The first noble truth in Buddhism claims that stress, anxiety and dissatisfaction are fundamental to the human condition. Any good comedian knows this, and making jokes about these feelings usually gets big laughs. Humor helps us confront the awkward fact that suffering — referred to as dukkha by Buddhists — is unavoidable in life.

Based on his similar presentation at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, Christopher Kelley explores how comedy and Buddhism can intertwine to help us understand and mitigate the causes of suffering.