So I amuse you, is that it?
 

why do we laugh, what is it that prompts us to find something funny - it's one of those unifying cross culture aspects of humanity. No matter who you are or where you are from, someone falls on their ass and you laugh.

yes. we seem to derive immense instananeous pleasure from someone else's instantaneous misfortune...

Maybe... it's some primitive instinct saying Yes! It's our chance to get ahead! Quick, while he's down! Or not...

I still have no idea why we laugh, except that it's good exercise and healthy for the mind (releases some chemical in the brain that's good for us).

Humor is essentially a means for bringing together a community; that's why the 'inside joke' is always one of the funniest. But in a sense, all jokes are 'inside jokes'; the famous 'Didja ever notice...' routine creates us as an in-group ("Yeah, we did notice..."), and presumes an out-group of people less smart than us, who did not notice. We laugh at prat-falls because 'we' are far more adroit than this guy.

so humour is actually about feeling superior, never looked at it like that - kinda gives it a sinister edge

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.

Mel Brooks

it's funny because it's somebody else

Homer Simpson

"I would never belong to a club that would have me as a member."
-Groucho Marx

???

We went over this quite thoroughly in a previous thread. It may have been v3 because I haven't been able to locate it.

It's not only someone else's misfortunes though. How many times have you done something utterly idiotic (and perhaps painful) and laughed at yourself because of it?

I tend to find that timing is everything. Without a well-timed punch-line, a joke isn't so great. Same thing goes for physical slip-ups too.

There's also the believability factor. The more incredible a mishap, the funnier it is, correct? I mean, how many people fall down drains every day? It can't happen too often, can it? So when it does, it's very funny indeed.

I understand what funny is, my question went more along the lines of why we laugh, are we the only animals capable of that response, why does it make us feel so good to do it.

previous quotes by myself and ARTelevision worked on the premise that humour is about a feeling of superiority over someone else because they are suffering a misfortune

Meh, who's to say dogs don't laugh? It's not as if it would sound like our laugh.

I think laughing is a defense mechanism against tension and stress, we've simply learned to laugh at some things that would have normally caused us stress. It's a way to seperate ourselves from misfortune, which is good. It just happens some people have turned laughing into other more dubious experiences.

Not really. I laugh at myself all the time. I can find humor in most situations, and this doesn't necessarily make me feel superior to anyone.

It's always funny until somebody gets hurt, then it's hilarious.

Yes this could be it....Humans being a competitive species by default. Every time they see competition screw up they are happy....supposedly.. :hmm:

Exactly, because it's human nature. If something terrible happens to someone that we do not care about, we laugh. Why? Because, for the most part, society and humans are evil at heart.

Personally, I think humor is an evolutionary response to help us deal with the fact that a large portion of the universe simply doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

To paraphrase R.A. Hienlien from Stranger in a Strange Land,
We laugh because we have to make the pain stop. If we didn't we, would would break down and cry from all the misfortune we see every day. Be it at ourselfs, or at another. It keeps the grief from everyday life overcomeing us.

We laugh because its one of the only free pleasures in this world. It releases endorphines (i think) well some chemical into the blood.

Has anyone else noticed that when someone is under a lot of stress they can suddenly burst out with hysterical laughter to the point of tears at something that just isnt as funny to anyone else - quite freaky when it reaches hysteria but I think its a way of your body getting it all out. if you were an alien watching someone laugh, it may even be quite scary to watch the sudden movement and loud outbursts, all that shaking etc, and women (but not men due to our owning a prostate gland) women can actually piss themselves with laughter. how about that one?

methinks i'll start a thread about women pissing with laughter.

Hmm... Heinlein once said that the main difference between other animals and humans is that we laugh. Twain said the main difference is that humans are the only ones who feel shame. Methinks Twain is wrong.