{"id":15150,"date":"2014-09-28T08:52:26","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T13:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/?p=15150"},"modified":"2015-07-12T12:20:14","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T17:20:14","slug":"humor-series-funny-to-whom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/humor-series-funny-to-whom\/","title":{"rendered":"Humor Series: Funny to Whom?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"funny-old-lady-smoking\"<\/p>\n

Have you heard this one?<\/em><\/h3>\n

Three Humor Science researchers walk into a bar. ….um. Wait. That won’t work. Let me start over.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Get a scientist to talk about humor studies and you get a quick reminder of how\u00a0science can squeeze the life out of anything.<\/h3>\n

Dissection is destructive. But no more!<\/h3>\n

It’s time to find out in a better way:<\/p>\n

1. What do people find funny and why?<\/p>\n

2. How can YOU become more humorously winsome?<\/p>\n

3. How can science and an understanding of human nature and spirituality help us find out?<\/p>\n

That’s what this series will be about, and I promise that it won’t be as dull as it’s been when scientists have the mic.<\/p>\n

If it’s successful, a long form project will go a lot further and get a lot funnier. That’s up to you.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Here’s the story of how it all started:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A friend of mine asked me to speak at a\u00a0senior residential home on the topic of community. No problem. I speak at plenty of places on plenty of topics. I wrote my bullet points and picked out an outfit…and then things went bad.<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem?
\nI didn’t know she was billing me as “hilarious”.<\/em><\/p>\n

I found that part out only a few days beforehand. I went into a quiet panic. The kind where your hands get clammy and your sweat smells like bad coffee. You run out of TUMS at times like this.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’d planned on being friendly and informative, not uproarious. I was going to present material and involve them in cute\u00a0bonding activities, not split their sides in gales of laughter. My friend\u00a0had been walking around assuring residents that I was the funniest thing going.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now what?<\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe, I could stick a joke in there somewhere:<\/em><\/p>\n

“Have you ever peed your pants laughing? What a silly question\u2013you’re old people. You peed your pants getting out of bed today. Is bladder incontinence a laughing matter? …Depends.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Depends is right<\/span>. <\/strong>This\u00a0wasn’t going to work.<\/em><\/p>\n

What if they hated me? \u00a0Some of them are in chronic pain. Some are grouchy. Some have little patience for sassy youngsters. These people carry canes and some smell like pee.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I could get the beating of my life! And I would<\/span> deserve it.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

The terror of bombing at the place\u00a0drove me to research<\/span> the topic of humor scientifically<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

My purpose was to help these folks\u00a0have a good time, not offend them.<\/em><\/p>\n

What resulted was a quest and many discoveries. I had to find out\u00a0if funniness can be learned, if public speaking can be improved with a formula, if laughter can be predicted<\/strong>, and\u00a0if old people laugh at jokes about physical deterioration\u00a0and, if so, under what conditions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, it turns out the last bit is\u00a0sort of tricky. More on that in future material.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On getting funnier<\/strong><\/p>\n

My research dug up a very good find and it might help you too:<\/p>\n

One of the ways almost anyone can get funnier to more people is to appear harmless more broadly<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Does that seem counter-intuitive?
\nYes, there are foul-mouthed, raunchy comics aplenty and seem to\u00a0get lots of laughs, but they are not typically\u00a0funny to the greatest numbers<\/strong> of people compared to plenty of other things (pies in the face, mistaken identity antics, prat falls, kittens jumping in surprise), and there is<\/strong> a scientific reason why.<\/p>\n

What more people (on average) actually find funny hinges on giving them\u00a0something that is funny at a further comedic distance<\/em>.<\/strong> This explains why Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, and Bill Cosby (before all that\u00a0drugging women\u00a0stuff was found out) have huge followings and continued success, and Roseanne Barr gets more annoying as time goes by.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is\u00a0Comedic Distance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you<\/span> fall into an open sewer and die.<\/p>\n

-Mel Brooks<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In this quote, Mel Brooks underscores what humor researchers are finding empirically true. Distance matters a lot.<\/p>\n

If your child falls off the playground slide and bangs\u00a0himself up, it’s scary. If some man in a cowboy hat suddenly gets kicked in the crotch by an aggressive llama, it’s laughable.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Kitten vs. Stern Proof<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is why videos of kittens doing silly things trump in spades the popularity of Howard Stern\u00a0and his\u00a0radio show antics. The hoards of memes, shares, and overall fans of funny kitten videos means\u00a0that invariably, kittens kick Howard’s butt. Big time. Kittens won’t squash your dearly held values. Kittens won’t say something gross about bodily fluids. (Kittens are not funny to everyone, but they are funnier on the whole than a raunchy DJ or vulgar\u00a0comedian. No contest.)<\/p>\n

