AFM: What Do Audiences Want?

“Everybody laughs the same in every language because laughter is a universal connection.” So said , the Russian-born standup comic who immigrated from the Soviet Union in the mid-70s and went on to become a cold-war-era hit in the US.

But such belief in the power of comedy didn’t begin with Yakov. Years earlier, comedian Red Skelton performed a series of pantomime skits at the United Nations. The show, which later aired on CBS, was titled Laughter, the Universal Language.

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