WEBVTT - Funny or Die 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.800 Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.520 My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.680 What are some words that, to you are inherently funny 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.880 or words and or things that just just say the 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:27.600 word instantly? It italystits black monkey, all right, that's a 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:32.240 good one. Pickle is good. Later hosing later hosing is 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:36.599 really good. Poppy cock, poppy cock, that's a good one. 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:42.360 To sueech squeechy. Yeah you, um, well, let's see you 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.360 already took later hosing. I think later hos is a 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:52.080 good one. Cheese cheese is very funny. Um, you said monkey, Um, 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:57.960 you stole a lot of underwear. Underwear is always hilarious. Um. 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.000 And it's funny because a lot of these words will 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.400 pop up in children's books, which, of course I'm knee 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.320 deep in with my toddler, so you know, I'm pretty 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:10.840 schooled in the funny words. Bugle is yeah, curious, George, 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:12.800 that one comes up, but you're talking about like an 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:17.440 obnoxious instrument or some sort of ridiculous corn snack. It's pretty, 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.600 which can be tasty, but also there are some words 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:24.520 that have a kind of joke within them or something likecalyptian, 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.119 which which means well formed buttocks. I had not heard 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.280 that one. Yeah, yeah, it's it's a great word. So 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:33.800 you know, you can say the ecalyptian so and so. 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:36.959 Uh if you're trying to get someone to compliment. I 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.560 suppose what is it an adjective? Yes, okay, yeah, and 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.880 calie from Greek beautiful and pig. I think that's how 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.120 you pronounce it is means buttocks or rump. Rump is 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.600 another good one. Rump is funny. Yeah. Yeah, So when 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.080 we're talking about what makes yeah right, I mean that 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:57.080 that spells fun right there. But talking about the funny 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.200 like what why are things funny? I don't know, because yeah, 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.760 because we're talking about the words that we're talking. What 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.320 are some words that are just not funny at all? Yes, 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:07.440 And the big one that came to mind that you 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.680 you came up with was table table, Like there's just 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.160 no way to make the word table funny, Like even 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:16.760 if you throw um other words onto it, like you could, 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.400 you know, sex, table, clown table, clown table, it's still 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.239 sounds kind of It's like alright, well, clowns kind of funny. 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.760 But yeah, they're just for elements, which is part of 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:28.920 what we found out in our research about what makes 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.000 things funny. You have to have sometimes desperate elements like that, 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.880 but still it's not funny. And it was It's interesting 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.400 because I was looking back at an episode from This 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:40.480 American Life in which it's called Tough Room, in which 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.320 they visited the editorial offices of The Onion, which is, 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:46.520 you know, spoof magazine, which is incredibly funny, at least 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:50.000 to me. Um, And what they found out is that 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:54.680 during the editorial meeting whether mock headlines are pitched, that 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:58.320 there's only one laugh for every one hundred jokes that 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.320 are told. This out here they are pitching this and 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.040 maybe that's part of it because you know, this is 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:04.680 their job and they're doing it every week and so 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:09.400 but still, yeah, they're seriously jaded. But um, you know, 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.360 they published sixteen stories a week with sixteen mock headlines, 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:14.839 and to get to those sixteen headlines, they go through 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:20.000 six hundred possible headlines to figure out what is funny. 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.680 And I was like, you know, I wonder why why 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:26.200 that is? Like why are some combinations funnier? Than other 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.079 and others, and then I looked into it and I 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:29.639 was looking at some of their best off and one 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.720 of their best ofs was kitten thinks of nothing but 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.440 murder all day. See now that one didn't do much 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.360 for me. I don't know really, well they have. Part 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:40.680 of it was that the cute photo of the kitten, 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:46.760 which you you know again desperate elements murder kitten, No, no, 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:48.800 not really all right, Well, in that episode two, they 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.320 were talking about how the headline local girlfriend always wants 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.120 to do stuff. Okay, that makes the cut, but you 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:57.800 know it doesn't make the cut. In the same session, 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:04.680 is Nation's Girlfriends all for more quality time? Funny? No, no, 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.120 it's the first one got the laugh and everybody the 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.880 second one actually got jeers. But kittens was a hit. 