Is there a scientific formula for funny?

tell just by the looks of you guys. Um, and uh, we've got a very special treat for all of you listeners at home. We're all very excited about it. I think I'm the most excited about it, but a right, you're definitely the most excited about it. Uh. And today we're talking about, um, Chuck, as you were saying, we're talking about we're gonna answer a question, is there a scientific formula for funny? And I guess we can kind of spoil it now by saying yes and not really right,

And that was it. That's all. That's the podcast. UM. I do have an intro if you're interested in hearing it. Um, remember our ghosts episode? Yeah, that was pretty bad, so we I liked it. We got a lot of We got a lot of crud from skeptics surprised they didn't like our ghost episode. Um. But there was a guy, a researcher named Richard Wiseman from Hertfordshire University in the UK. Go Figgy Puddings, Um, and they Richard, why do you

remember who I'm talking about? I remember the guy. We interpreted his his research and the ghosts, which is basically used to debunk ghosts. We took what he found as evidence there there may be such things as ghosts, and the skeptics didn't like that at all. But he's done some other stuff too, So he makes an appearance in this podcast as of right now because before he was doing ghost stuff, he was doing humor research. I am

back in two thousands two. He set up a website called laugh Lab and he wanted to find the world's funniest joke. Really yeah, not to be confused with the funniest joke in the world, the Monty Python thing. This is different. Um. And there were forty thousand submissions I think one point four million hits and this is prior to social media, so these are pretty respectable numbers if you think about it. And they found the world's funniest joke.

I generally don't know this, so I'm on pins and needles. Do you want to hear? Okay? So this guy is out hunting with a friend of his in the woods and the friend suddenly just drops over falls to the ground, and the hunter picks up his cell phone and he calls nine on one and he's is, hey, I think my friend just died. We're out here in the woods hunting.

What should I do? And the nine and one operator says, well, first let's make sure he's dead, and so the hunter shoots his friend and he goes, okay, Now what that's the world's funniest joke. It's not okay, but the so ahead of mixed reaction and what we're talking about now is the world's funniest joke. And it got a couple

of laughs here, right. Yeah. I think what that proves and the point of this long rambling intro is that, um, we pretty much can't predict what's funny, what people are gonna find funny, and uh, let's talk about exactly why that is chuckers. Yes, well it's subjective, but we'll get to that later. Right, Well, we can just throw our opinions out then and be right. Well they've been. Even though there is no formula as of yet, it doesn't

mean people haven't tried to find out. Dating all the way back to the first masters of comedy, Aristotle and Plato, two very funny guys, they talked a lot about it, actually, surprisingly and um, they basically try to look at what compels people to laugh. And Aristotle, I think he thought that we're the we were the only creatures to laugh. Is that right? Yeah, that was just a human phenomenon, which is wrong. It's right because it turns out, and

this is the cutest part of the show too. Um, chimpanzees and ring tangs and apes not only laugh when you tickle them, but if you go to a baby chimp, you don't even have to make contact. You can just do the little here I come with the fingers and the baby chimp will laugh. Apparently, And uh, I did look up chimpanzee laughter and it's not um like humans make the hehes and the ho hoes. There's more of a gasping sound apparently, rats do the same thing when

you tickle that. No, we talked about this and the What's So Funny episode? We remember rat tickling with there's videos of it out there. They get like a little high pitched thing. It's the cutest thing you've ever seen, like somebody tickling a rat and the rats is like, it's it's very cute. But so yes, at the very least, laughter or taking tickling is funny. Is it goes across species? Yeah, And we did cover some of this in the show

on did we call it What's So Funny? I think so okay um, But laughter is UH is definitely a human thing, aside from the primates and the rats, I think, and it consists of variations of one single basic form. It's vowel like sounds repeated every two and ten milliseconds, and human skin either he he like you just did, or a variation of a ho ho, but you don't

