Anastasiya Astapova Why All Dictators Have Moustaches: Political Jokes in Contemporary Belarus Abstract: Based on the repertoire of Belarusian oral political jokes collected between 2011 and 2013, this article compares contemporary Belarusian humor to the earlier Socialist and contemporary non-Belarusian jokes. During this study, I discovered that Belarusian oral jokes mostly have versions created through various schemes of adaptation in other countries and about other figures (not necessarily political). The continuity goes far beyond the exchange of jokes between dictator- ships (as it may initially seem after the comparison of Belarusian and Socialist jokes). I also discovered that Belarusian oral jokes are mostly authoritarian – ridiculing the regime and the president, unlike post-totalitarian ones targeting ideology. Finally, drawing from the emic perspective which coins many more forms and themes as the markers of political jokes than the scholars usually do, I show how expansive the notion of political humor may be. Keywords: political joke, authoritarian joke, Belarusian joke, oral vs. Internet humor, emic perspective on joke DOI 10.1515/humor-2014-0142 1 From the socialist past As is widely known, it was not only the telling of political jokes that was punishable in the Soviet Union 1 : listening and responding to the joke appro- priately with laughter or failing to report the teller to the authorities were also subject to punishment. It has been generally accepted that the political joke flourished in such circumstances despite the fear of punishment. Soviet and Anastasiya Astapova, Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu, Ülikooli 18, Tartu 50090, Estonia, E-mail: anastasiya.ast@gmail.com 1 Article 58.10. Anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation. At least six months imprisonment. In conditions of unrest or war, same as 58.2 – up to death with confiscation, including formal recognition as “enemy of the workers”. Humor 2015; 28(1): 71–91 Authenticated | anastasiya.ast@gmail.com author's copy Download Date | 2/5/15 10:08 PM