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:13.880 Kittens obviously was a hit. Made it it's it's it's 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.400 a hit. A lot of people's top ten lists. Interesting, yeah, yeah, 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:20.000 um but just to throw some stats at this and 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.160 why we're looking at this, um uh, it's just it's 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:27.400 very interesting to think about why we laugh from evolutionary sense, right, yeah, 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:28.880 like what why why don't we do it? Why is 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.080 it such a phenomenon? Like what purpose does it serve? 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.159 We do it all the time. We love it. Some 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.680 people live for it, some people live to make other 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.960 people laugh. But what is what is actually going on? Semantically? 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.520 What's going on neutologically? Yeah, so that's what we're going 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.479 to discuss. That's what we're gonna talk about today. And 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:47.880 here are your stats too that we're gonna throw at you. 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:51.240 Only about eleven of daily laughter as a result of jokes. Now, 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.120 when you say jokes, do you mean because like we 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.600 we joke around in this podcast a lot, but it's 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.080 very rare that you go, hey, Julie, um not not. 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:01.960 You know, we don't do a lot of that. So 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.680 are we talking about strict joke jokes joking? Yeah, we're 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.240 talking about the formula jokes. So if you're sitting around 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.719 the water color and someone says, hey, you know, a 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:13.640 rabbi and a priest and whatever walks through a bar, 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.279 that kind of joke. So that only eleven percent, which 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.279 kind of makes sense, right because a lot of us 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.719 aren't sitting around the water cooler telling those kind of jokes, 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.960 the porched belt jokes. And then another seventeen is prompted 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.279 by media, you know, sort of like Hey, did you 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.880 see the clo l cator? Did you read the Sunion headline? 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:32.520 Did you watch this episode of thirty? Yeah? I did 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:34.360 you see this YouTube video? Or so on and so forth. 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:39.800 And the remaining seventy two percent arises spontaneously in social interactions. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:41.359 So like you and I sitting here and talking the 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.280 talking the pooh here, okay, talking the poo? Is that 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:49.960 the shouting the shoe? Shouting the shoes? Yeah, true shot. 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.280 I'm trying to avoid the expletip. But you know, I'm 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.640 saying just in um. And it turns out that that 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.839 we're not the only creatures that laugh. Eight and rats 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.800 lack too. Although I'm a little bit dubious about this, 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.640 this rats part, I have to say, um, this is 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:12.560 uh this This article says that like children, apes laugh 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.680 during chasing, wrestling and tickling games. Oh I guess I 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:17.640 have seen videos where you know, it looks like they're 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.000 wrestling around and it lives. It does look like the 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.800 yeah yeah. And it says chimps and gorillas who have 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:25.840 learned sign language have used it for punning and congruous 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.760 word use, which is interesting and playful insults. Intriguingly, it 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.280 seems that rats may laugh too. This is this is 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.480 where I get dubious. A team of researchers at Bowling 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.640 Green State University reported in two thousand that rats produce 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.719 an ultrasonic chirping during play and went tickled by humans. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.359 These chirps appear to be contagious, and young rats prefer 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:50.880 older rats who produce more of them. So, you know, again, 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:54.480 dubious there, But there's this idea of that, you know, 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:56.640 it's not just us that are sitting there having a chuckle, 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.359 and then it's necessary to our existence on some level. 