SUMMARY:

Among its various activities, the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University holds a weekly Colloquia Series, in which invited speakers present formal papers on themes chosen for that year. In spring 2021, the topic of the series is “Authoritarian Laughter: From a Joke to a Revolution.” On March 15, the Lithuanian artist, caricaturist, watercolor painter, and educator Kęstutis K. Šiaulytis spoke at the colloquium about the Soviet Lithuanian satire and humor magazine Broom (Šluota). The Q&A session from the event is published in this issue of Ab Imperio. The questions pertain to Šiaulytis’s experience of working for a Soviet humor magazine, the boundaries of legal humor and satire during the late Soviet period, and the specifics of Lithuanian national humor at the time.