WEBVTT - Laughter: What's so funny about that? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.439 from house Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.840 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Ay, 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:25.600 you have tape on your You have tape on your 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:29.800 new cover. Well that's because it's mine and mine alone. 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.160 So I'm gonna write Chuck on it at some point. 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:36.080 That's gonna affect something. It will. How does he sound, Jerry, 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.279 I'll screwed up. For those of you that don't know, 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.400 I got my own microphone cover because all the other 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.200 ones your smell bad. So I got one to keep 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.720 in my drawer, and uh, it's Chuck's. And I'm paranoid 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.680 that I'm making the microphone cover smell bad. Well there's 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.360 three of them now, yeah, Well you keep switching them 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.120 out and I can't smell it. So I'm like, all right, 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.240 I got something for you. Speaking speaking of you, just 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.520 laughing right there? You ready for this? Right? What do 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:08.399 you think I have integrity? I'm buying a cinnamon right now. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:14.360 I'm buying a cinnamon at the airport that I arrived 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:28.760 at you understand why that's extra disgusting. Right when you're leaving, 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:30.640 if you're at your destined you know, when you're at 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:32.960 the airport, you're leaving. But you can go like, oh, 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.280 I gotta eat. I need to do food because I 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.919 might be trapped in the sky forever, and I obviously 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:43.000 to eat right now. But this is I've landed, the 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:48.880 trip is over. Not too shabby. Check. That's the great 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.080 Louis c. K. If I'm not mistaken, Yes, who I 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.640 think is one of the funnier people on the planet today. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:57.280 I agree with you. You know, I started as a 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:00.680 Saturday Night Live writer. Doesn't surprise me. Um. And that 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.920 was from his h his special, right, like his like 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.480 what's it called chewed up? Yes, chewed up? His stand 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.160 up special? One one of his stands. Very good. Okay, 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:15.360 so I've got one for you. Okay, all right, I 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.880 mean you couldn't get you to laugh here, listen up, chucker. 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.520 All right. When I finished, I want to take all 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.360 my graduation money and buy myself a motorcycle, but my 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:30.400 mom said no, she who died in a horrible motorcycle 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.400 accident when he was eighteen, And I could just have 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:42.040 his motorcycle. He's that guy. That's Anthony Jeselnick. He's hilarious. 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:45.560 Oh you saw him live, yeah, south By Southwest. Okay, 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:49.320 that was that guy. So okay, all right, we're laughing. 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.000 This is a pretty good it's a pretty auspicious start 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.520 to the podcast on how laughter works. Yeah, now we 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.440 just have to be as funny as Louisa. Kay. Yeah, 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.880 I don't think we should even try no pressure, Yeah, no, no, 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.240 I think we should just be ourselves here and explain 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:05.880 how after it works. Like this is a robust how 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:12.160 stuff works articles. Actually it was written by Marshall Brain himself. Yeah. Um, 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:16.600 and he went to town, uh, figuring out exactly how 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.640 um laughter works why we laugh? And you can't up 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:22.400 with a bunch of really good data on it. We're 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:24.360 gonna share here. He gets right into it too. Did 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.959 you notice that with the joke with nothing man, it 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:29.839 was like, oh no, I cut all that out. I think, 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:31.760 oh you did. You didn't see the joke about Bill 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:33.920 Gates and the president of General Martin. I cut all 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:35.280 that out. No, wonder it seemed like he got right 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:37.800 into it. Yeah, I cut that part out. Well. Yeah, well, 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.880 after after that, after the intro. He does start out 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:42.840 with you know, first of all, laughter is not the 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.200 same as humor and quote uh and that's a pretty 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:51.280 good point. Laughter is the physiological response to humor. Right, 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:56.080 So humor is a joke or um, Mo Howard slapping 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:01.040 Larry Fine, Um, whatever is your bad Tom, you know, 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.600 chasing Jerry, Jerry makes it into his mousehole and then 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:09.120 Tom smacks's face or modaba tenda. That's where I thought 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.880 you were going when you said Mo, No, Mo Howard 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.240 another funny moment, that's mo. What's most last name? Moda tenda? 