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Pssst! Here’s The Secret To Why We Laugh! |
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Written by Peter “the Humorator” Fogel
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Saturday, 10 June 2006 |
I think we can all agree that humor is subjective. (And if you don’t agree your decision is still subjective, correct?)
What is funny to one person might be boring and insulting to the next. It all has to do with our background and experience. What a twenty-two year old male college student might find amusing will undoubtedly be different than what a retired seventy five year old gynecologist from Dearborn, Michigan who lives in Florida will laugh at.
I think we can all agree that humor is subjective. (And if you don’t agree your decision is still subjective, correct?)
What is funny to one person might be boring and insulting to the next. It all has to do with our background and experience. What a twenty-two year old male college student might find amusing will undoubtedly be different than what a retired seventy five year old gynecologist from Dearborn, Michigan who lives in Florida will laugh at.
A retired gynecologist should guffaw at: medical procedures, cholesterol, coupons at early-bird dinners, prostate problems. (Although prostates can be a “touchy” subject—and I mean that literally and figuratively.)
A college student will relate to: trying to get sex, getting drunk, getting more drunk, passing out from alcohol… and then try getting more sex, again. Although mention Viagra and the two will both probably laugh. Naturally, you think,” But the doc was a twenty-five college student once, right? Yes, but that was during the Truman administration and when gas was a nickel a gallon.
People and their sensibilities change over time. I know mine has. That is why humorists and comedians get the big bucks. Somehow we have to find the common ground that the majority of our audience can appreciate, enjoy—and hopefully learn from. Humor when used effectively is indeed the great “equalizer.” It represents the human condition. (Notice that the first three letters of human and humor are h-u-m. I know, pointless trivia—my sentiments exactly.)
BUT According to Psychologist Keith-Spiegel, there are eight major theories of what we will laugh at. But before we examine this, let’s look at the lunacy of this. I never heard of Keith-Spiegel, I am quoting this source from another source… and the person before me did the same thing.
Society is impressed with credentials. We assume that a psychologist’s theory, just because he has a “diploma” that hangs in the den or his office, is of great importance to us.
I invite you to www.reinventyourselfnow.com and sign up for my Reinvent This! E-zine and get the Ultimate Reinvention Quiz E-book.
Peter “the Humorator” Fogel
Email:
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 10 June 2006 )
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