If you find yourself in France and the name Brian pops up, there’s a good chance it’ll be met with the question, “Where is Brian?” There is only one correct answer to this question: “Brian is in the kitchen.”

But…why is this the correct answer? And how is this a joke? To get to the bottom of this quandary, you’ll have to go back in time to the 1970s, or to a video posted on Instagram by travel content creator Roya Fox.

As Fox explains in the clip, “Where is Brian?” is one of France’s most famous jokes, which references a widely popular vintage English-speaking textbook for 6th graders, titled méthode Speak English Classe de 6e.

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One of the exercises in this textbook had students listen to an audio that asked various questions, then prompted them to use the images in the book to answer the questions. One of the prompts was “Where is Brian?” And, judging by the image in the book, students are supposed to answer, “Brian is in the kitchen.”

But what really made this a joke was comedian Gad Elmaleh, who, in the early 2000s, created a mega-popular standup bit featuring that “existential” Brian question, which he said “traumatized” him.

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Because of Elmaleh, Fox says this joke became “universally known.” So now, a French person is very likely to ask this question when they meet an English speaker, and saying “he is in the kitchen” is nearly a surefire way for that English speaker to become “best friends” with that French person.

This wouldn’t be the only time Elmaleh has made funny observations about the “absurdities” of the English language, either. In an interview with Conan O’Brien back in 2018, he poked fun at how English speakers love to use extremely vague words like “bunch of stuff,” and “toddler,” which seemingly has no distinct age group.

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And if you think Brian is the only boy name to be the butt of a French joke, guess again! In a subsequent clip, Fox shared how the name Kevin is so hated there that it lowered someone's chances of being hired for a job.

Interestingly, Kevin was once the “single most popular name” in the country, said Fox. But, thanks to its solid placement in American pop culture (think Home Alone and Kevin Bacon), in addition to it not being passed down from the bourgeoisie like most French names, Kevin eventually became associated with someone “uneducated or unsophisticated.” In other words, it went the way of Chad or Karen.

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French, of course, is not without its own fun, slightly absurd language quirks that have nothing to do with names. French speakers often use strange terms for loved ones, like mon chou (my cabbage), ma puce (my flea), or use expressions that translate to nonsensical English, such as avoir le cafard (to have the cockroach) for feeling depressed, or poser un lapin (to put down a rabbit) for standing someone up. It goes to show that even the languages considered more romantic allow room for fun.

Point being, it’s one thing to know the words and phrases of another culture, but it's another thing entirely to be fluent in the humor as well. Bookmark this for your next trip to France. Or, ya know, consider this your sign to start planning one.

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Learning a new skill, such as playing an instrument, gardening, or picking up a new language, takes a lot of time and practice, whether that means scale training, learning about native plants, or using flashcards to memorize new words. To improve through practice, you have to perform the task repeatedly and receive feedback so you know whether you’re doing it correctly. Is my pitch correct? Did my geraniums bloom? Is my pronunciation understandable?

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