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:18.960 No he has the last name? Does he? Is it? Like? 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:21.760 I don't know what it is. His first name is momar, 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.960 but I can't remember what his last name is. Well anyway, 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.480 So any of that is humor, and then we respond 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.159 to in a certain way. And what's awesome is although 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.400 we can't really say like why things are funny or 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:40.159 why we even have a capacity to find things humorous. Um, 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.880 we have a pretty good understanding of what happens in 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.240 the brain, right we do. UM. And we also know 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:50.040 that what happens physically, like there's a there's a cascade 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:54.800 of events that takes place in a very unfunny way. 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:59.240 Um that that starts with your face, right, that's right. Uh. 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:03.960 Right off the bat, fifteen facial muscles will contract. It's 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.039 going to stimulate the zygomatic major muscle, which is the 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:10.600 apparently the lifting mechanism of your upper lip. Yeah, and 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.000 think about it. When you're trying to stifle laughter, what 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.919 you're doing is focusing on keeping that muscle from lifting, 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.560 because once it hits that one point of no return, 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.359 you're you just crack up. That's right, and that crazy Uh. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:28.960 Your respiratory system is upset, and your epiglottis apparently half 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:32.279 closes your larynx, so that's why you sometimes can't catch 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:35.400 your breath, and if you really get going, it's gonna 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.240 activate your tear ducks. That's why you cry with laughter sometimes. Yes, 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:43.000 And I guess those happen in a sequence depending on 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.599 how hard you're laughing. Right. Um. Not only that you 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:51.000 talked about the epiglottis closing the larynx right so that 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:55.520 that you're trying to gasp for air, which is also 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.520 why sometimes you can go for a pretty long period 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:04.600 of time without making any sound whatsoever, because you're epiglottis 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:07.279 has um completely close to your life. You can't breathe 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.920 this right exactly. But when you're when you're drawing in 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.760 and gasping, it makes the laughter sound right or w 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.200 whit you snort? Right? Yeah, you don't snort normally when 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.680 you're walking around, No, it's absolutely true. Um snort. Ever 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:23.560 when you laugh sometimes once in a while, Yeah, me too. 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:27.400 It's funny. It's such an embarrassing thing too, certainly, like 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:32.440 kind of I'm proud of That means I'm really laughing, 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.360 right sure, um, And when I cry, it means I'm 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:40.160 really laughing. It's wonderful. But um so when when we 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:44.320 make this uh, when we're drawing air in right to 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:48.039 try to survive and live, um, where we make a 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:50.800 sound and we make a certain sound. And what I've 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:53.720 what I found is that it's universal. Ho ho ho. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.680 I thought you meant when you're breathing or ha ha ha, 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.400 that's the laugh, right. What's crazy is is it happens 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:05.080 like almost universally people say ha ha ha or ho 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:10.360 ho ho, right, and they deliver that same laugh at 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:16.000 about the same rate about every two milliseconds. Structure. Yeah, 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.640 and the h is almost a delivery vehicle for the 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:20.960 vowel either the O or the A, the long or 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:24.640 the long A or the short am aha ha. I've 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:29.040 never paid that much attention to myself. But you don't 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.040 intermix them ever. No one has ever in the history 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:36.160 of humanity ever genuinely intermixed hot and ho into a 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:40.480 real laugh. And that interesting it is. And you also 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.280 have your own signature laugh, just like your voice is 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.920 your own, and your hiccupping pattern is your own. It's 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:51.280 your laugh generally is the same like it might might range, 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:54.000 but that is your laugh. You're never gonna laugh like, Wow, 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.360 that sounded like someone else all of a sudden, right, Yeah, 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:01.480 that'd be weird. My signature laugh is pink. It's really 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.800 I don't know what that means, but I'm laughing. So um, well, 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.640 there there you go. Then it was it was successful. Um. 