Why are jokes funny?
microryza.com
microryza.com
As I see it, humor is something that ventures outside of our own "world," yet relates to it. Someone else's inside joke isn't funny to you because it doesn't relate to the "world" you live in. This is also true of referential humor like Family Guy. If you don't know the reference, it's generally not funny.
From analyzing about 30 jokes, these are some of the repeating themes I've come across: - Change the context of something (by far the most common) - Taking a phrase literally - Explain something that doesn't need to be explained. - Under exaggerate. - Over exaggerate. - Connect two unrelated things. - Say something predictable and then take what would have been the cliched ending to an extreme.
The core of these elements and many others is that you're taking a shared view of something and manipulating it, whether through changing the context, taking an element to an extreme, or one of the other numerous ways.
Everyone knows if something is funny on a subconscious level, but few can explain why they laughed at something. Much like how most people know if they like a movie or not, but can't articulate the exact elements that caused them to enjoy the story (unless they've read several books on screenwriting/story telling). I'd be very interested in seeing the results from this study.
Don't forget to take into account the skill, voice, tone, cadence and delivery of the joke.
The same exact words said by different people different ways can be funny or not.
As an example using Mac Speech you can sometimes make even ordinary sentences funny because combining those ordinary words with a rote computer voice can be very funny.
I don't have a particular example handy but some of those http://www.xtranormal.com/ videos that I've seen are good at that.
This is a good comparison of delivery from people telling a similar joke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtuZfREa0ro
"The comic is strictly a human phenomenon. A landscape cannot be a source of laughter, and when humans make fun of animals, it is often because they recognize some human behaviour in them. Man is not only a being that can laugh, but also a being that is a source of laughter."
"Laughter requires an indifference, a detachment from sensibility and emotion: it is more difficult to laugh when one is fully aware of the seriousness of a situation."
"It is difficult to laugh alone, it is easier to laugh collectively. One who is excluded from a group of people does not laugh with them, there is often a complicity in laughter. Thus the comic is not a mere pleasure of the intellect, it is a human and social activity, it has a social meaning."
"Because the mind is flexible, always in activity, we tend to attribute these qualities to the body too, ignoring its materiality. But when we are fully aware that the body is a weigh, a burden for the soul, the situation is comic. We laugh every time somebody looks like a material thing, every time we are under the impression that someone is a thing."
The Martian "Mike" being told what being a human is like:
> ‘And while you are waiting, don’t doubt that you are man. You are. Man born of woman and born to trouble…and some day you will grok its fullness and laugh – because man is the animal that laughs at himself.’
Mike figuring out humor and the human condition:
> “I had thought–I had been told–that a ‘funny’ thing is a thing of goodness. It isn’t. Not ever is it funny to the person it happens to. Like that sheriff without his pants. The goodness is in the laughing. I grok it is a bravery…and a sharing…against pain and sorrow and defeat.”
“But–Mike, it is not a goodness to laugh at people.”
“No. But I was not laughing at the little monkey. I was laughing at us. People. And suddenly I knew I was people and could not stop laughing.” He paused. “This is hard to explain, because you have never lived as a Martian, for all that I’ve told you about it. On Mars there is never anything to laugh at. All the things that are funny to us humans either cannot happen on Mars or are not permitted to happen–sweetheart, what you call ‘freedom’ doesn’t exist on Mars; everything is planned by the Old Ones–or the things that do happen on Mars which we laugh at here on Earth aren’t funny because there is no wrongness about them. Death, for example.”
“Death isn’t funny.”
“Then why are there so many jokes about death? Jill, with us–us humans–death is so sad that we must laugh at it. All those religions–they contradict each other on every other point but each one is filled with ways to help people be brave enough to laugh even though they know they are dying.”
I think this might be right. When I make people laugh it's usually by giving the impression that I fundamentally misunderstand some fact of reality (or that I perceive myself differently to others).
When we physically laugh it's like a short circuit of one perception of reality breaking through from another.
for example, things that affirm certain views of reality are also funny. think about humor about relationships, race, culture, etc.
blonde jokes (I'm blonde) are funny because you know a dumb blonde person or it would be without context
I don't think the humor in these jokes has anything to do with truth - they could apply to any group with a reputation for being dumb.
What's interesting is they probably would not be funny if Pole or blonde were just replaced with "idiot," probably because the listener doesn't get to make the logical leap to stupidity themselves. There may also be an element of shame and schadenfreude for picking on a group that adds to the humor.
"Eating rice cakes is like chewing on a foam coffee cup, only less filling."
This joke isn't literally true, but it is true that rice cakes are nasty and not very filling
+1 for blondes! (I'm one, too)
Jokes are funny because they relate a story of the transition of the object of laughter from potential threat, to non-threat. For example, a high status individual is a potential economic and social adversary and therefore a potential threat.
Consider: If someone slips on a banana peel it is only funny if it is a high status or would-be high status individual. If a handicapped child slipped on a banana peel it would only engender sympathy, not laughter. If a pompous or powerful and aggressive person slips on a banana peel it is funny because that person has instantly gone from the status of potential threat - someone to be reckoned with - to the status of non-threat.
Jokes, especially those with punch lines, follow a narrative thread where some person or persons make a sudden transition from high to low status, from threat to non-threat.
I think you're right that we have some good descriptive models of humor, but we don't have any generative models of humor.
Basic joke structure is:
Setup + Punchline
Setup = Attitude + Topic + Premise
Example: Robin Williams
Attitude: Parenting is hard
Topic + Premise: "When you have a baby, you have to clean up your act."
Punchline: "You can't come in drunk and go, 'Hey here's a little switch. Daddy's going to throw up on you'"
whenever i'm thoughtful on the 'meta-humor' discussion, i'm reminded of this scene, because it seems like strong reminder of people's perception of a lighter vein in a scenario in contrast to a puppy's ignorance thereof.
If this was serious she would at least mention this recent book, which presents a deep and subtle evolutionary explanation, along with a thorough review of past theories, and yes includes lots of jokes: Inside Jokes by Matthew M. Hurley, Daniel C. Dennett, and Reginald B. Adams Jr. http://insidejokesbook.com/
Basically, humor is a learning mechanism. It's funny when we take something to be true and then suddenly discover it to be false (as long as there is no immediate danger).
edit: Yes, the chip is from TNG series, but in the show Data (thankfully) never actually plugs it in.
There appears to be an evolutionary need for humor, so the unknown theory here could actually shed some light.
Also, laughing yoga. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahhN3Ryw4O4
Betcha never thought of the second interpretation!