Karaz w  Laimoon

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.

Oussama A. Nasr

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.