TURKEY: Exit Laughter

First Comedian: I feel so terrible, I think I'll jump into the Bosporus.

Second Comedian: Buck up. Go home, have a drink of raki, eat some good white cheese and meat, put plenty of butter on your bread, relax, have a good cigarette and give thanks for a roof over your head. Tomorrow you'll feel fine.

First Comedian: But that's just the trouble. It's thinking about high rent, the rising prices of cheese, meat, butter, raki and cigarettes that makes me want to jump into the Bosporus.

Such jokes did not have to be very funny to evoke bitter laughter from Turks...

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