mix them. Apparently there's never been someone that laughs he ho he ho, because that would be up if that's how you laugh and your your facial muscles get going. There's fifteen facial muscles that contract and strain UH. The zygomatic major muscle, which is your upper lip is is triggered. Um, if it's really good, you might get the tear ducks going. Gonna know, we've all been there, and you're gonna be gasping and your respiratory system is struggling basically to breathe

at that point, chimp like a baby chip. Uh. So that's basically what laughter is babies human babies. Human babies start at about three or four months if they have a sense of humor, I guess, and uh, some reachers researchers have found that, um, we are thirty times more likely to laugh in the company of others, uh than when you're alone. So it's definitely a social thing. And that is if because I read that first, that and I was like, clearly they've never watched Portlandia or Eastbounding

down alone on the couch at midnight. But I mean that's a good point because when you're watching it by yourself, like, you may laugh, but you're not necessarily laughing your off. I guess there's another way to put it. Yet, well I do, oh you do, of course. But that stat though was Um, that was the caveat is that's not including TV or any kind of external stimulation, Like if you're just alone and you like think a funny thought or see a funny thing, you're way less likely to

laugh if you're by yourself. Okay, all right, but whether you are in China or Santa Monica, wherever you are, laughter is gonna sound very similar like you were saying, and um, there is going to be such thing as humor. It's not necessarily going to be the same thing in China as it is in Santa Monica that gets laughs, like it would just be dead silent right now if

we were in Beijing. Sounded like for a second. But so the point is as humor as universal, but it's constrained by all these different contexts like um uh, well, like where you are and not just space but also time. Like what guys like Ben Franklin thought was funny, it just kind of falls flat today, Like turkey jokes, apple apple brandy jokes. That's a turkey joke. He had a couple. They weren't that good. They're not, they're not. They don't

bear eating here. But that all that put together, gender differences, economic differences, all of these things kind of separate like what's funny from what's not funny depending on who you are. Um, but from Aristotle to Plato was one, wasn't he hum all the way up to Schopenhauer. Another hilarious dude, Kyrka Guard, who by the way, has a great Twitter feed. Um, Kyrka Kardashian, it's um, are you guys familiar with it? It's awesome. It's uh Kirka Guards philosophical musings and he

was pretty dark. UM mashed together with Kim Kardashian's contemporary tweets. Let's just go check it out. It's like you'll you will definitely follow it. Not her old tweets, now her contemporary. Yeah, like for I'll give you one. Okay, that's how one today It's it's worth saying. Um. She said, Hey, I can't wait until you guys, um smell my new fragrance coming out this spring. It reeks of the misery of modern life. That was just an average one too. We got we got more than a he heat out of

this guy. It's good right Uh for me, I'm I've actually blogged about it the other day. Um, short jokes to me are the best brevity is the soul of wit or as they said on the Simpsons brevity is with of course they had to one up it. And my hero and many writers heroes, is the Great Jack Handy, who is a real person. By the way, I don't mean a lot of people think that Deep Thoughts by Jack Andy was just some you know, made up name, Like there's no one named Jack Handy. It's written by,

you know, just one of the SNL writers. He was an lent writer and his name is Jack Handy, and he has been sort of obsessed with creating the perfect short joke over his career. He's the closest he thinks he's ever come. And it's pretty good, I think, is uh. The crows seemed to be calling his name. Thought to call not bad. That's Jack Handy thinks that's the best short joke he's ever written. Jack knows what he's talking, so good and uh. It was in a McSweeney's article

that I first read about this from the New York Times. Um, they were talking about the New York Times that that writer thought the best one was. And this is pretty good too. I came here in peace, seeking gold and slaves. So for me, the Great Jack Handy is trying to get a laugh out of the fewest amount of words. Um. I came here in peking Golden slaves, five syllable set up, five syllable punchline, beautiful, clean, the master for me? What's funny is this? Actually? In my research I ran across um,

a real formula for funny. Um. That was the yes part of the answer. Um alcohol plus joke greater than okay. So it's X equals F times L plus end times oh, divided by P And in those values in there, well, p p actually penalizes you because that's the number of puns that's in the jokes. So you get all these all these points and then it divided by the number of puns you used. So um. But one of the one of the formulas that that builds up the funniness of a joke is how long it takes for the

punch line to build and then finally pay off. So it's like pretty much the opposite of it. So even Jack Handy and whoever came up with this formula can't agree on how to make something funnier. To figure out what's the funniest. Yeah, Well, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it, clearly, And we've seen a lot of I know you go to see a lot of stand up comics a lot, and yeah, you're really into it.