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.720 And we also apparently humans have some sort of um 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.040 laughter detector that as far as I know, since we 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.160 call it a laughter detector, it means science hasn't figured 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.120 out what that is yet because that's to do with 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.720 the brain. But just based on observation, UM, we have 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.440 an ability to pick up on other people's laughter, and 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.959 for some reason that can make us laugh. It's contagious, 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.240 and as we laugh, it can make the other people 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.880 laugh and so on, and laughter just kind of keeps going. 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.880 That's right. Something else interesting about laughter is the more 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.360 you try to stifle it, say you're trying to really 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:50.240 keep your zygomatic major muscle in a relaxed position, the 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:58.400 more the funnier the situation becomes. The church, even heathens 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.160 know that it's called the church eagle. If you've never 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.560 setting footed side of church, you still call the church giggles. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.600 And I have actually gotten the church giggles in church 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.319 big Oh yeah, sure, when I was a kid like it. 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.080 I remember being specifically being a teenager. This one time 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.959 I got the church kiggles really bad because something a 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:20.040 guest preacher said. He misspoke in a funny way and 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.560 it's something you shouldn't have laughed at, and I couldn't 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:24.360 help it, and I literally for like, I had to 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:26.959 excuse myself. I was the only person that had to 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:28.719 get up in leave. Did he shout center at you 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.960 on your way out? No? No. So one last little 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:37.960 universal aspect or pretty much universal aspect of laughter specifically, um, 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.120 and we should say, like this is based on the 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.000 article how laughter works, but it includes humor quite a 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.679 bit as well, but laughter specifically, Uh, there's this aspect 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:52.000 of it called the punctuation effect, where it doesn't it 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.600 doesn't normally I know what you're saying, I know your idea, 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.360 but it doesn't normally come in the middle of a sentence. 0:09:57.960 --> 0:09:59.599 It normally comes at the end of a sentence or 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.439 the end of a phrase, or in a dead space 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:07.440 a period, which hence the name punctuation effect. That's one 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:08.840 of those things where I was like, do you really 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:13.040 need some researcher to tell you that, like that you 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.360 laugh after you speak, because you can't do both at 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:18.559 the same time. No, But I think the point is 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:22.040 that you're not like most people don't in the middle 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:25.240 of a joke laugh and then continue on with the joke, 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.360 and then laugh and then continue on and then deliver 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.000 the punch line. And if they do, everybody thinks they're 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.440 terrible joke teller. Well, if you're laughing at your own 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:36.720 joke anyway, probably doing it wrong. Or when um, when uh, 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.920 Henry Hill and good Fellas, right, he's just ticking off 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:44.959 Joe Pesci and he tells him he's a funny guy 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.040 and He's like, what am my clown do? I amuse you? 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.920 You think I'm you think I'm funny? Right, And then 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.839 like they they the tension is relieved and he jumps 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:54.760 on him or no, he doesn't jump on him yet, 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:56.880 and he goes, you really are a funny guy, and 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:00.320 then they starts laughing again. He didn't go you really 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:04.840 are and laugh a funny guy. The punctuation effect. Yeah, 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.560 I think that's lame. Well, okay, let's move on then 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.160 to why we laugh like this is a This is 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:15.000 one of the parts where we just don't fully understand. Well, uh, 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.559 some people have their ideas obviously. Uh. It all goes 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.880 back to Tuck Tuck, and people think that initially it 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:25.880 might have been as a ah, a release of tension 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.320 from the passing of danger. Took Tuk and his buddies 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.079 are sitting around in the saber Tooth Tigers nearby and 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:35.360 they are all quiet, and then they think maybe laughter 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.600 started as a relief that the danger is now gone, 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:43.480 or maybe it took Tok farted right afterwards, which is 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:45.560 always we had to get one of those in there. 