Have you ever wondered what makes us laugh? What is it about comedy that makes us feel amused? I have asked myself and Google these questions and I have some interesting answers.

First off let’s define humor. At the time of this writing, wikipedia says this about humor: “Humor is the ability or quality of people, objects, or situations to evoke feelings of amusement in other people.” This doesn’t tell us what triggers the feelings of amusement. I have noticed that all jokes, puns and riddles have one thing in common; they all poke at some kind of pain. Everything thing that makes us laugh involves a painful act whether it be physical, emotional or mental. The more pain stacked up, the funnier it is - to a point. If it goes too
far, the comedy becomes a tragedy.

Good jokes are painful on many levels. All jokes are basically painful because after the punchline, the audience says in their head “I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming,” and laughs. A joke is a mental surprise. When a magician produces a bird, is it “magic” if the audience sees the bird coming? If the audience didn’t see it coming and is surprised, how is this different from a joke? If they saw it coming, the magician was not very good and no magic was performed.
(more…)