What joke would you tell the Dalai Lama?
Nowadays many people – buyers included, or perhaps especially – find their professional life leads them to speak, meet, liaise and do business with people from all corners of the globe.
For these relationships to be a success, a degree of cultural sensitivity and awareness is essential.
So spare a thought for Australian TV presenter Karl Stefanovic who opened his interview with the Dalai Lama with a joke that absolutely bombed.
He said: “So the Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop and says ‘can you make me one with everything’?”
He then waited for the reaction of his holiness, which was, well, blank.
Stefanovic tried again, this time adding gestures which helped, but what actually made the leader laugh was when Stefanovic burst out laughing while blaming himself for how badly it went. “I knew that wouldn’t work,” he chortled.
While this incident may have led to international embarrassment for Stefanovic, apparently the joke’s purpose was to put his interviewee at ease, so in that sense, perhaps it was a success after all.
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Having seen the Dalai Lama speak (on his last trip to Australia in 2007) I know he’ll have been keen to understand what was being said, often using a translator to ensure he doesn’t miss anything from his own understanding. However I have never seen anyone speaking with more of a playful side to his nature than him – other than perhaps Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama told us about when he tickled Desmond when he was speaking to an audience. So I’d suggest whilst Stefanovic and the media’s may be continue to emphasise the embarrassment I’m sure the Dalai Lama will have moved on remembering only the laughter.
Namaste
The interview revealed using body language as alternative in case of failing to communicate with the other. Dalai Lama had not caught the sense of humour behind. The presentator had over-estimated Dalai’s linguistic skills even though being a Nobel Prize winner.
It seems a totally inappropriate joke, and not even a funny one, so I suppose the lesson would be ‘ know your audience, and write a script accordingly’, how can this TV presenter be taken seriously, a listener like that deserves more respect, and a more meaningful dialogue !