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:51.000 Um that Another explanation is that it's a form of 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.280 social bonding. Sure that you don't really laugh around people 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:56.680 you don't trust. You at the very least, don't genuinely 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:58.839 laugh around people you don't trust, right, Yeah, you have 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.559 to be at ease to laugh. Yes, generally speaking, Um, 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:09.560 it's also a means of asserting dominance. As far as 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.760 I understand that, dominant individuals in societies, whether it be 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:19.120 human or maybe chimp, um, the jerks and other words, 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:23.720 tend to um create laughter more. But it's not necessarily 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.480 genuine laughter, not comfortable after it's a way of controlling 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.439 the social climate. But as far as genuine laughter goes, 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:35.080 there seems to be a necessity for trust and um, 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.679 there's some sort of positive feedback loop, right where when 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.559 you laugh with somebody you feel comfortable around them, and 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.599 they laugh and they feel comfortable around you, and that 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.840 lettle comfort can lead to more laughter and it's again 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.040 a positive feedback, and then you're all just having a 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.920 rip more good time. Right. And then afterward, after you've 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.800 shared this experience of these this person, you feel even 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.840 closer to than than before. That's right, When you share 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:03.199 a good laugh with someone, it bonds you. Yeah, I 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.839 feel that way for sure. So in that sense, it's 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.320 a social signal. And there's other studies that back up 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:15.959 the idea that this it's laughter is expressly designed for 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:21.160 the as a social bonding glue. Yeah, you're thirty times 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.880 more likely apparently to laugh in a social setting than 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:29.160 when you're alone with the TV off. Then again, I 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.000 wonder about that. It's like, don't you need some sort 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.840 of stimuli or they did they do? When they did, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:35.400 they didn't have anything on the study, Like did they 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.760 put someone in a room alone and give them like 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.120 a funny book or something. I don't understand how that works. 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:43.960 Probably Okay, I think that maybe a book um would 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:48.160 do it. It says, no pseudo social device like a television, 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:50.160 So what are you laughing at? Then? If you're just 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:51.920 in a room. But that's what I'm saying, like, maybe 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.720 like you, you just are reading jokes on strips of paper, okay, 0:13:56.080 --> 0:14:00.280 like a bazooka gum jokes nobody laughs at the Yeah, 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.520 that's that. That explains that. Well. In nitrous oxide, they 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:10.000 found German physiologists named Willobald Rook. They he found that 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:15.120 laughing gas was even less effective when you're alone. Yeah, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:20.160 which which is true because you're just high. Is that 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.640 the deal. Oh yeah, I don't. I can't remember if 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.960 I ever had laughing gas, to be honest, Oh really no, 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.760 I've never liked had surgery. You don't necessarily I mean 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.400 you do kind of laughing. You're funny and everything seems funny. 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.400 And I have noticed, like when when you're at the dentist, uh, 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:37.440 and there, you know, the dentist and the hygienist during 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.200 there and they got you like nice and loaded. Everything's 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.520 kind of funnier and you're talking and all that, and 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:44.280 then when they leave and you're by yourself, you're just 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.640 like looking at the ceiling tile because it looks crazy. 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:50.840 But it's not necessarily funny. You should try it, man, 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.040 it's my whole life free. I hate the dentist too. 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.080 That would probably change that experience. You'll still hate the dentist, 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:01.680 but you'll be like, at least there's this okay, gotcha doctor, 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.000 feel good? Uh? It is uh. The study of laughter, 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.359 Josh has a name, is called gelatology, or it's g lotology. 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:13.720 That's the physiological study of laughter. That's what it said, right, 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:15.560 But I just want to make sure that that's clear, 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:20.360 because we're kind of vacillating between laughter and humor, and 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:26.280 this is the physiological study of humor of laughter. Thanks 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:30.920 for clearing that up. Uh. Emotional responses, um start in 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.480 the I'm sorry emotional responses or the function of the 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.560 frontal lobe. But when it comes to laughter, it's all 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.960 over the map. It's not just the frontal lobe. They 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:41.840 hooked people up to E E. G s and showed 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.720 them funny things and found that it's all All parts 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.960 of the brain are involved in the laughter response. So 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.600 it's not just emotional. But it's not necessarily all over 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:53.080 the map. I mean, it is all over the brain, 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:57.440 but it follows a prescribed neural circuit. That's right, Like 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:01.040 they can go, oh, it's going here next see, um, 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:04.200 what what parts of the brain does? It include the 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:09.760 cerebral cortex. Electrical wave moves through there and if now 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:11.960 I didn't really understand this, but if the wave takes 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.400 a negative charge, then you're gonna be laughing. If it's 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.680 a positive charge, then there's no response. So I guess 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:20.600 that just measures whether or not you think something's funny. 