Even if our language and background knowledge match, we still might not laugh. Humor is based on incongruity and surprise, so we'd need to share with this alien some expectations about the way the universe works. A man slipping on a banana peel probably wouldn't be funny to someone who had never experienced gravity.
Timing is vital to the success of a performed joke.
By the time it gets to the punchline, we will have forgotten the set-up. Finally, says Binsted, the joke won't work if the social context is wrong. For example, we don't laugh if we feel threatened. All this said, cognition and humor are closely linked. Q. Flying at 30,000 feet, you look out and spot geese right below the plane.