Clichés around the world. Do Belgians really have a sense of humor?

In Brussels, you can’t miss it: on pubs and storefronts, humor is displayed everywhere in the city. There is, for example, a sandwich shop called “Jeanbon”, a poke bowl restaurant called “Râle-bol”, or this stuffed cat perched on a tree branch with a poster underneath. which asks in large letters: “Would you save that cat?” Then, below, in very small letters: “Then apply on firefighters.brussels.”

Humor ? Self-mockery? Art of laughing and making people laugh? What do interested parties think? Inno JP is a Belgian humorist and he performs at the Comedy Club: “The cliche is true! We basically make fun of ourselves. We don’t take ourselves seriously, we are sometimes in the second degree. It’s hard to be proud of it, but yes, Belgians have a sense of humor!”

An opinion shared by his evening spectators. “Maybe the self-mockery is purely Belgian?asks one. “We laugh easily and we don’t take the lead”, assures another, laughing. On such an important subject, the Brussels residents Eloïse and Barbara agree to take the lead and rack their brains. “It’s a way of looking at life, a way of living. It’s an abstract look at things”they theorize.

“It may be because of the lack of a common culture in Belgium. We are very accommodating in our country because of these differences in culture, it is better to laugh about it.”

Eloise and Barbara

at franceinfo

“We don’t take ourselves seriously and that’s sometimes what differentiates us a lot from the Frenchestimates Cédric Vantroyen, the boss of the theater. Humor is part of our DNA.” And this is not the case only in French-speaking Belgium. For this specialist in the subject, the Flemings are not the last to laugh either.