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.840 I guess I don't know, or else. Like it literally 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.760 like one type of electrical charge will trigger this response 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.040 and another type won't like it just passes over you. 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:37.520 But the human electric though, well either way. Um, an 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.720 electrical wave is generated when something that's potentially funny, potentially 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.640 funny stimuli is encountered. Within four tenths of a second. Yes, 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:49.760 this electrical signal is generated, and it's it. It's determined 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:51.640 I guess in four tents whether you thought it was 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.200 funny or not. Yeah. So, but that's a great question. 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.520 I mean, like that's a card or the horse kind 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:01.240 of question, like does it turn positive or negative because 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:03.040 we found it funny or do we find it funny 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:06.800 because it turned positive or negative. I think it's the humor. 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:08.640 You have to find it funny, and then the brain 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:12.640 reacts to that response. That's what I think. So let's 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.760 say that it does take a negative charge, this electrical 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.359 wave that just covers your brain, and um, it starts 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.240 spreading through this neural circuit, starting with the left side 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.640 of the cortex right, which analyzes the words and structure 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.159 of a joke. Yep, making sense of it all. Ye, 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.680 of the words themselves. The frontal lobe, which is in 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.960 charge of emotion. That's right, you got the right hemisphere, 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.879 the cortex, which basically it sorts out whether or not 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.680 the joke makes sense to you. Right, Well, that's where 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.280 you put it together, like the the right um, the 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:49.000 right hemisphere, the frontal lobe is the place where we 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:55.320 managed to construct emotion and intellect of the cortex, and 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:57.959 that's where we that's where you get the joke. Right. 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.199 They've also found that that's the hard since you need 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.480 all these different systems in the brain. But that's the 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:07.960 part when it's damage that produces the um most damage 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:12.880 to experiencing humor, getting humor, finding anything funny, Yeah, it's 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:15.400 real sad uh. Of course, you have the motor sections 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.119 that get all the physical responses going, like slapping your 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:24.200 knee or doubling over or whatever you do that's wacky 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:26.720 when you laugh. And there's there's also another big one 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:28.800 that um, I didn't think of, but it made perfect 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:30.680 sense when I when I thought about it, which was 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.520 the sensory processing area of the occipital lobe towards the 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.400 back of the head. But that's where you visualize things. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.240 So it's like imagine what a snake wearing a vest 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.119 does look like, you know, and then that makes you 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:46.040 laugh as well. So it's almost like all of these 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.600 different like the structure of the joke, the words, and 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:53.040 all that um, pulling in past emotions, your emotional response 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.600 right then going um, visualizing the thing that's just been described. 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:00.920 All this stuff is brought together to produce the sensation 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:06.120 of finding something funny, and then that motor part is triggered, 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:09.119 and that's when you start crying and you can't breathe 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.200 and you say ha ha ha or ho ho ho 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.920 every milliseconds, or flail your arms about her whatever you're 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:22.320 into the Olympics system. I didn't get a lot out 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.760 of this part, especially the comparison to the alligator. It 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.840 was a I have a I have a big question 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.960 markt that didn't really there's a whole paragraph in this 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:36.439 um in this article everybody that it has no purpose 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.240 for