Reddit mentions of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation

I may be a bit late to the game here, but radiolab did a podcast on laughter. Actual, they did another one as well. One of the guests wrote a book on it as well.

This question has a lot of complex parts to it. Mainly because we as a species don't know why exactly we laugh.


"Because something is funny."


Yeah, I get it. However, laughing in and of itself does not mean something is funny. There are different forms of laughter. Such as when tension from a scary situation occurs or maniacal laughter from an evil villain. These are some cases where laughter doesn't mean something is funny, but it still occurs. There are a few books written on the topic (my top two would be Ha!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why by Scott Weems and Laughter: A Scientific Investigation by Robert R. Provine.)


Some have speculated that laughter is a very primitive sign that lets others around us know that every is all clear. Which makes sense when a comic builds tension and then releases that tension with a punchline. But it doesn't make sense when we laugh at the misfortune of others, or why we laugh at someone else who is laughing, or why a comedian can do the same joke over and over and get different variants of laughter every time he/she does it.


Anyway, I laugh out loud on some comedians just because they are so fun to watch, but since starting stand-up (4.5 years ago) it has become less frequent to do so when I am alone because I'm not only watching for entertainment value but to study. Their writing, their performance, their hair style, their clothing, the lighting, the stage, their emotions, their facial expression. There is so much to learn from any given special that I sometimes lose the humor when I'm alone because I'm thinking about so many other things.


tl;dr We don't know why we laugh. Read "Laughter" by Robert R. Provine and "HA!" by Scott Weems. I do laugh out loud when watching/listening to stand up alone, but less now that I am a comic.