By Don Dafoe
Contributor
In every culture, people laugh.
This universal response strikes me as odd. Under certain conditions, we blast out a noise. We chuckle, chortle, giggle, or guffaw. Some even snort. (One of my five sisters gave a boyfriend the gate because “he snorted when he laughed.”)
Often, the peculiar noise is accompanied by squinting, teeth baring, shoulder shaking, knee slapping, or belly bouncing.
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When a friend laughs hard, we join in even if we didn’t get the joke. It’s all good. Laughing has health benefits. You’ve heard the expression, “Laughter is the best medicine.”
Anthropologists surmise laughter is rooted in the phenomenon of a victory whoop. Someone else is the butt of a joke. We find it funny because we feel superior. The reaction is similar to the joy of a shooting guard sinking a game-winning, 3-point buzzer beater. Ha Ha. In your face!
“Analysis destroys humor. So, the next time you hear a funny joke, just laugh.”
Nowadays, comedians must be careful not to offend anyone. This tiptoeing around can kill stand-up comedy.
A former stand-up comedian, now an Uber driver, explained this to me. Without a butt-of-the-joke, there are no laughs. By the way, that driver could really turn a phrase. I was entertained the whole ride.
Nate Bargatze, a popular and witty comedian, solved the sensitivity issue.
Much of his humor is self-deprecating. He makes fun of his Tennessee upbringing, where “all” is what you put in your car engine when you’re down a quart. No one’s feelings are hurt when the comedian and the dupe are the same person.
A bunch of stand-up comedians have emerged, using their ethnicity as a wellspring of hilarity. Jonnie Park expressed it best, “If anyone’s going to roast my (Korean) people, it’s gonna be me.”
I just reviewed the jokes I have stored in my iPhone under “Jokes.” Sad but true. Nearly every joke I have stored has a poor sap at its center, except for the puns.
Puns are a victimless source of humor.
Why are puns funny? An online search states pun humor comes from a “surprising resolution of ambiguity.” In other words, like the self-deprecating comedian, the joke is on us.
In the moment of enlightenment, we have a flash of intellectual superiority over ourselves of just seconds prior. We were confused with the setup; now we get the joke. It’s even funnier if the other guy listening to the pun doesn’t get it. Then we can feel superior.
Here’s a pun from my iPhone: A punster bet he could make his friend laugh with a pun. He told his friend 10 puns, but … no pun in ten did.
Funny? Yes. You just experienced a surprising resolution of ambiguity.
Analysis destroys humor. So, the next time you hear a funny joke, just laugh. If you felt elevated, so what? It’s only human to laugh.
Dr. Don Dafoe, of Highland Park, writes columns for fun. Sometimes they are funny.
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