1. What do Bulgarians laugh at?

2. When did you last celebrate the international day of humour? We did on 1st April, last week.

3. It’s no accident that we consider a celebration dedicated to humour a national one. Humour and laughter are national priorities in Bulgaria. We laugh a lot.

4.  We even have trendy laughter noises.  Some of these prove to be very annoying….  Especially for our teachers. Especially when we laugh noisily during lessons...  But we are only doing this for health reasons…  Remember? Laughter has great healing power!

5. Most often we laugh at ourselves…

6. … at the silly mistakes we make The note says ‘PARROT’

7. … at our ingenuity…

8. …. at our bad manners, at our ignorance… It should be ‘Senior Assistant’

9. And N1 reason why we don’t try to overcome these drawbacks is that we simply need them as our source of laughter! The name of the pub is ‘THE GREEN PUB’

10. HISTORICALLY THE MOST POPULAR SOURCE HISTORICALLY THE MOST POPULAR SOURCE OF LAUGHTER ARE THE JOKES FROM THE GABROVO REGION THEY RIDICULE THE EXCESSIVE THRIFTINESS OF GABROVIANS, WHICH THEY DISPLAY FROM THEIR YOUTH TILL THEIR OLD AGE.

12.  THROUGH THE YEARS GABROVIANS HAVEN’T CHANGED THEIR CHARACTER, SO JOKES ABOUT THEM ARE STILL BEING MADE.  FIVE YEARS AGO, A GABROVIAN WAS ELECTED MINISTER. THE MAYOR OF GABROVO DECIDED TO GIVE HIM A MERCEDES AS A TOKEN OF HIS APPRECIATION. THE MINISTER TURNED DOWN THE EXPENSIVE GIFT AS IT WAS AGAINST THE LAW. THEN THE MAYOR OFFERED TO SELL THE MERCEDES TO HIM FOR 20 EURO.  GREAT IDEA, SAID THE MINISTER. I’LL TAKE TWO.

13.  POLITICS AND POLITICIANS ARE A FAVOURITE SUBJECT OF JOKES. JOKES ARE PROVOKED NOT ONLY BY BULGARIAN POLITICIANS BUT BY THE DYNAMIC INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE PAST MONTHS.  THE SITUATION IN THE CRIMEA HAD AN UNEXPECTED IMPACT IN BULGARIA.  A FACEBOOK GROUP WAS STARTED WITH THE AIM TO ORGANISE A REFERNDUM FOR THE ANNEXATION OF BULGARIA BY THE PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO.  THE EXPECTED RESULT OF THE REFERENDUM IS 97% IN FAVOUR OF THE ANNEXATION.

14. Monte Carlovo is a blending of the name of Monte Carlo and the Bulgarian city of Karlovo.

15. WHILE DOING OUR RESEARCH FOR THIS PRESENTATION WE CAME ACROSS ONE VERY INTERESTING FACT. THE TARGET OF RIDICULE IN BULGARIAN JOKES ARE MOSTLY MEN. IS IT BECAUSE WOMEN IN OUR COUNTRY ARE PERFECT, OR BECAUSE ALL JOKES HAVE BEEN CREATED BY WOMEN?

17. IT IS THE SAME IN FOLKLORE. THE MOST POPULAR COMIC CHARACTERS IN BULGARIAN FOLKLORE ARE NASREDIN HODJA AND CLEVER PETER. THEY OFTEN PLAY TRICKS ON EACH OTHER, BUT WHEN THEY DECIDE TO TRICK A THIRD PERSON EVERYONE IS IN TROUBLE.

18.  CLEVER PETER AND NASREDIN HODJA BECAME BUSINESS PARTNERS. THEY BOUGHT A BARREL OF RAKIA AND STARTED SELLING IT. BUT THE BUSINESS DIDN’T GO WELL AND THEY COULDN’T SELL THE RAKIA.  AT SOME POINT NASREDIN, WHO HAD ONLY 1 LEV, FELT LIKE DRINKING RAKIA.  HE ASKED PETER TO GIVE HIM RAKIA FOR 1 LEV. PETER GAVE HIM SOME RAKIA AND TOOK HIS MONEY. AFTER SOME TIME PETER FELT THIRSTY. HE GAVE THE SAME LEV TO NASREDIN AND RECEIVED HIS PORTION OF RAKIA.  THEY WENT ON IN THIS MANNER TILL THEY FINISHED THE RAKIA AND DESTROYED THE BUSINESS.

19. IN LITERATURE THE MOST FAMOUS COMIC CHARACTER IS BAI GANYO. HE IS GREEDY, ARROGANT, DIRTY, UNREFINED TO A DEGREE THAT IS OFTEN NOT FUNNY, BUT REVOLTING. INTERESTINGLY, HE WAS CREATED BY THE AUTHOR ALEKO KONSTANTINOV SOON AFTER WE HAD REGAINED OUR INDEPENDENCE IN THE END OF THE 19 TH CENTURY. THE LITERARY WORKS IN WHICH HE APPEARS PROVE THE DRIVE OF OUR NATION TO ACQUIRE REFINED EUROPEAN MANNERS.

21. And now we’re going to take you on a tour round Bulgaria – the Mecca of hilarious notes.

22. In case of fire, break the lock!