{"id":952,"date":"2011-08-18T15:15:48","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T15:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/?p=952"},"modified":"2011-08-18T15:18:27","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T15:18:27","slug":"the-why-of-funny-7-all-laugh-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/08\/18\/the-why-of-funny-7-all-laugh-together\/","title":{"rendered":"The Why of Funny #7: All-Laugh-Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professor Robert R. Provine tried applying his training in neuroscience to laughter 20 years ago at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He carefully observed thousands of \u201claugh episodes\u201d in real social situations \u2013 city sidewalks, suburban malls and the like. His conclusion about almost all of the utterances which triggered laughter in these situations? They weren\u2019t funny.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oddly, it seems that the laughter reaction engendered in a studio audience, or a family at home watching Only Fools and Horses, has little or nothing to do with what makes people laugh socially, and therefore why laughter exists at all (after all, laughter almost certainly predates comedians by some way, and since babies laugh it obviously predates language). In all probability, modern comedians and comedy shows have hijacked a response which evolved for another reason altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaughter is an honest social signal because it\u2019s hard to fake,\u201d Professor Provine says. \u201cWe\u2019re dealing with something powerful, ancient and crude. It\u2019s a kind of behavioural fossil showing the roots that all human beings, maybe all mammals, have in common.\u201d\u00a0Laughing together is a way of saying: we are the same. We\u2019re part of the same gang. When I laugh\u00a0with you, I\u2019m saying \u201cI get you.\u201d That\u2019s why we laugh more in a big audience than we do on the sofa\u00a0on our own. And that\u2019s why so many comedy shows have a laugh track.<\/p>\n

The drawback of the laugh track is the same as discussed under Just-A-Flesh-Wound<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 it reminds the\u00a0audience at home that they\u2019re watching a TV show, and this may wreck the tone (and pace) of your\u00a0show. But the advantage is clear to see: it can make a show seem funnier.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h3>\n

Asking why we laugh doesn\u2019t really tell us what will be funny, and analysing humour doesn\u2019t\u00a0necessarily make us better \u201claughter technicians\u201d, since comedy is so fragile. But here at least are\u00a0eight tools to use in the creation of comedy, which have fairly predictable effects.<\/p>\n

Comedy based on STATUS seems human and universal. Comedy based on JUXTAPOSITION can seem\u00a0obscure, but can also be a great vehicle for SATIRE. Comedy based on WITHDRAWN EMOTION can\u00a0help make extreme situations acceptable, broadening the range of possible topics. Comedy based on\u00a0HEIGHTENED EMOTION may end up seeming silly, but can have very broad appeal. Comedy based\u00a0on INSIGHT seems clever and may provoke admiration rather than gales of laughter, whereas\u00a0comedy based on ANTICIPATION or SURPRISE (which includes almost all slapstick) seems more\u00a0simplistic but is likely to appeal to more people. Combining these elements creates the strongest\u00a0effects. Here\u2019s an example from Scrubs<\/em> which is by no means exceptional for that show.<\/p>\n

The Janitor tells JD he is no longer pursuing his vendetta against him, and quietly returns to\u00a0painting an X on the surface of the hospital car park. Later, JD drives his scooter away, not\u00a0noticing the heavy iron chain around the rear bumper. Suddenly, the chain tautens, and JD is\u00a0flung over the handlebars, landing exactly on the Janitor\u2019s X, besides which sits the Janitor in\u00a0a deckchair, sipping a cocktail. \u201cBullseye!\u201d he cries. \u201cWe\u2019re not done yet, are we?\u201d asks JD,\u00a0spread-eagled on the floor. \u201cNo, my friend, we\u2019re just getting started,\u201d remarks the Janitor,\u00a0sauntering happily away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

JD\u2019s loss of status, combines with the mix of surprise and anticipation that the Janitor has not in fact\u00a0turned over a new leaf, and the twin insights of the meaning of the X and the fact of the chain. JD\u2019s\u00a0reaction to this horrifying injury is one of withdrawn emotion; we don\u2019t believe he has been\u00a0seriously hurt and so we are free to laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Robert R. Provine tried applying his training in neuroscience to laughter 20 years ago at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He carefully observed thousands of \u201claugh episodes\u201d in real social situations \u2013 city sidewalks, suburban malls and the like. His conclusion about almost all of the utterances which triggered laughter in these situations? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[192,180],"class_list":["post-952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","tag-scrubs","tag-the-why-of-funny"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JY5l-fm","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":958,"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions\/958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}