The Nature of "Humor"

[sara farr]

(inspired by the "I'm Such a Woman" thread)

I think one's "sense of humor" (ability to laugh at something) is closely tied to cultural taboos and differences. Aristotol suggested that, "an ugliness that does not disgust is fundamental to humour." Comedy can be about finding a congenial way to address those issues. I once heard a comedian say that when we get to the place where stereotype jokes are no longer funny, it is because we no longer care about the differences.

What say YOU?

[Jeff]

(inspired by the "I'm Such a Woman" thread)

I think one's "sense of humor" (ability to laugh at something) is closely tied to cultural taboos and differences. Aristotol suggested that, "an ugliness that does not disgust is fundamental to humour." Comedy can be about finding a congenial way to address those issues. I once heard a comedian say that when we get to the place where stereotype jokes are no longer funny, it is because we no longer care about the differences.

What say YOU?

Disclaimer: I haven't really organized my thoughts here, so I'm just going to respond in a stream-of-consciousness way.

I like to think about humor and what makes things funny. One funny thing about humor-- the first thing I thought about when I read this thread topic-- is that it's almost impossible to be funny when deconstructing humor. Dissecting what's funny about something just sucks the humor right out of it. That's funny (-peculiar) for two reasons that I can think of:

1) It's ironic, and irony is often funny, but not in the case of dissecting humor.
2) Dissecting is funny, because it reminds me of dissecting frogs, and dissecting frogs is funny.

Why is dissecting frogs funny? Because frogs are funny (like cows, monkeys, and many other vastly humor-friendly animals), and dissecting is funny, because it deals with death.

Why is death funny? Because it's taboo, mostly.
Which brings me to your subject, Sara.

By saying death is taboo, I mean that there are taboos and strict mores surrounding death. We have trouble dealing with the deaths of those we love, as well as with our own mortality.

The ways our minds organize feelings and thoughts about death, however, are shaken up-- and sometimes "broken," for lack of a better metaphor-- when we experience a perspective (namely, a "joke") about death that's different from the perspectives we're accustomed to and comfortable with.

The more I think about this kind of stuff, the more I believe that I have to include countless numbers of caveats and examples to be thorough, so I'm going to stop here for now, before I get so involved in the mechanics of humor that I forget to laugh.

[KathyRose]

Fundamentally, I agree, and here's why ...

Laughter is the explosive release of tension which follows a surprise. Take an LOLCAT for example. See kitty in some state or situation. (Your mind instantly creates it's own explanation/expectation.) Read unexpected cause of state or situation. Oh, THAT's what it is!! (Ha ha!) The further it falls from your expectation, the funnier it is. Unless it's really lame.

Dark and taboo humor can be extremely funny because the tension is extremely high. (OMG, it's Death! It's Bigotry!) Cultural taboos create great tension.

In physics, when you raise a mass against the force of gravity (like lifting a boulder off the ground), you create "potential energy." When you release the boulder, that potential is turned into "kinetic energy" - the boulder crashing into the ground. That's comedy. Greater tension / bigger laugh.

That's also why you can blow a gasket (as in - Aneurysm!) if you don't laugh.