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.240 And we'll get back to more about tickling and in 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:06.240 a little bit. Tickling is very key. It's kind of 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.640 like the most simple version of a joke. Yes, but 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:11.200 but we'll we'll get to that in a minute. First, 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.520 let's let's talk about what's going on at the cognitive level. Yeah, 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.320 what's happening in the head to our brains when we're 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.560 having a laugh. Turns out that when we hear a joke, 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:24.280 our brains began to process that sequentially. Yeah, and I 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.720 found it interesting that you can when it when it's 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.720 following when your brain begins to to process this. They're 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.200 really sort of two types of jokes that and uh, 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.640 and those are on one hand, you have a semantic 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.320 jokes which relate to the meaning of words, and then 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:46.160 you have phonological or jokes or puns, which relate to 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.400 the way something sounds. And like the puns the example 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.520 I kept finding like it seems like everybody uses the 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.880 same pun joke in the scientific literature, which goes as follows, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:00.440 Hey Julie, Hey Robert, why did the all for wear 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:05.200 two pairs of pants because they had a hole in one? Seeing? Yeah, 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.600 But the semantic jokes, that's where you get into like 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:12.120 a lot deeper area, um and where you end up 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:16.160 having onres like double andres and triple andres, which I've 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.360 always found really fascinating. Like here, like here's an example 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.360 of a of a triple on andre if I bother 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.640 to print out the full joke, Nope, I didn't drip 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:27.200 print out the full joke, So I'm just gonna try 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.160 and remember here, but a triple on andre Uh would 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.680 be like the joke where um, ladies pulled over by 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.760 highway patrolman and uh, and you know he comes up 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:37.880 to get her ticket and shoes like, oh, I bet 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:39.840 you're going to try and sell me a ticket to 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.400 the policeman's ball, and then the like a you know, 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.440 like a ball, like a gala okay, and then the 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:49.720 cop gets you know, your tat's like, policemen don't have balls. 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.000 So this is a triple on Andre because on one 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.199 one see, and I was already laughing because you said ball, 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.600 and I was already made the association, to be quite honest, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.160 but it's but here I'm I'm a dirty bird. Well 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.160 I'm gonna explain the joke and take all the humor 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.160 out of it. Um, policemen don't have balls, So you 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.480 can say that policemen do not and we're not making 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.720 any judgment. Great, but policemen don't have balls. One interpretation 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:18.160 presumably mails them. Yeah, well yeah, but policemen don't have 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:21.000 balls in the sense that they do not actually hold balls. 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:25.880 They don't have to have like masked events and like 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.120 yeah big masks. Yeah. But then it's also a shot 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:34.680 on the policeman's masculinity and also on his like his virility, 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.520 you know, and also on his courage. So um, there's 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.000 some also really good examples of triple and andres in 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.960 uh in Canterbury Tales. But I think they're all, oh, yeah, 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:47.680 that's yes. Yes, they're like, yeah, they're just too gross 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.880 to drag out. In this particular. I think they're on 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.120 the Millers shale or something. Yeah, but we'll have to 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.240 remember that because that's an important joke to come back 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:55.960 to later when we talk a little bit more about 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.760 philosophy behind jokes. Yeah, but but this is this is 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.520 interesting because like it it's kind of like a language 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.320 bomb where it's like three meanings roll up into wine, 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:06.280 hit your brain, and then your brain has to figure 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:09.280 it out. Yeah, especially when when you're talking about like 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:13.640 the double entendres um, your brain is trying to square 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.920 all these different ideas together. And so what you're seeing, 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.160 let me, let's just walk you really quickly through what's 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.040 actually happening in your head. Uh. So, the left hemisphere 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:25.720 begins to light up with language processing right, and this 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.040 includes the left and right posterior middle temporal gyrus and 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:32.800 the left posterior inferior temporal gyrus for semantic jokes as 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:36.240 you spoke about, and the left posterior inferior temporal gyrus 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.160 and left inferior frontal gyrus, which are associated with the puns. 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.959 The phonetic processing. Then the joke is processed through the 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:48.320 nucleus accumbents in the ventral tegmental area. Both are part 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:52.840 of the mesa limbic pathway, which is associated with aggression, fear, laughter, addiction, pleasure, 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.400 and it also is connected, among other things, to the hippocampus, 0:10:57.440 --> 0:10:59.680 which we know deals with memories. So there's a lot. 