And through our job, we've gotten to see a lot and it's really fascinating, especially when you meet some of them, to see them working this stuff out, especially if you see them more than once doing kind of the same material and the subtle changes. I just I think it's really fascinating. And I've been writing a stand aback for like ten years. How's it going. It's going pretty good. Care to do so? No, not at all. It's got a mike, you have an audience. No, no, no, no,

I don't like. I wouldn't have be I would have not even brought it up. There was a writer I know. Uh that was a writer named Debrah Solomon for New York Times magazine though that asked Chris Rock and I'm not gonna do my Chris Rock, don't worry, um what's funny? And his reply was, and it kind of says it all is, you want to know what's funny? Is thinking about it? What's not funny? Oh yeah, chuck blew that joke. It's not a joke. Yeah, you want to know it's

not funny. It's thinking about it, thank you for that, or talking about it, which is what we're doing. So stop laughing because this is not funny. Apparently that's right, all right, So, um, we are not the only people who have ever said, you know, is can you figure out what's funny? Scientifically? There's actually a whole study. It's called humor studies, and strangely enough, it's not taken very

seriously among psychologists. Um, although there's you know, an equal dedicated amount of work applied to it using the scientific method. You have the International Society for Humor Studies. They've been around since the eighties. They're trying to like keep the flame going. And apparently, um, ever since we started putting people into the Wonder Machine and asking them questions or um, telling them jokes, we've gotten like a lot more scientific basis of what's funny. We'll get into that in a

little bit. Yeah, that's the f m R I or the m R I machine. You don't want to know that. That's our little name for though. Um. But prior to this, prior to the Wonder Machine being rolled out, like people have just kind of it's basically been up to philosophers to figure out what's funny, and they've come up with some pretty good theories. And there's a big three. There's I think as many I saw as many as a hundred theories of humor, but then it's been whittled down

to a big three, like pretty much arbitrarily. Or else people are like, maybe these three are the right ones. Who knows, but I think he's kind of hit on it. Um Number one is the superiority theory um Plato, Aristotle, Hobbs. They all sort of focus on this dark side of comedy and we've all been there. Um, Laughing at someone else's expense sometimes can be quite a good time. It's pretty much like, Um, this theory would be supported by

Dwight shrewked like watching him. Yeah, you know, were listening to him for sure. And I might have told this on another show. But one of the funniest things I ever saw Bless You, Bless You, was in college in Athens, Georgia. I saw a guy face plant really really bad on campus one day. You're already laughing, did you laugh? Well? I laughed at this. The dude fell busted face forward, books went spilling out on the sidewalk, and I swear

to God. Immediately the guy went like this and opened up a book on the sidewalk like he was reading. And I was driving and I saw this happen, and I wanted to pull the car over and say, dude, you are the funniest person I've ever seen in my life, because it was just his instinct to play it off like that. And that was man. That was like seventeen

years ago, and it's stuck with me this day. I don't know who that guy was, but I want to meet him still, if you're out there, way to go, man, Yeah, yeah, but it was I don't know if I would have laughed at his expense had he not done that, because when although the America's funny some video effect, i'll call it, yeah, kicked in the nuts juggernaut, that is very much the

superiority theory in action. It is, or it is pretty much the converse theory that says the same thing but has a kind of a different take of It's called inferiority theory. It's like the person whoever came up with this is like the person who who raises the last um bet by a dollar on the prices, right, you know, Oh, superiority theory. How about inferiority theory? Um they what they came up with was that we see and that guy falling.

