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“Humour: What is it? Why do we need it?”
Presented by Tanya Long

In 2001, Dr Richard Wideman, a renowned British psychologist, set out to determine the world's funniest joke. He set up a global humour study, LaughLab.co.uk, a website where people were invited to 
submit jokes and rate other people's jokes on a scale of 1-5. The site got 3 million hits in the first 5 days. Wideman soon had a repository of 40,000 jokes, many of them racist, violent or dirty. He did not post these on the site. Recurring characteristics of the jokes included ingenuity, concision, literal-mindedness and misuse of logic.

Philosophers since ancient times have puzzled over theories of humour. These theories include: 

- superiority theory, where the audience is made to feel superior. Think for example of the use of dwarves and hunchbacks as court jesters in the Middle Ages. Or why we laugh at someone slipping on a banana peel. 

- incongruity theory, a surprising disparity between what one expects and what one gets. "I went to my doctor for shingles - he sold me aluminum siding."

- release theory, popularized by Freud. Jokes allow the comedian to touch on topics that are generally taboo. Much stand-up comedy relies on this theory. 

Humour does not seem to provide any evolutionary purpose or contribute to our survival. Yet comedy plays a huge part in our lives: the entertainment industry - movies, sitcoms, novels, comic strips, stand-up comics - and in our interactions with one another. Why? Many questions come to mind.

1. What purpose does comedy play in our lives?

2. What is the funniest joke you have heard and why do you find it funny?

3. Do men and women find different things funny?

4. Are there cultural differences in the nature of humour?

5. Is humour a uniquely human activity?

6. Do animals have a sense of humour?

7. Can AI tell a joke and if it can, should humans be worried?

8. Did Dr Wideman find the world's funniest joke? Come to the forum to find out .

This topic was based on, and derived much of its information from, the article "What's So Funny? A scientific attempt to discover why we laugh" by Tad Friend, The New Yorker, August 19, 2024.