Have you ever wondered what the jokes in one country’s popular TV show sound like to people in another country? Well the producers of the popular American TV show “Everybody Loves Raymond” recently discovered that what is considered humor in one country is not always as funny for audiences in another country. In a recent documentary film, “Exporting Raymond”, the American producers share their experiences during the recreation of the Russian version of the show. The film revealed something unexpected – humor in translating humor. Despite the fact that the show is now extremely popular in Russia, while creating “Everybody Loves Kostya”, the American and Russian producers came upon many snags when it comes to translating humor.
Localizing and Translating Humor
Among the funniest moments between the Russian and American producers, at least for those of us not involved directly, is a scene when the Russian Raymond (Kostya) gets kicked in the groin and writhes on the floor endlessly. Although this is typically funny among Russian audiences, the American producers could not fathom why this scene was recreated in this manner. They tried hopelessly to explain that this was not supposed to happen, afraid that no one would find it funny…what they did not understand was that the Russians actually found this scene particularly funny!
On the other hand, when Raymond says to his stay-at-home wife “You wouldn’t understand because you are not wo wo wo…. “(In an attempt to stop himself from saying the word ‘working’ he stutters as his wife glares at him) the Russian producers could not for the life of them understand why American audiences found this humorous. In fact they found it somewhat idiotic and said so “What is funny about this? But this just sounds plain stupid!???”
To understand just how differently audiences in different countries interpret humor, one must know something about the cultural context within which it will be perceived. This in turn explains why dubbed American serials have not been successful in most other parts of the world. Since the humor in these shows is based entirely on American culture, it is completely lost on most other audiences. Thus, each country must adjust their version of the show and interject their own cultural perspective on what is funny in order to have a successful rating from their viewers. It should be noted that although the initial reshooting of the Russian version got off to a humorously bumpy start, the show turned out to be one of the most popular shows in the country.
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