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From musical jokes and harmless limericks to the offence that can be caused by religious, sexual or racist humour, Mark Tully asks what makes us laugh, when it's OK to find something funny, and when a joke goes too far.

It's not always easy to draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable humour. For many, ethnic humour is inevitably racial humour and therefore automatically forbidden. But is it always as straightforward as that? With sociologist Christie Davies, Mark discusses how different nations form their own brand of jokes, how stereotypes emerge and how some groups become targets for humour.

Gilbert and Sullivan help us to laugh at those in authority, Daphne Du Maurier makes us squirm at the cruelty of a practical joke, and Mozart's Divertimento for Two Horns and String Quartet provides the punchline.

Produced by Adam Fowler
A Unique production for Â鶹Éç Radio 4.