In order to experience comedic information as “funny,” the receiver first needs to recognize that the information has (or has had) the potential to be funny. In other words, the brain needs to know that it can file the data under comedy. This is not a labored process; it may take microseconds. Whether or not it is then enjoyed is a different matter
... See moreDan O'Shannon • What Are You Laughing At?: A Comprehensive Guide to the Comedic Event
A sense of humour is a serious business; and it isn’t funny, not having one. Watch the humourless closely: the cocked and furtive way they monitor all conversation, their flashes of panic as irony or exaggeration eludes them, the relief with which they submit to the meaningless babble of unanimous laughter. The humourless can programme themselves t
... See moreMartin Amis • The War Against Cliche: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000 (Vintage International)
think it’s for the same reason, actually, that we enjoy eating spicy food: what scientists call “benign masochism.” In a harsh world, it can be soothing to microdose shots of controlled pain. Comforting, to touch the scary parts of life without putting ourselves in real danger. Humor has always served this function; it allows us to express threaten... See more
Tim Robinson and the Golden Age of Cringe Comedy (Published 2023)
The show may not be funny, but you can’t accuse me of not knowing how to read a room.
Hannah Gadsby • Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation
John Cleese: “Now I suggest to you that a group of us could be sitting around after dinner, discussing matters that were extremely serious like the education of our children, or our marriages, or the meaning of life, and we could be laughing, and that would not make what we were discussing one bit less serious. Solemnity, on the other hand, I hones... See more