People who took their place opposite him one by one, clutching a scrap of paper bearing the address of an overseas relative or else the business card of some European traveller, unwittingly exchanged in a moment of good humour for a lifetime of another person's hopes.

NPR: 'Ancestor Stones:' Life and War in Sierra Leone

My one shot at fame had been cruelly stopped short, but somehow I knew that such matters were superficial on a weekend when 25, 000 people gather in a spirit of generosity and good humour - even in the face of an English summer.

BBC: Confessions of a Womad DJ

Generally when the sons and daughters of Australian immigrants appear on prime-time reality television shows it is with a cooking utensil or a recipe in hand (good food, combined with self-deprecatory humour, have long offered new arrivals here the quickest route to acceptance and assimilation).

BBC: Reality TV tackles immigration

And the pervading feel-good factor of humour suggests that stand-up comedy may well survive in a global climate that provides so little else to laugh at.

ECONOMIST: Cracking jokes the world over