You don't feel better about yourself. You see part of yourself and him like you could have just as easily fallen or whatever. Yeah, but I wouldn't have been cool enough to play it off like I was reading a book. I would have picked up my books and ran home. Don't laugh at me. So that's where, Yeah, that's where the admiration kicks in a right. Number two we are we're in the relief theory, which is Freud's theory, which means it's wrong. Man, you got it. You've had a

bone to pick with Freud since I've known you. I like Malcolm Bladwell, I like um see is like as I just started twitching involuntarily. I like I like Freud as a person. I like what he was trying to do. I just think he was just kind of full of it. All right, So what did Freud say? He wrote about joking Believe it or not, This is actually um the his his theory that I agree with the most. Probably his theory of um humor is really theory, and that

I totally agree. We have like it's it's a build up of wait for it, sexual energy that we release surprised in some way, bless you that this live podcasting is funny and it's like a whole other sneezy know um that we were. We're getting out sexual energy, intellectual energy, whatever is pent up through laughter, which makes sense to a certain degree, like there are there are things that you laugh at that you can point to and say,

may may right here. Yeah, or I think self deprecation might fall into that a little bit too, like taking the things that make you feel bad, making a joke about of it. I've lived my whole life this way basically, Or anyone that listens to Howard Stern he's been joking about his small penis for twenty five years. Who knows if that's true. I think it probably is. But he's definitely made a point of joking about it for you know, forever five years. Joke man, That means it's it's definitely true.

So that's the relief theory. And and I think there's you know, put a lot of stock in that for sure. Well yeah, I mean it's like adding levity to a situation. Yeah, if and it works, like you can defuse in tense situation by making people laugh, and they may even laugh

in volunteary really so relief theory. Yeah, and every every like like every teen movie in history has some dude in it that tries to get out of a fight by making jokes, which was also me although I didn't that wasn't even close to getting in fights, So that's not really true. That's because you could talk your way out of him. Like early on, who would want to beat up Chuck? You know? When't you have to be the meanest guy in the world. You would not, you

like too much. I think Emily might want to slug at me every now and then. Yeah, yeah, okay, so that this is the other the last one in the big three. Yeah, in congruity theory. Yeah, and this one's really um A really big part of comedy forever through today, Forever through today is that um. Emmanuel concept in his uh Tome the critique of judgment. Laughter is an affectation arising from the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into nothing.

So the modern version of that is in incongruity resolution. Basically, you're not getting what you expect, so like a punch line takes you by surprise, right, like that classic how do you keep an elephant from charging takeaway his credit card? Hey? Yeah, again, that wasn't my joke. I'm just giving examples here. Well, and that's that's sort of the basis of what some say is the greatest joke the Aristocrats. Did you guys see that documentary For those of you who don't know,

there's probably like two of you. The the ideas that a family goes into a talent agent and says they have a family act. And then the point of the joke is too nastiest, most blue comedy you can and it really gets out of hand if you watch this documentary, which is the point and at the end, the punch line is what do you call yourselves? The aristocrats? And it's not so much about the punch line, but that's definitely the incongruity, right yeah, I think that that's probably

the basis of humors. It's in and grouvous you it's a an expectation you weren't expecting well, and those are the best jokes to me is you think you see it coming and you get surprised at the end. Uh, there's another name for something like that. It's called And I didn't even know this was a word till today, a para prosed Dokian. Has anyone ever heard that? One person? Now? Awesome, I just made it up. Uh. That is a figure of speech where the second part causes the audience to

rethink the first part. And it has been going on since Aristotle. For instance, he said on his feet he wore blisters. That's one example. Groucho Marks, I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it. That's that kind of joke. Uh, the great Homer Simpson like that, that was unexpected. Uh. If I could just say a few words, I'd be a better public speaker. And Mitch Hedberg, who

