What's Funny?
"What did the elephant say when it was disappointed?
...Tusk tusk."
Did that make you laugh? I mean, probably not, but why didn't it? What makes something funny or not funny? I actually don't have an answer to that question because I have absolutely no idea, but it's something interesting that I like to think about sometimes.
One possible explanation is that the humor in a joke corresponds to how directly it pertains to its audience. People enjoy laughing at the expense of others. For example, if someone trips and falls, everyone will probably laugh or want to laugh, except for the person who tripped and fell, who might laugh on the outside, but inside just died a little bit. Or if someone makes a joke about leprosy, hey that's hilarious! Unless you know (or knew) an actual leper, then that joke becomes extremely tasteless and offensive.
But relatable things are also funny. I think this has to do with people's desire to belong to something. "Getting" a joke always feels like something of an accomplishment, so when you are one of the select few who gets it, that feeling is amplified, whether you're an avid basket collector and someone's like, "How many baskets does it take to screw in a lightbulb?", or if you're just a struggling math student who can say "same" to a joke about reassessments.
Of course a person's sense of humor does change over time. Maybe if you were a kid, that stupid joke at the beginning would make you laugh for hours, but now it's not so funny. Generally speaking, kids do like jokes more than scenarios-- they tend to laugh at more slapstick things because they have underdeveloped brains.
As we get older, it seems like we don't usually find those types of jokes as funny anymore. I think this must have something to do with repetition and overexposure. We've probably all heard hundreds of thousands of variations of these types of jokes over the years (which might have different set-ups and punchlines, but all share the same basic format), and when you hear something over and over again, it loses the initial effect it once had, like how if you say a word over and over again, it loses all meaning. This also makes the joke lose its surprise factor because we know exactly where the punchline is going to be.
Maybe this is why, as we age, we generally prefer sketches or stories to actual jokes. In a story, it's always a little unclear as to where it's going, and what and where the punchline is going to be. Also, the question-answer format for an actual joke lacks the buildup and development you can get in a story. The more you develop the story, the more the audience anticipates the punchline. The more suspense there is, the more punchy the punchline is. It's like how when you're about to get a shot and the nurse slowly counts down, the shot seems way worse.
But these are just some of the explanations I've been thinking about. There are a lot other factors that we consciously or subconsciously consider when we hear something funny, like the delivery and the timing of the joke, or our moods and our states of mind when we hear it. The social situation and the people we're with can also have an impact on how funny we find something (or at least how much we laugh).
Now this leads me to ask, why and how have we each developed our own individual senses of humor? Like, where did they come from? If anybody knows, please tell me.
...Tusk tusk."
Did that make you laugh? I mean, probably not, but why didn't it? What makes something funny or not funny? I actually don't have an answer to that question because I have absolutely no idea, but it's something interesting that I like to think about sometimes.
One possible explanation is that the humor in a joke corresponds to how directly it pertains to its audience. People enjoy laughing at the expense of others. For example, if someone trips and falls, everyone will probably laugh or want to laugh, except for the person who tripped and fell, who might laugh on the outside, but inside just died a little bit. Or if someone makes a joke about leprosy, hey that's hilarious! Unless you know (or knew) an actual leper, then that joke becomes extremely tasteless and offensive.
But relatable things are also funny. I think this has to do with people's desire to belong to something. "Getting" a joke always feels like something of an accomplishment, so when you are one of the select few who gets it, that feeling is amplified, whether you're an avid basket collector and someone's like, "How many baskets does it take to screw in a lightbulb?", or if you're just a struggling math student who can say "same" to a joke about reassessments.
As we get older, it seems like we don't usually find those types of jokes as funny anymore. I think this must have something to do with repetition and overexposure. We've probably all heard hundreds of thousands of variations of these types of jokes over the years (which might have different set-ups and punchlines, but all share the same basic format), and when you hear something over and over again, it loses the initial effect it once had, like how if you say a word over and over again, it loses all meaning. This also makes the joke lose its surprise factor because we know exactly where the punchline is going to be.
Maybe this is why, as we age, we generally prefer sketches or stories to actual jokes. In a story, it's always a little unclear as to where it's going, and what and where the punchline is going to be. Also, the question-answer format for an actual joke lacks the buildup and development you can get in a story. The more you develop the story, the more the audience anticipates the punchline. The more suspense there is, the more punchy the punchline is. It's like how when you're about to get a shot and the nurse slowly counts down, the shot seems way worse.
But these are just some of the explanations I've been thinking about. There are a lot other factors that we consciously or subconsciously consider when we hear something funny, like the delivery and the timing of the joke, or our moods and our states of mind when we hear it. The social situation and the people we're with can also have an impact on how funny we find something (or at least how much we laugh).
Now this leads me to ask, why and how have we each developed our own individual senses of humor? Like, where did they come from? If anybody knows, please tell me.
Why we have senses of humor is such a great question! I read an article that says that humor acts as a “social glue” to build community, which I thought was an interesting argument.
ReplyDeleteTusk...Tusk...lol. In my opinion I believe humor becomes more dry the older you get. Meaning it is always focusing on one thing. Like it is impossible to tell a joke that might not offend someone else, yet we still find it funny. I don't know.
ReplyDelete"they tend to laugh at more slapstick things because they have underdeveloped brains." Savage. Anyway though, I thought this was interesting, I mean I have actually often thought about this as well, and why people think some things are funny and not others. I think also there is something to do with "edginess." Like most people as they get older like to laugh at things that are probably offensive to someone, but that often makes it more funny to them. I think that plays into the mix of who thinks what is funny as well.
ReplyDeletePeople have a wide variety of senses of humor, and I'm sure there are some older people who will still laugh at the elephant joke. You make a good point, though, about how we tend to appreciate skits or stories more as we get older. It probably has something to do with our attention span as well. Another thing that would be interesting to explore is how much being in public affects our sense of humor. For me, at least, I'll laugh at many more things with a group than I will on my own.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great question to pose and I really liked how you made examples for different types of scenarios. I also thought it was funny that you incorporated jokes into your paper and then explained why they might be funny for some but not other people.
ReplyDelete