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.839 It's like when this word bomb blows up, it really 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.640 ricochets through all the neural architecture. Yeah yeah, and then 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.000 it's hanging out to you in the magdala, which we 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.439 know is associated with the emotions. So what I think 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.480 it is most interesting about this is just really hitting 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:17.240 that reward center of the brain. And so we're you know, 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.439 we're talking about the reward circuits of the brain getting 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.040 in on the joke, which makes sense with some of 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:25.040 these philosophical theories about what's going on when we hear 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.920 a good like say, toilet humor joke. Right, yeah, So 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:29.760 let's talk about some of these philosophies because I think 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.560 it's interesting. Oh yeah, yeah, But but real quick, this 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:34.200 also makes makes sense. You know if you're hear like 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.600 a really long drawn out joke and you're you're like, 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:38.320 get to the punch line. I want to, you know, 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.079 because I guess it's the reward center. You know, it's 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:44.120 like it's your rang Yeah, give it to me. Yeah yeah, 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.599 I need a little dopamine release right now from them. 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:48.640 All right, So let's look at Yeah, it's the different 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:53.240 philosophical theories on jokes. Um. First of all, there's this 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.560 superiority theory of humor. Yes, and this is one that 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:01.920 has been a champion by Plato, Aristotle, uh, Thomas, Thomas 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:04.360 Hobbs and uh. And this is basically where we find 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.920 the misfortune of others really amusing. This is like slapstick 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.280 guys getting hit in the head. This is on a 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:14.560 more well slightly cerebral level. You have like cringe comedies 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.000 where where people are making all sorts of either they're 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:20.840 not falling on their face literally, then they're doing so 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.840 figuratively in say an episode of the Office or something. Right, Okay, 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.600 yeah yeah yeah yeah. That can make you really uncomfortable, 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.559 right right. Uh And speaking of uncomfortable, the next kind 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.520 is relief theory. And of course Sigmund Freud is a 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:36.840 big champion, was a big champion of this, and this 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.120 states that comedy is a way for people to release 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:44.199 suppress thoughts and emotions safely. Yeah. I actually read something 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:48.000 about the game Peekaboo that kids play toddler's play, and 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.079 about how this is sort of like a mastering your 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:53.640 own uncertainty. And it's the same sort of aspect of 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.080 you keep playing Peekaboo with someone and they disappear, and 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.240 that's this object permanence thinking that all this stuff with 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:01.520 child development. But basically what it's saying is that you 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.080 feel you're you're playing the game with someone disappearing in 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.840 this uncertainty and then coming back and there's the relief, right, 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.000 So you're sort of working out all these feelings in 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:16.040 a safe environment. Right. And it also allows like the 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:19.400 exploration of taboo subjects or just sort of crude things 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.160 like fart, jokes, good stuff. And then we have incongruity 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:27.040 theory UM, which is generally associated with Immanuel Kent, and 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:30.480 it suggests that jokes happen because people notice the disconnect 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:36.240 between their expectations and the actual payoff. Yeah, and um, 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.320 like like nonsense humor tends to fall into this where 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.360 something something happens that that doesn't make a lick of sense, 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.880 and it's it creates ambiguity creates ambiguity, like like Monty 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.080 Python is often put up as an example of this. Yeah, 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:52.040 or a simple set up like a woman and a 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.920 duck walk into a bar. Right, there's two disparate elements. 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:56.400 I don't know the end of that joke, and I 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:00.760 apologize if I know, right, see, sorry about that. No 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.880 dopamine for you. But um, but I mean that's the setup, 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.000 Like your brain is automatically like what a woman, a 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.560 duck a bar. That's that's the ambiguity. But going back 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:15.959 to your your policeman ball balls joke, Um there, I 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:20.640 thought was interesting that the whole superiority there, Stottle that 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:24.560 that type of joke, because here you have, uh, it's 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.320 an authority, right, a policeman, and you're sort of leveling 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.880 the playing field by making fun of this policeman's masculinity. Yeah, 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.000 and he's the one who's tricked into saying he has 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.120 no ball, so it's yeah, it's he's he's made a 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.400 fool out of himself as well. Yeah. So I mean, 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:42.760 I just think these philosophers are really interesting when you 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:44.280 start to you know, of course we're taking part of 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.880 the joke, which is never funny. Um. I mean, I 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.600 think there's there's a quote about like dissecting humors about 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:54.080 as funny as dissecting a frog, you know, uh, and 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:58.000 the frog dies. So but there is this one guy. 