What's So Funny?

Ever wonder why everyone else around you is laughing, but you're not? 

It's probably you. 

Actually, here are seven reasons why we laugh, brought to you by science:



Humor Makes You Healthier

Even supervillains know that you have to laugh. Seriously, it's like the first thing they teach you in bad guy school. Then they make you pick an arch-enemy.  

"It's good to be here at the Sandusky Mariott...
For today's TED Talk, I shall explain... how to destroy Superman!"

Laughing has been proven to relieve stress, boost a person’s immune system and burn calories. As a result, people who laugh a lot tend to live longer (that is, until everyone they used to laugh at is dead). People who spend their days laughing also tend to enjoy their lives a lot more. If you don't believe me, give it a try sometime. 

Of course, while it has often been said that laughter is the best medicine, you may want to see a doctor about that rash. By the way, I don't recommend that anyone ever types the word "rash" into an image search engine. Trust me on this one. It doesn't end well.


Jokes Make You Smarter

The basic formula for just about any joke is to offer some familiar context plus the introduction of an unexpected element, which leads to a new perspective of that which is otherwise familiar. In other words, comedy shows us new ways of seeing what we think we already know. When the brain processes a joke, an intellectual incongruity is resolved by creating a new neural pathway. 

Over time, this network builds, and its complexity and interconnectedness is one of the primary factors in determining a person’s intelligence. Comedy connects the dots. 

There's a reason we're called smart asses.


It is How We Make Sense of the World

Just as babies develop an awareness of their surroundings, they begin to laugh. Even at this age, humor requires a familiar context, which is then interrupted by a sudden, unexpected contrast. As noted by scholar David Misch, this is just as true with advanced forms of comedy as it is with peekaboo. A skilled practitioner of the form sets us up to expect one thing and then presents us with something else. This leads us to make connections where they did not previously exist, which causes us to incrementally adjust our perceptions of the world. 

After all, what is peekaboo if not a sudden disruption and reconstruction of one’s perception of reality? And couldn't the same be said for just about any joke that surprises us with the punchline?



Humor is a Social Tool

Anthropologists believe that laughter first developed in ancient humans as a way of signaling that a moment of tension had passed. It was a way of letting others know that everything was going to be ok. From there, we developed language… and eventually poop jokes. In this sense, laughter was a precursor to other forms of verbal expression, just as it is with infants.

Some anthopolgists believe that social laughter, on the other hand, initially developed as a way for intelligent beta males in the primate world to say, “Hey, we’re cool. right? It was just a joke..." This type of laughter was a way of easing interpersonal tensions, and it is thought to have helped forge the first extra-familial bonds that would lead to civilization and to the development of more advanced forms of communication... like text messaging.

It Is How We Deal With Personal and Cultural Anxieties

Consider how much you can tell about a person by his or her sense of humor. In fact, for a lot of people, this is one of the primary criteria that defines their friendships. We tend to gravitate toward people who share a similar sense of humor, because what makes a person laugh can be both a reflection of the various ideologies to which that person subscribes, as well as an indicator of his or her life experiences.

Furthermore, the things that make us the most anxious tend to surface in the comedy that we are drawn to, whether sex, growing up, death or politics, as just four examples. When people laugh together at something, they form a broader coalition, an inside group who agrees to an alignment of perspectives, at least temporarily. When a joke touches on an anxiety that is familiar to us, it offers catharsis through the resolution of the punchline while simultaneously allowing us to recognize that we are not alone in our deepest hopes and fears. 

Comedy is pretty serious stuff. 

Despite the recent outbreak of scary clown sightings,
it is still not ok to go around punching clowns at random.

Comedy Forms Part of a Larger Discourse

Understanding humor can tell us a great deal about what it means to belong to a certain culture at a particular time and place. Comedy, whether today or a hundred years ago, is a reflection of the culture from which it emerges. 

What do you suppose industrialization was doing for the
rural south in the 1920s (when this movie was made)?

This explains why some jokes hold up better than others, while certain humor just doesn’t translate from one culture to another. Comedy is part of a much bigger conversation about what people deem to be important (and not). It is a way of separating intellect from emotion in order to address bigger social problems, and it forms part of a larger system of checks and balances that is a crucial component of any functioning civilization. Even monarchs had court jesters, and in cards, the joker trumps the king... because the joker is wild, unpredictable.

This one knows karate chops.

Sweet, Sweet Brain Chemicals

Since early humans didn't have the physical advantages of other animals, our frontal lobes developed as a way of coping with a hostile environment. Our ancient ancestors survived by seeing patterns in the natural world and attempting to make sense out of them. As a remnant of this evolutionary process, modern humans still have a built-in reward system for when we find patterns in things. Our brains release endorphins as a way of saying, "Good job, brain. Keep up the good work." 

Yes. They are essentially the brain's form of Scooby Snacks.

In a joke, when the pattern of the setup is suddenly disrupted by the punchline, our bodies release adrenaline as part of the "fight or flight" response. In PET scans, the brain lights up like a Christmas tree when a person is processing a joke. As the neurons fire away, the intellectual incongruity is resolved through a new understanding (i.e., getting the joke), and our brains are flooded with more of those sweet endorphins. In terms of neurochemistry, this is why it feels good to laugh. 

It could also be this brain juice cocktail that explains why the ability to make each other laugh is often such a valued characteristic in the people with whom we surround ourselves. 

It's good to feel good. No joke.