\n

The difference between kittens and Howard Stern is this:\u00a0Something “dangerous” isn’t personally<\/strong><\/em> threatening when kittens are involved.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Comedic distance (whether physical, chronological, or emotional) creates an amusing incident. The surprise pays off and people are thusly amused. If not, that you can get booed.<\/p>\n

For me, I played off that my normal Thursday afternoons are spend with prison inmates and that I was REALLY happy for the upgrade.<\/p>\n

I was then heckled by a woman who said,<\/p>\n

“Don’t be so sure.” (She has it in for a few of her neighbors. It’s been ugly.)<\/p>\n

To which I replied, “Well, you are all much better dressed.”<\/p>\n

Resounding laughter. A win!<\/p>\n

\n

So, see\u00a0if you can figure out why the photo above is funny (to most people)?<\/h4>\n

Answer:
\nThe woman has made it to 100 years old and she’s done it her<\/strong> way.
\nSure, smoking is dangerous, but apparently not much, in her case.<\/p>\n

Having fun?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I hope you are enjoying this series.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Do you have questions about humor theory or getting funnier?
\nLet me know.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

xo<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

-Lisa<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Here are the previous articles in this series:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Finding things funny…from birth<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Humor Studies: Step 1 – Tickle Rats<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest info on my humor related projects sign up\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you heard this one?
\nThree Humor Science researchers walk into a bar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5626],"tags":[3878,133,6331,4985,5296,4378,6307,413,6469,455,4941,16,753,4205,17,808,5643,927,998,4377,5653,1215,1233,5298,1369,1387,1388,1400,1453,1462,1503,1544,1580,1589,1590,1594,5070,1616,1672,37,6538,5668,4716,1763,1871,1873,5645,4848,1969,1970,5974,2016,2046,6025,55,2364,2367,6444,2395,56,2470,6296,2502,2521,2552,2559,2608,3976,2708,5902,5575,6470,2741,5840,2747,2748,2753,2759,2787,2855,4079,2974,4328,3010,4628,5500,3164,6539,4859,3257,4271,3274,3284,3315,3860,6232,3421,6446,3444,5958,4075,3522,4404,3546,3579,4621,5307,3625,3630,3634,3698,3711,4173,89],"class_list":["post-15150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spark-my-muse","tag-3878","tag-activities","tag-articles","tag-bad","tag-bar","tag-be","tag-beating","tag-bill","tag-bill-cosby","tag-bonding","tag-child","tag-coffee","tag-comedy","tag-comics","tag-community","tag-contest","tag-dangerous","tag-death","tag-distance","tag-do","tag-emotional","tag-fall","tag-fans","tag-following","tag-friend","tag-fun","tag-funny","tag-future","tag-gig","tag-giving","tag-good","tag-gross","tag-happy","tag-hat","tag-hate","tag-having-fun","tag-heard","tag-help","tag-home","tag-hope","tag-humor","tag-identity","tag-if","tag-in","tag-joke","tag-jokes","tag-kind","tag-laugh","tag-laughs","tag-laughter","tag-learn","tag-life","tag-lisa","tag-man","tag-nature","tag-normal","tag-not","tag-old","tag-old-people","tag-pain","tag-panic","tag-pants","tag-patience","tag-people","tag-photo","tag-picked","tag-popularity","tag-prison","tag-project","tag-projects","tag-public","tag-publicly-speaking","tag-purpose","tag-question","tag-questions","tag-quiet","tag-quote","tag-radio","tag-reason","tag-research","tag-right","tag-scary","tag-science-2","tag-seinfeld","tag-show","tag-smell","tag-speaking","tag-spirituality","tag-start","tag-story","tag-studies","tag-stuff","tag-success","tag-surprise","tag-terror","tag-theory","tag-things","tag-tickle","tag-time","tag-topics","tag-true","tag-tv","tag-ugly","tag-understanding","tag-values","tag-videos","tag-vulgar","tag-wait","tag-walk","tag-walking","tag-why","tag-will","tag-women","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15150"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16209,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15150\/revisions\/16209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}