The generated response provides a strong analysis of the passage from Othello and effectively supports the thesis that Shakespeare uses humor to interrogate racial and cultural notions. 

With their humor and satire, Shakespeare's comedies offer a unique lens through which to examine the complex interplay of race, culture, and identity in Early Modern England. Using laughter as a powerful tool, Shakespeare entertained his audiences and challenged and subverted prevailing societal norms.

In addition to Othello, a particularly illuminating example of this can be found in The Merchant of Venice, a play that, despite its comedic elements, explores serious themes of prejudice, discrimination, and the construction of otherness. One of the most striking instances of laughter being used to both reinforce and subvert racial and cultural notions occurs in the trial scene(Act 4, Scene 1), where Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, is forced to plead for mercy.

As Shylock, a marginalized figure, is reduced to begging, the audience is invited to laugh at his misfortune. However, this laughter is tinged with discomfort, as it exposes the cruelty and hypocrisy of the Venetian justice system. It is unclear just how aware of this irony Shakespeare's original audience would have been. However, by eliciting laughter at the expense of a marginalized character, Shakespeare highlights the dehumanizing effects of prejudice and the dangers of unchecked power.

Furthermore, Shakespeare's adaptation of Roman comedies, such as The Comedy of Errors and A Midsummer Night's Dream, provides further insight into his use of laughter to explore cultural and racial themes. In these plays, characters from diverse backgrounds are brought together in humorous and often chaotic situations. Roman-period comedies, such as the works of Terence and Plautus, regularly used tropes of mistaken identity, the subversion of societal expectations, and cultural clashes to drive the plot's humor. By updating these older stories for an Elizabethan audience, Shakespeare explored similar themes through a more contemporary lens.