The commonest occasion of laughter, especially collective laughter, is the distress, perplexity, or discomfiture of others.

The Old Testament contains twenty-six laughs, which do not form any particular pattern or expand our knowledge of why people laugh. The first occurs in chapter 18 of the book of Genesis, and is the first time a case of laughter was recorded in words, about 1500 BC. Abraham is sitting outside his tent. Angels appear, one of whom turns out to be God.

Here we come across one of the central forces which produces laughter, in the same way that disturbance in the bowels of the earth leads to earthquakes, geysers, tidal waves, and avalanches. The force is chaos, contemplated in safety.