I would be surprised if the joke did not work as well in e.g. France. The only thing specific to the US compared to Europe is the influence of hard core christ

I would be surprised if the joke did not work as well in e.g. France. The only thing specific to the US compared to Europe is the influence of hard core christian on things like evolution. But for every other usual pseudo science crakery like astrology, magnetism, etc... there is little difference (see e.g. http://www.pseudo-sciences.org/spip.php?article1132 http://www.pseudo-sciences.org/spip.php?article1132 where a majority of French and American believe you can heal people with the power of thought....)