being there. Chuck and I can't make heather tails 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.639 of it. If you can email us later. Um, but 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.080 I chucked. The Olympics system part didn't make much sense 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.399 to me until I found a theory um that that 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:53.400 we that we can talk about called incongruity theory. UM. Well, 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:55.720 it's one of the theories of why we have the 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:59.840 ability to find things funny or why things are funny 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:04.719 and others aren't. And incongruity theory says that, um remember 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.159 with curiosity. That was also a theory for why we're curious, like, 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.040 you know, this pencil just fell up and I want 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:13.879 to go find out why that. That's a theory to 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.560 explain why things make us curious. There's also a similar 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.680 theory for why things can be found funny, and it's 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.840 when you tell a joke. We were the joke tellers, 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:28.760 riling up the expectation and the listener and then delivering 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.720 something totally different. That that moment of incongruity that makes 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:34.200 the brain like, whoa, it just slipped on ice and 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.520 it's regaining its footing is thrilling. That's one explanation. The 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:41.360 other explanation for incongruity theory is that we find things 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.200 funny so that we can learn how not to think 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.440 or how not to act right like you don't you 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.000 don't you just don't walk around acting like the Three Stooges. 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:52.440 We find it funny because it's something we don't do. 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:55.159 We learned to not do it like that, or we 0:20:55.320 --> 0:21:01.280 can we cannot follow logic just in a madcap screwy 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:06.440 logic is attendant to jokes by finding them funny as well. Yeah, 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:08.800 that's I think that's one part of some types of 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:13.920 comedy for sure, is when the punch line is unexpected 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:20.600 in some way in congruous, like for instance, Um, the 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:22.840 other day, I was hanging out at the house with 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:26.520 Emily and I was singing songs to my dog. Um, 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.160 there's a lot of things like that in our home, 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:33.119 and I was singing the song I was playing patty 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:37.159 Cake with my dog, Charlie, who was a girl. And 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:41.520 I said, well, you gotta know that for the song 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:43.520 to make sense. And so I was singing this song 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:48.840 and I said, patty cake, patty cake, Baker's chick, bake 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:52.440 me a cake that's shaped like a standard cake. It. 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:55.160 Emily just thought that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.119 But that's a good example, like that Limerick thing where you, 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.359 I mean, it's the same, what's the Limerick joke where 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:03.920 you think you're gonna say something dirty and it's actually 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:05.920 something great normal. I know what you're talking about. I 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:09.359 can't think of it right, But it's that unexpected, incongruous 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:12.000 thing that works so well in comedy. So many times 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:14.960 you have me that you thought I was gonna say 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.520 something else I did and I blushed, You did, your 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:21.520 face got a little red. So um. Incongruity theory is 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:25.040 old and very widely accepted, although it's also criticized for 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:29.480 being overly broad. Explain a lot of stuff totally. But 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:31.800 it's like, I don't understand why everybody has to have 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:34.400 a theory for everything. Why can't it be like, Yes, 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:39.320 incongruity explains some type of humor, superiority explains another. Well, 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:41.879 that's another. That's what I like to call the America's 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:45.320 Funniest Home Videos humor, which is we've talked about before, 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:50.240 And that's when you focus on stupidity or misfortune a 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:53.199 gufall and not a god fall. That's a laugh, a boner, 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:58.000 a mistake, and um, it makes you feel superior to 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.480 the guy that just got kicked in the groin, and 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:03.680 you think that's funny. It is because it's not you 0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:06.760 getting kicked in the groin. I guess I've never analyzed 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:09.679 it like that, but yeah, I guess better him than 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.080 me what I'm thinking? And I kicked in the groin? 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:14.600 Would you think it was funny? No? I wouldn't, But 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:16.520 that doesn't explain why I find it funny when it 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:19.440 happens to somebody else. Well, in a way, it's just 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:22.600 the superiority theory. And I don't think that literally means 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:26.200