I laughed. A lot.

[Kaliayev]

Who knew Stalin could be so funny?

Apparently, Stalin was known for, among other things, his sense of humor, which often included telling jokes about himself. One of his favorites was this, which made me genuinely LOL:

A Georgian delegation comes, they talk to Stalin, and then they go, heading off down the Kremlin's corridors. Stalin starts looking for his pipe. He can't find it. He calls in Beria, the dreaded head of his secret police. 'Go after the delegation, and find out which one took my pipe,' he says. Beria scuttles off down the corridor. Five minutes later Stalin finds his pipe under a pile of papers. He calls Beria—-'Look, I've found my pipe.' 'It's too late,' Beria says, 'half the delegation admitted they took your pipe, and the other half died during questioning.'

Admittedly not the nicest joke, but the self-realization is there.

[BigV]

It's an awesome joke, but Beria's the clown, Stalin's just the straight man.