Laughing at Death
Humor in the Face of Mortality

Convened by

Viktoria Räuchle
Senior Fellow 2025–2026

Details

Venue & accessibility info: Meridian Hall, Collegium Helveticum, Zurich

Participation is free of charge.
Please register your interest in attending the event here. 

The panel discussion will be followed by a reception—a “funeral feast”—in the Rudolf Wolf Room.

Humor in the face of death is a deeply human and culturally widespread phenomenon. Across time and cultures, laughter has served as a way to confront, understand, and even domesticate mortality.

The paradoxical impulse to laugh at death takes many forms: witty grave inscriptions, gallows humor, jokes in eulogies, satire on mourning, and the comic imagery of funerary art. These expressions do not deny the gravity of death and loss; rather, they offer a form of catharsis, helping individuals and communities face fear through the ludic.

Building on these observations, this panel discussion brings together four disciplinary perspectives to discuss the phenomenon across time. After a brief introductory talk, a panel discussion will unite participants from various fields, each presenting a short example from their own area of expertise. Together, the participants explore how humor, irony, and satire have shaped human encounters with mortality throughout history and across cultures.

Program

Recording

In partnership with

Zurich Center for the Study of the Ancient World
University of Zurich, CH

Friedhof Forum
Stadt Zürich