You crack me up.
I like you.
The end.
Laughter. It’s the drug we just can’t get enough of. Sure, you can tell someone how smart they are. Or how hot they are. Or how shitty they are. But if you can make someone laugh, you’ve got something. A moment with good energy. An anchor that you’re fun to be with. The most positive association that you can ever have with another person. We all want to laugh and we all want to laugh as much as we can. Laughter is the drug we can’t get enough of.
Have you ever wondered what gets poked when you laugh? Turns out it’s deep…really deep…in the subcortex. Your subcortex is that part of your computer programming that keeps you from dying when you are asleep, gives you those cravings for sex, drives your need for social connection, and yes, makes you laugh. Laughing exists at a subconscious level, not a conscious one. That’s why deaf people who have never heard the sound of laughter can laugh. And that’s why some people can’t stop laughing even when they want to. Uncontrollable laughter is just that – uncontrollable. Tickle tickle.
Sometimes I will end a conversation with a friend by asking, “got any jokes?” Sometimes they do, but usually not. And yet we all should. Having a few jokes at the ready means you’re ready to engage with anyone you meet (even if they’re kind of lame). Because everyone wants to laugh and cracking a joke is the best way to do that.
There is an architecture to a joke. Did you know that? It’s true. Humor is a paradox told in 3 acts: target, tension, realism. If you’re going to tell a joke, start by relating it to your audience. That joke you were going to tell about your wife may crack up your buddies, but tell it to her? Not so much. Humor also has an undertone of tension. That tension is usually in the form of deprecation of others or self. But told properly, in the end that tension is relieved and your audience is left with a smirk. The third act of humor is in juxtaposing the reasonable against the unreasonable. “Why is it hot dogs come in packages of ten and hot dog buns come in packages of eight?” There’s more to the delivery of a joke from intonation t pause to timing, but that’s the basic architecture of humor. Humor is a paradox told in 3 acts.
Have you ever heard of “gelotology”? Turns out it has nothing at all to do with America’s most famous pudding spokesman. It’s the scientific study of laughter from emotion to primates to analgesics. A PhD in humor…who knew?
If you want to do one simple thing today to make the world a better place, make someone laugh.
Good luck and have a good week.
Joe Still
2021.07.11
Cite
“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”
– Mark Twain