An older gentleman,
that is to say, a “senior citizen,” was pulled over by a frantic highway patrol
officer. Apprehensively he asked the cop
what he had done wrong. The cop was
obviously very upset and said, “Don’t you know that your wife fell out of the
car five miles back?” The old guy seemed
relieved and said, “Thank heavens. I
thought I was going deaf.”
That joke
obviously plays on stereotypes and seems a little misogynistic. My wife doesn’t think it’s funny, but humor
comes in all forms.
There’s the
self-deprecating humor of Rodney Dangerfield - “I was such an ugly kid that
when I played in the sandbox, the cat kept covering me up.” This kind of humor works well, because it is
not offensive. The comic is making fun
of himself. You can laugh at him with
impunity.
Consider
the girl who brought her goldfish to the vet and frantically explained that her
pet fish had epilepsy. The vet looked at
the fish swimming happily in the bowl and said, “He looks normal to me.” The girl said, “Well, duh, I haven’t taken
him out of the water yet.” We like to
laugh at stupidity in others. This is
where you find all the “blond” jokes.
If you
analyze a joke you can begin to understand why some hit your “funny bone” while
others fall flat. And not everyone finds
the same humor funny. Most comics today rely less on creativity and more on
profanity and shock. If you read the
humor of some of the great comedians from the past, you will find that some had
very creative minds and didn’t need to be crude.
Aristotle said, “The secret to
humor is surprise.” A
"paraprosdokian" is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a
sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the listener
to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for dramatic
effect. For example, “I want to die peacefully in my
sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in
his car.”
Some humor is
complex and creative, requiring thought. Profanity and bathroom humor is simplistic and
usually devoid of true creativity. I
admire the creativity of comics like Jonathan Winters and others, who can
spontaneously create humor out of thin air.
Laughter
has probably been with us since human beings first noticed they were naked. I’ve blogged on humor and how the brain processes it many
moons ago, but by way of review, I’d like to go over it again for new
readers. This may only interest me
because I taught psychology a long, long time ago - shortly before Freud discovered
sex. But, who knows, you may find this
process interesting too.
Here’s how the brain works when you
laugh at a joke. In less than a half-second an electrical wave moves through
the higher brain functions of the cerebral cortex, which is the part of the
brain associated with higher cognitive functions.
We all know about the “right brain
– left brain” stuff. In the case of
humor, the left hemisphere analyzes the words and the structure of a joke or
humorous event. Then the right
hemisphere “gets” it, so to speak.
The right hemisphere appears to be
involved in the interpretation of emotional material presented linguistically
and when it “gets it” the process accelerates.
The right hemisphere actually determines if something is funny or not.
The visual sensory area of the
occipital lobe creates images. The limbic or “emotional” system provides
pleasure or happiness and the motor systems make you smile or laugh. Kind of a chain reaction. Simple, eh?
Personally, I think the Corpus Callosum
plays a major role. That’s the thick
band of nerve fibers that connect the left and right hemispheres of the
Cerebrum, facilitating communications between the hemispheres. Incidentally, early
music training helps develop this connection.
All you really need to know is that
humor engages the whole brain. Consequently creativity is enhanced,
intelligence is exercised, and the brain is firing on all cylinders. So laugh
and get smarter.
But if you don’t enjoy
humor, take the advice of W. C. Fields - “Start every day off with a smile and
get it over with.”
In one of Max Lucado's presentations he stated "if you look long and hard enough you will be sure to find something wrong with this week".
ReplyDeleteHumor keeps me going. I even laugh when I go to church and look around at all those redeemed folk that look like they were baptised in vinegar. Those who should be full of joy seem to me to have less than those in the bar who can at least laugh. We had a home bible study group that seemed quite upset when I saw humor in certain passages. ( read the Humor of Christ) and observe where he made light of the religionists who didn't get it. "have you not heard" HE would say to those who had memorized the entire Old Testament.
Ralph, I think you missed your calling. Yup, you should have been a Psychologist. You always had a way to lift others up and do it with a sense of humor.
THE NORTH SPEAKS
Many thanks to you from south of Canada, Rev. Warnock.
DeleteI have to lift myself up with humor every now and then.
Humor is a good weapon to carry for self defense.
Humor, at times, or what I thought was humorous, has gotten me into trouble. But I keep on trying!
ReplyDeleteWhat seems fuuny to me is that what most guys think is funny does not receive the same reaction from our wives!!!!! Sourpusses!!!!!!
Once again, I am in trouble!
Do you know "THE NORTH"? Good post!
Our wives don't seem to share what we consider funny, but that's okay.
DeleteRe: "the north"...This guy is an old Canadian buddy of mine. Back in the '60s I dropped out of college for awhile and went to Canada, where I made a lot of Canadian friends. We stay in contact and visit here or there when we can.
I liked the first joke... you can easily transpose the husband and the wife and it still makes perfect (funny) sense... I do think men and women have different senses of humor. I will never understand what is so very very funny about farts. My husband loves the slapstick stuff... I get anxious when I see (supposedly hilarious) videos of people tripping and falling off tall objects. On the other hand, gallows humor often gets me through a long shift at the hospital. But I think the funniest and most relevent humor is that which makes fun of ones own self.
ReplyDeleteGood take on humor. It does help you through the day...especially with the special responsibilities and difficult circumstances of your profession. (I think I know who "unknown" is)
DeleteSelf-deprecating humor always works, as you said.
Good take on humor. It does help you through the day...especially with the special responsibilities and difficult circumstances of your profession. (I think I know who "unknown" is)
DeleteSelf-deprecating humor always works, as you said.