I know, you love, the late great Mitch Heedburgh. I haven't slept for ten days because that would be too long. Not the good miss Hamburg too. I did some heroin before I came in. Right, Wow, that is not funny. Actually, you know what we're gonna be getting into that was a perfect setup. We're getting into heroine. No joking about things that divide the what you should be joking about. Yeah, it is like someone dying of a heroin over there

too soon. That was like ten years ago, Thank you buddy. Um. So you take the big three and you take a little bit of this, and you take a little bit of that, and you put them together and you can basically explain like just about any bit of humor after the fact. That's the key here, um if by I guess, just mixing him up. So you have, for example, the benign violation theory, which is what you're talking about, Like, that's the idea that there you have a little bit

of incongruity, a little bit of superiority. You mix them together and right you you can come up with a joke that will make people laugh. But there's also a line apparently it's across it right with miss hedbird jokes. That's the line, um. And once you cross that line, then you you quickly go from humor to raising the

ire of a of a audience. Right, Yeah, they say, not want to do Yeah, you like you should keep a safe psychological distance, is what they say, where the humor isn't so real and the whole too soon thing is totally true. There's a certain amount of time and it's different for everyone in that line is different for everyone that's why it's dangerous to be a comic who kind of skirts around those kind of jokes. Ask Gilbert Godfrey,

what did he do? He tweeted a joke about I don't even remember what it was about the the Fukushima earthquake in tsunami. I think like too soon. It was like while it was going on, he made a joke about it and he he used to be the affleck duck and he's not anymore, which is weird. It raises a point like I feel like the duck. Yeah, yeah, which I have imagine paid pretty well. You know, he

doesn't really talk like that. I know it's it's not very well known, but Howard Stern has him on a telephone message that he played on the show where he was like, hey Gary, this is Gilbert and I just wanted to check on the time, and I was like, no way. Because he never breaks character. He's famous for always always, always being that guy. I've never heard him speak other otherwise. Yeah, it's pretty weird. Yeah, I can

imagine um. And on the uh too soon thing, I was watching Portlandia with Emily the other night and they have a sketch. I don't know if you've seen at about nine eleven where Armison they were talking about like what you were doing during nine eleven when you got in the news and he was like, where was that? Yeah? I heard about this? What was what was I doing? And he's like, oh, I was in New York. That's where I was. And he's like, and what happened? Um,

thirty three planes or something? No, no, no, I know what it was. I know what it was. And I was dying. And Emily was like, I don't know, is that is that even? And I said, I think the difference is he's making fun of people the absurdity of someone who not know where they were nine eleven, not nine eleven itself, right, So that that slight difference, I think is what made it funny exactly. There was also a pretty good UM story about group on Super Bowls

in two thousand eleven. Did you hear about those? So? Like, for example, ahead Timothy Hutton talking about the plight of Tibetans and how they are all like basically just screwed on a daily basis, but they also make a really good fish curry and you can get a group on for it in Chicago for like twenty Bucks and then well, you guys are the only ones who thought it was funny apparently, because um, group On was like everyone's like, what are you doing? Group On was like their big debut.

So Timothy Hunton was just like, oh, man, right, why did I sign it? Seemed funny At the time, I was just starting to come back, right, yeah, not anymore Falcon or was he Snowman boy? Which one? Was he? Anyone? Now? He was like, I got it right off the bat. To me, he's Turk one and two? Is that who that was? Yeah? I need to see that movie? All right? So where are we? Maybe let's get into the science of the whole thing? Oh wait, uh well, if we're gonna do that, we should, Chuck, I think maybe stop

here for a message break. Okay, So now we're back, we actually do that. We beat for Jerry like that. That gets her attention because she's doing like ten other things while she added us, oh yeah, okay, uh Chuck, let's get back to it. Should I we should with

the science of it? Right. So, um, like we said earlier with the f m R, I, when you put somebody into it shows you where all the blood flows going, because it shows you where the oxygen is in the brain enhance you can surmise what is going on, what region is lighting up when you activate doing certain things. And one of the things that they like to do is tell people jokes, right yeah, or or have them watch like Seinfeld or something right, which I hope you're

a van of if you're in that study. Even still, how do you not laugh at Seinfeld? Like? What kind of soulless person doesn't like sign? Now? Somebody recently I talked to said that their father didn't like it at all, hated it and just said he didn't think it was funny. And I said his soul was dead inside, so yeah, and he said, yes it is. He seemed too much or something something's wrong. So Seinfeld and the Simpsons in one study, right, yeah, two two pretty good picks, I