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.640 There's always going to be that one guy, that one 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.720 gal who is looking for the reason why we do 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:07.120 what we do. And in this instance, there's a man 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.200 named Peter McGraw. He's a professor of marketing and psychology 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:13.000 at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and he heads up 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:18.000 the Humor Research Lab or HURL for short, um, and 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.720 he's trying to create a grand unified theory of humor. 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.440 And we'll talk about that in a moment right after 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:32.080 this break. This presentation is brought to you by Intel 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:38.960 Sponsors of Tomorrow. All Right, we're back with the with 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.400 the Grand Unified Theory of humor, which which I just 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.080 I just imagine like these uh, these different scientists like 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.680 standing around like in clown wigs and uh and and 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:54.360 like just is furiously working in laboratories with site gags. Well, 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.640 what is funny about this is that this research lab 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.080 they pretty much do everything that you could ever think 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.080 of to asked out what makes something funny like they 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:06.400 actually even get some of their subjects high on mary 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:08.720 Jouanna and these are people who are in who are 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.480 using it legally for medical purposes. Yeah yeah, yeah, So UM, 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:14.800 that's important to talk about so that that doesn't get 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.960 rated after someone ss the podcast UM or people start 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.280 calling up saying, dude, they're not really any be part 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:23.000 of this experiment. Um, but yeah. I mean they're sitting 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.360 there playing like hot tub time machine with you know, 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:29.480 the control group which is not high, and the medical 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.880 marijuana UM subjects, and trying to figure out if duh, 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.400 you know, if this this drug would make something funnier. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.040 And they're actually even like having some people watch it 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.280 from you know, a certain distance and then another distance 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:45.640 from the TV to the two the eyes to see 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.840 if that makes it funnier. So every single thing that 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:50.840 you could think of, their trying to test about what 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:54.280 makes something funny, including like the distance in which you 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.720 watch an action unfold, which is kind of nuts. So 0:16:57.760 --> 0:16:59.840 like if you watch somebody do something stupid if you're 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.640 and close to them versus we watching them far away. Well, 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.600 and this is more for UM for for media, right, 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:08.720 so for if you're watching something on the internet or 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.240 something on the TV, and again this is you know, 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:12.440 you have to look at this. This is a guy 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.080 who is professor of marketing and psychology, so obviously he's 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:19.159 going to be using whatever findings he has for marketing purposes. 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.399 And since you know, internet is a huge part of 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.840 the way that we consume our comedy these days, you know, 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.359 obviously they're going to be some people who are going 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.440 to buy into this research eventually. So that means, you know, 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.680 I'm just trying to talk about the bottom line here. 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.600 It's usually money that's motivating this, but they're big work 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.119 is this unit unified theory. This unified theory is just 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:41.399 funny because it's almost like the theory of everything when 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:43.600 we talk about string theory, because because like in that, 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:45.440 we're talking about all these different theories about how the 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:49.080 universe works, and they don't all work in unison. They 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.240 can each sort of they can describe aspects of the 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:53.880 universe and on the full picture. So the argument here 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.840 is like the superiority theory, the relief theory, the incongruity theory, 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:00.960 these are all