Comedian Lieven Scheire dons his lab coat and explores the science of humour ahead of his Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, 'The Wonderful World of Lieven Schiere'.
So familiar and yet so very strange if you think about it objectively: what is this thing we call 'a joke'? And how would you define 'funny'? Plato, Kant, Schopenhauer, Freud - they've all tried to break the code of humour. And while some have come up with great attempts, nobody has ever completely solved the mystery.
A brief moment of blissful superiority
The oldest theory, already used by Plato and Aristotle, claims it's all about a sudden feeling of superiority. What we call 'funny' is a short ecstasy we experience when we feel superior to another person. We laugh when someone clumsily trips over a sleeping cat. We laugh when comedians make others look stupid, and even when they pretend to be stupid themselves.
'Isn't a vacuum flask magical? It keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold! How is that even possible?''
'I know. What's in yours?'
'Soup. And ice cream.'
But then again, there are jokes that are funny because they're very clever. When I watch Eddie Izzard or Louis CK I marvel at their skill and wit instead of feeling superior.
The joy of debugging
A lot of comedy consists of incongruity. You say things that are weird or impossible or just don't make sense, and people laugh. A popular joke in the early 2000s: 'So... I heard Michael Jackson is getting back together.' Doesn't make sense, but you know what I mean.
American cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett calls this the joy of debugging: a reward to the brain for going to the effort of finding an incongruity. Which is interesting, but a cream pie to the face of a clown doesn't really solve many mysteries, and while solving a riddle can make you feel good, it can't really be called 'funny'.
A sign to the rest: 'I know this is not real'
We are not the only species of animal that laughs. Even rats apparently laugh when tickled. Gorillas are especially interesting - they make a fast panting noise, vaguely similar to our laughter, when they are play-fighting. They seem to use it to sign to the group and to each other: 'Don't worry, this isn't serious, just playing around.'
Now this looks like a promising start to an evolutionary explanation of humour, laughter and many funny situations. Slapstick is entirely based on often quite serious accidents that everybody knows are not real. Since we're not gorillas any more we shouldn't limit this to physical threats. In our society a joke is most often the play fight version of verbal or psychological aggression.
'A friend of mine has a trophy wife. But apparently it wasn't first place.'
- Steve Wright
But once again, this doesn't explain all comedy. There are situations in which humour is used for actual sincere bullying. And even then there is laughter.
So can this knowledge help you as a comedian? I don't think so. Even though some comedians can get quite technical about the structure, formulation and timing of a joke, in the end it's gut feeling and experience. A football player won’t be thinking about the laws of aerodynamics when he's taking a free kick.
So maybe the Unified Theory of Comedy is an illusion, and there are different reasons why we find things funny. Probably the most interesting thing to do at the Fringe, scientifically, is to explore this vast ocean of jokes for something that we do find funny, but doesn't fit any of the existing theories yet. Let me know if you find one!
Lieven Scheire: The Wonderful World of Lieven Scheire, Gilded Balloon, Aug 5-31 (not 17, 24), 3pm.