would say. Um, So what they found was that our brains actually go through a two part process when we hear a joke. There's joke detection and then there's joke appreciation. But apparently this is what's going on in the brain. Well, yeah, it depends on the joke for sure. Um, but the joke detection part is probably the most important because you have to know that you're hearing a joke and your brain is priming you for the appreciation part, But first

it has to figure it out. And all this is going on in the left hemisphere, and the reason it all happens in the least the left hemisphere is that, um, that's where we sort through novel information and compared to experiences we've already had. So when you're hearing something like how do you stop an elephant from charging? Um, you think, okay, well, I've got an image of an elephant charging. I'm ready

to go. Come on, what's what's coming after this? Plus you're probably trying to, like me, I try to figure out a joke sometimes when it's set up punchline like that, right, And I'll bet that says a lot about you as a person. I can't wait until they have m R eyes that show what you're thinking, what you mean, like like when you behind you like pretty much yeah, yeah, like like a thought bubble, right man, I knew it.

I knew that's what you were thinking. Um we also we we it's a little more blue at our live ones. I don't know if you've caught that or not, but both and chuck the said, um, no, like, like, what what would you think of if if someone says, like, how do you stop an elephant from charge? Quickly try

and figure it out? I think that's just my right side, and then I probably wouldn't be able to and then I would hear the punch line and go, that's not very funny, right, Well, it's not a very funny punch line. It isn't. But um, once you once you're hearing that, the brain's primed. I'm sure there's some sort of que that didn't get into this in this article at all.

But there's got to be some sort of que that there's a joke coming, you know, like if you walk up to somebody and say, like, you know, how do you stop in all the room charging? Probably just the very virtue, right, that's funny too. And then the guy like just lace down is like blindly trying to read a book on the ground. Um, so your left, the left hemisphere of your brain is working overtime to try

to figure out this joke. And depending on what type of joke it is, um, different regions are going to be involved. Yeah, the UM, I think I guess if you like, the joke is in the amygdala. Well that's the reward. So if you like the joke, right or not right? Yeah? Okay, yeah, And I mean like depending on the type of joke, like for over here where the gears are going, like your broken area is involved with language, so a pun is going to make that area work and broke his area just goes. Yeah, there's

no amig della pay off on that. Not some people love pun Zoe. I don't get people like that. Are former colleague Chris Ballette. He was famous for his punch which it was bad like you. I used to be like stop, just stop, and he somehow commed with a pun from stop. You know, so you got broken area. Um, a guy walks into a bar type of joke, we'll get the frontal lobe going. That's used with higher reasoning. Apparently those jokes are very high minded typically or whatever

what else the frontal lobe. If you have damage in your frontal lobe, they have found that it can prevent you from understanding jokes and punch lines, which is really sad. And they apparently tend to prefer slapstick comedy more because you don't have the process as much, which I think my have something to do with America's Funny some videos. We're all slightly but I'm not saying everyone that was

that show has frontal lobe damage. But maybe maybe it's something you can kind of turn on and off depending on whether America's Funny or some videos is on. Yeah. Maybe so, Um, did you know that to the guys from Mry Science three Theater, three thousand, right for that show? No way. Yeah, and you can tell too, because like the qualities stepped up quite a bit. Oh, they're right for it now, I believe so. Yeah, within the last few years they were writing. I think Josh just admitted

to recently watching that show. It's true. I like that show. I said it at the Variety Show. I like ridiculousness too. I just like that kind of stuff turn your brain off. Yeah, but my fernal lobe works just fine. Everybody. Well, you're you're an intellectual guy, so that doesn't surprise me. Sometimes I think if you're like super intellectual, you might enjoy just like super based comedy occasionally. Yeah, it's true, it's

a theory. But I read about this study, um that came up with the idea that brain damage people can't especially funnal lobe. You said, can't really appreciate jokes because

they can't find the punch line. And one of the ways they tested him was they showed him a joke on paper and it was basically like a kid's interviewing for a summer job and the employer says, um, well, we'll give you fifty to start, and then after a month we'll up at the s And then the brain damage patients were to pick out what the punch line was. There was great, I'll take it, when do I start?