great and they can describe large sections 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.720 of humor, and they can describe like whole um, you know, 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.600 whole TV shows, but they're not a unified theory of 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.560 what's going on. Yeah, they're not. There's not everything wrapped 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:11.640 up into one. But this dude says that there there 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.800 is this unified theory and is called the benign violation theory. Yeah, 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:20.040 and like most things, it seems it relates. Uh, it 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:24.679 manages to explain everything through a Venn diagram, which if 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:26.160 you're if you're not familiar with the I'm sure you've 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.159 seen them in infographics on not really infographics or just 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:33.040 graphics on the internet. Um, but it's like two big 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:36.920 circles and they're overlapping just a little bit, and where 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.639 the two circles overlap, that's where the magic happens and 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.080 whatever is being described. Yeah, and actually there's a great 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.879 visual on why are this is one of one of 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:48.080 the pieces of research that led us to this and 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:50.920 the article is called One Professor's Attempt to Explain Every 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:53.240 Joke Ever told. And that's that's where you can actually 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.919 see this diagram, which is you know, again funny that 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.560 they're even applying a Venn diagram to it. Yeah, but 0:18:58.560 --> 0:18:59.920 but it but it sums it up really nicely. Be 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:01.639 is in this then diagram like you don't have to 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:03.159 look at it. In fact, don't look at it. Just 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:07.080 listen to me. Um. Two big circles walk into a bar, 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:12.200 two big circles. One is labeled um violation and one 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.439 is labeled benign. Now, when we're talking benign, we're talking 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:20.520 like the word table um um table table is the 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.480 most benign thing we could come up with. But things 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:26.639 that are not threatening to us, things that are maybe 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:28.639 just you know, they're normal, they're not even, they're not 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:33.399 really funny. And the nothing in each circle is funny harm, right, 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:36.080 you're not gonna create any harm. They're just benign, all right. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:39.399 Then you have the violation um circle and not everything 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:43.120 in the in the violation circle is inherently funny, but 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:46.240 but can become funny. Um. So these are things like 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:50.560 violations of personal dignity, of linguistic norms, like somebody has 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.560 an unusual accent, you know, in personal dignity would be 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:58.119 like slapstick physical deformities, you know, and like slapsticking in 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:00.679 like banana peel jokes, right, like slipping out of an 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.920 an appeal. Social norms like you know, just anybody behaving 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:09.960 strangely moral norms people doing things that are entirely disrespectful 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:15.479 or or just outrageously awful. Um and uh and and 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:19.959 so that's the violation sphere. And when these two overlap, 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.200 well you have something that is that is at once 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:28.520 benign and a violation. That's where the humor happens. So 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.119 you could have something that in life where it truly 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:34.359 is threatening, but when you overlay it with something that's benign, 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:35.920 you take the threat out of it, and you still 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.600 have the taboo, and then you get the funny, right right, okay. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:42.199 And so they use the example of Sarah Silverman, you know, 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:44.800 to say this is a perfect example of b VT, 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.199 which I thought was funny because she really deals in 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:52.240 some very awkward territory in which she talks about sexual abuse, incest, 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.080 so on and so forth. Best reality with I mean, 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:58.920 she has a cute little dog that oftentimes she makes 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:03.600 some inferences that are awful. It's disgusting. Sometimes she's really 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.959 into toilet humor too, but she gets away with it 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.840 because she's cute and she comes off I mean, her 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.360 persona anyway is one of kind of a dunce. Well, yeah, 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:16.000 they they say the the professor says that she can 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:19.440 say these appalling things because it registers has been known 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:24.480 because she she seems so oblivious to their offensiveness, so 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.560 she's downplaying in a sense. And then he says, because 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:32.560 she's so darn cute. Yeah. So, um, it's really interesting 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:35.560 to look at it that way. And what's like like 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:38.320 like even things that are truly horrible like cancer. You know, 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:41.600