Current research on laughter provides careful analysis of mockery and the use of laughter to establish social status and in-group membership. This chapter seeks to understand laughter in a context of international and non-Western perspectives, including African and Indigenous theories of laughter and the implications of laughter for acceptance in groups and maintenance of friendships. A variety of studies have focused on education, including quantitative and qualitative studies of how laughter affects memory. These studies can be compared with international theories of laughter to help us better understand what we mean by healthy laughter and self-deprecation in a variety of social contexts.