something. Apologies in advance if that happens.