There is the more abstract version of this principle, self-deprecation. The best Jewish jokes are Jewish. Nobody understands us like we do. Don't try to laugh at us, we do that much better. We laugh at punchlines you don't even know are there.
Jewish humour is dark and sad humour, but very funny.
In much the same way that the gatekeepers of an encampment ask you for a password, the inhabitants of the encampment you share like to tell you jokes, to make sure you are not an interloper. Laugh, and the world laughs with you. It's hard to be liked if you don't have a sense of humour, because that means you are impervious. Nothing scares you enough or everything scares you all the time. Jokes break down barriers, and it is one of the cliches of business conferences to start with a joke.