That's not really it, that's just kind of boring response. Um. Then there was the punch line, which is okay, well I'll come back in a month again, not my joke. Uh. And then the one that the brain damage patients picked typically was um, hey boss, your nose is too big for your face and can't you just see like the person administering this test is just holding back tears that they were picking that one. But that's what they came up with. It was you can't really get the punch line. Yeah,

it takes a little a little bit of thought. It's really sad. Uh. So when we do get a joke and get that payoff, our old friend dopamine is what's coming into play. That reward is a shot of dopamine via the a magdala that we talked about. And it also explains why it's hard to laugh when you're blue, when you're sad. Um. I know, everyone that's had a friend or or relative or family member that's really down on the dumps, you try and cheer them up, and

sometimes it is just impossible. You know. Yeah, why were you just getting so mad? And why why was I just laughing? Yeah? Because you you said that surely all of you have had a friend or a family member has been down in the debt. I sound like a Hallmark Guarden. Yeah, a little bit. It just made me laugh, okay, um. But yeah, sometimes it's literally impossible to cheer someone up, um because the meso limbic reward system turns basically shuts

off the dopamine valve and you're not able to laugh. Um. So it's like it's like their brain is working through the joke, but they just can't possibly find it funny because their their mesolympic system is not functioning. And then you might have this sad exchange, which is didn't you get it? And they go no, I got it, or when they're like those funny, but I think it also explains to when they when you're able to finally reopen

that And this is just my own theory too. Sometimes you know when you have that laugh that you really need after being depressed, then sometimes you just can't stop laughing. That hysterics hysterical thing takes over. And I think it's because you just get that rush of dopamine again, because your body craves it like cigarettes. And when it does, right, when it does pay off, you've got these special helper cells called spindle cells that just shoot it across your brain.

So if you see somebody laughing like uncontrollably, their brain is just basically like zapping itself over and over and over again until the spindle cells just kind of pet around it. Yeah. Uh, I guess we're at the point now where we talk about the uncomfortable topic of men and women and why some people like Christopher Hitchens don't think women are funny. Take it, Chuck Hitchens. Uh, God rest his soul was on record in a very famous

Vanity Fair article. Um what's it called? Why women aren't Funny? I think so, which is a great way to get a lot of clicks, I guess, and he theorized that women just weren't as funny, and I disagree. I think my wife, for one, is hysterical. Well, here's how he explained it. He said that, um, women don't have the same need to be funny that men do. That For men, it's a tool for reproduction to attract a mate by being funny. And he was saying women just don't need that.

I get that. That was that was pretty much the basis of his argument. So it wasn't like he just wrote down like women aren't funny, don't even play right. It was a little more thought. Um And at Washington University School of Medicine actually did some studies again with the Wonder machine, and they did find some interesting differences between the sexes. UM. Females tend to pick apart verbiage more UM and derived a more potent meso limbic reward

response when there was a punchline. So I think the general point is that guys may laugh more, women laugh harder, which I've seen in action. Yeah, because guys are kind of dopey and they'll we'll laugh at anything, you know. But I think women pick it apart more maybe maybe more a little more intellectual about it, but tend to get a lot more out of a joke than a man would. In the end, spindle cells go crazy, they

go crazy. Oh yeah, the magic formula, my friend. Uh it is um x equals at times help plus and times though divided by P. I thought you're gonna say, chardon ay, No that works. Um so, Uh there's statistics actually yeah kind of. I don't know if it proves that men are funnier. It shows that women get fewer

laughs than men statistically. So if you have a woman speaking to an audience, um, she's going to get well, the man's gonna get a hundred and twenty six percent more laughs out of that same audience than a female speaker. Well yeah, and a female speaker, especially to an all male audience, will get even less laughs. Uh it's science. Yeah, this is not a saying. That not our jokes and this is not our position. Yes, they're turning on this. I feel it. Can you open that door? Quick exit?

