Humour is, it seems, a constant presence in life even in the most dire situations. As neweurasia’s latest cross-blog survey shows, humour in Central Asia takes many forms and expressions, though, as might be expected, political satire features prominently.

Over on the Kazakhstan blog, Adam kicks off the survey with an article looking at popular jokes and anecdotes in Kazakhstan (ENG, RUS). Meanwhile on the Kazakh-language blog, Askhat interviews humorist and blogger tehosyndrom, who believes the internet is the only place left that is free of an official presence (KZ). Askhat has also has photographic evidence of people’s efforts to fulfil President Nazarbaev’s development strategy “Kazakhstan 2030″ (KZ). Also, although not technically part of the survey, Kamneed’s latest Friday Photo is worthy of a mention for the bizarreness of the photos that will raise a smile with anyone acquainted with everyday life in Central Asia (RUS – but pictures don’t need translating).

Moving south to Kyrgyzstan, Asel introduces the phenomenon of internet humour, noting how political humour has become increasingly popular after the events of March 2005 and the so-called Tulip Revolution (ENG). Mirsulzhan continues the theme with a clip from Video.kg showing how popular culture references are used to create political satire, in this case targeting well-known politicians including President Bakiev and ex-speaker Omurbek Tekebaev (RUS).

Unsurprisingly given the political situation in Uzbekistan, satire very much of the laughter through tears sort is the order of the day. Kamron looks at possible scenarios for Uzbekistan’s future up to 2015 as a logical but ridiculous extension of reforms that are currently being discussed (RUS), while Erkin considers the Uzbek elections experience from the point of view of a young farmer (UZ) Feministka takes an ironic look at what would happen if men and women swapped places (RUS), and Zingy recounts an encounter with a fortune teller in Jizzak region (ENG).

On the Turkmenistan blog meanwhile, Abdulgamid chooses a different target for his sharp satire in the form of a review of the infamous film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”. With arguably as many jokes and certainly as much innuendo as the film itself, Abdulgamid argues that the film has made us all look like fools – or, to use a more entertaining image from a Russian idiom, “has hung a noodle over everybody’s ear”. See if you agree (RUS, ENG).

Finally, our Tajik bridge blogger Vadim writes about Hoja Nasridin, also known as Afandi, and shares some stories about this well-known figure (ENG), while Roma reckons that no-one laughs like the Tajik do (RUS).