“The best laugh in the world, is laughing at things that are unhappy. And there's probably a certain level of that in Northern Ireland, a laughing-at-things-that-are-bad.”

Mark McCleary grew up in Northern Ireland during “The Troubles” — a 30-year conflict where humor became a coping mechanism for many to simply get through the day. These jokes live on, he points out, with nuances that hint at the complexity of identity as a Protestant living in Northern Ireland today.