Friday, September 30, 2011

Why we laugh- with kittens.


It bothers me, as a humor writer and funny person, that people, for the most part, seem to have absolutely no clue why we, as humans, laugh.

People will often say "HE WAS LAUGHING AT IT, HE OBVIOUSLY THINKS IT ISN'T SERIOUS OR IMPORTANT," which is often the case in jokes about rape or cancer.  And to that I think... you're dumb. People don't laugh at things that they like or advocate, ever... or mostly ever.  People laugh because they are taken by surprise and/or made uncomfortable. That is why knock knock jokes are almost entirely unfunny. We laugh at things that break a regular pattern that we are used to, which is why what is funny to me may not be funny to you. This is also probably why people unsubscribe from me every time I make a new post, but that is besides the point.

In order for something to be funny, it has to be unexpected... and generally negative/dangerous/scary/wrong.

For example:

A fuzzy gray kitten.
Not funny at all. 



A kitten that looks like Hitler. 
Fairly funny.  



Jedi Kittens



... hilarious.

11 comments:

  1. my improv instructor always said the recipe for great comedy was to show a man walking, then show a banana peel on the ground, show man walking, show banana peel, show man stepping over banana peel and into a manhole.

    Banana, banana, manhole. That's comedy.

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  2. Exactly, we make fun of things that are bad or hard to understand, etc.

    There's generally nothing in the world that can't be made funny. It all depends on how the joke is framed.

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  3. Kittens actually laughing would be hilarious, I think, (..) (...) (....) (...) (..) I guess we'll never know.

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  4. i have a (fail) ninja cat. does that count for something?

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  5. lol loved the Hitler kitty... that made me laugh out loud...
    If people don't get your humor, then there is no loss to you when they unsubscribe from your blog. who would want to be around people with no sence of humor?

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  6. I laugh when I don't know how to react to things. Your point of view is right on.

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  7. @MewlKitten- I am coming to be okay with that... especially since I now make fun of each person who unsubs here on twitter for my entertainment.

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  8. I laugh when I'm nervous. Often at inappropriate times.

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  9. Hitler Kitty is cute. It kind of reminds me of how my old kitty looked. LOl

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