What
Makes Us Laugh?
A Journey Through Humor
Monday Talk: Mon 3 February 2025
7 pm (Beirut Time GMT+2)
Speaker: Oussama Nasr (English)
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The Talk
When
do we ‘get’ humor? Why do we need it? When is humor out of place, if ever? What
does it tell us about ourselves that we find some pretty awful events and
scenes funny?
How is it that we can laugh uproariously at jokes about war, religious strife,
persecution and death? What about being “politically correct” in humor? Is that
possible? Are some nations funnier than others and if so, is there a possible
explanation? Does good humor correlate with/result from difficult or
under-privileged lives?
Oussama will lead us through this interesting maze of questions.
Personal
profile: Oussama A. Nasr has worked for 38 years as a
lawyer, banker, financial trainer and consultant in New York City and Beirut.
He began his career at a large law firm in New York City, then joined an investment
bank, before establishing his finance consultancy 27 years ago with a small
number of close colleagues.
Since youth Oussama has been interested in the questions addressed in this
talk, going so far as to conclude that laughter and the enjoyment of jokes are among
the principal building blocks for happiness. Indeed in dedicating his recent
book on financial markets to his 3 daughters, he cited specifically their love,
their charm and their sense of humor (and only these 3 traits) as the ones he
particularly adored in them.
As a young lad Oussama was often criticized within his family for having no
sense of humor, prompting him to work very hard to ‘develop’ one as he grew
older. Whether one can really work on one’s sense of humor is something that will
be discussed in the talk.
Oussama holds BA and MA degrees from the University of Cambridge in Mathematics
and Philosophy and a Juris Doctor degree from Cornell Law School.