Uh so again. Christo Hitchins himself wasn't like we were saying, it's not like women are funny, But um, I think there's tons of great female comedians. Well he made that point too. He didn't say tons, but I mean he did. He didn't make a point. He's saying like that, you can't possibly say that there are no funny women. There's been some really great ones. But I think he was saying just in general. Here's why, um So, I think the reason we bring that up is, um, there's gender

differences in humor. Yeah. Um, Like we said, it's very much based on context. So it's like age, cultural differences, gender, it all comes into play and everyone's going to find everything funny. National differences, like apparently we Americans. Everyone here American. Okay, well we're gonna let you in a little secret. Americans tend to think that, um that irony, humor that's not really like mean is funnier, more positive stuff, whereas the

Brits think self deprecation and mean humor is way funnier too. Sarcasm. Yeah, um, so you put a britain in an American in the same room telling the same joke, one one is probably not gonna laugh. Yeah, unless you're a master at mixing those two things together. I like British humor, Yeah, I like it too. It depends although oppressions. Well you have to. Now, I don't get Eddie Iszard. I know everybody loves Eddie is See. I don't it's what that's it. I'm not

I'm sure that I know what that means. Apparently it's an Eddie Iszard reference. Is that one of his bits? Okay, that's kind of that's funny. Yah, what's your name? Lance? You should just do Eddie Iszard material. Maybe it's the presentation that's bothering me or the dress. He's like, well, okay, yeah, well I'm gonna give another shot now. Yeah, that beast things great, Lance. Lance Iszard just got his brother Eddie is some extra views. Uh So, recent research on Plato

and Aristotle's theories um abound um. The ancient Greeks claim that people laughed at malice of others misfortune, yeah, that superiority thing. Yeah, so it goes way back. People have always laughed at people that face plant, apparently, or get kicked in the balls. It's good old school humor. You're telling you blue um or. They've also found that um like bosses, and this is a kind of a no brainer, and they call it the brown nose effect. Bosses tend

to joke more. And if you are an inferior not inferior, what would you call it? I guess just an employee, the the high man on the totem pole. What would you say? Subordinate? There you go. Um, if you're the subordinate, then you're gonna laugh more at your boss's jokes, just

because you're trying to get in there. Your brown nosing. Well, I I saw in that same study they were saying, like, that's possibly an explanation, but they also think that it's more involuntary rather than a strategy like the uncomfortable not necessarily uncomfortable. It's almost like you just you're more primed to laugh at everything when you are at a low station and a given social situation, because when you laugh,

people tend to like you more. You have a sense of humor, you attract more friends, and so the more friends you have, more allies you have, more allies you have, the higher your station rises. So they were saying they didn't think it was like an actual strategy that you just can't help but titter nervously yourself. Maybe I'm not,

I'm just saying other people are. Uh. And finally, The last thing I have is that, um, they did some studies on what people do find funny and just daily life, and it's usually not jokes, and it's usually not a comedy routine you're watching. It's everyday life. Apparently only traces back to an actual joke. And seventy of daily laughter is just laughing at life and the people around you on a daily basis, right, And supposedly it's not even funny.

Apparently the average person last seventeen point five times a day. I don't know if we said that. We didn't, but I wonder about that half laugh. You know, it's just a hoe or he wasn't so great, but we'll count it. Um. But this guy named Robert Provine, who's a laughter humor researcher. UM, he said that most of the stuff that precedes laughter and daily life, UM, which is called most pre laugh dialogue is quote like that of an interminable television situation

comedy scripted by an extremely ungifted writer. So it's basically just like laughing at just dumb stuff that's not even really funny. It's just kind of said by somebody who you want to like you. Apparently that's the basis of humor. There's the s Y s K theory. Boom, I'm done, man uh all right, so you want to give our familiar sign off here. Yeah. So if you guys are interested in this kind of thing, you can find this article UM on how stuff works dot com by typing?

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