is there any logic in whats funny?

Question

why is some stuff funny, is there a logical explanation for it?

Answer 1

It has to do with how that particular joke or event relates to you, or more specifically your experiences. Not everything that's funny to one person, will necessarily be funny to another person.

Answer 2

Great question!

There are at least two broad schools of thought on the topic:

Psychoanalytic: See Freud, "Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious" (seriously - it's actually not a bad read). Jokes allow us to vent repressed desires - because you're "not being serious" you can express things which you otherwise wouldn't be able to. Notice, for example, how many jokes include sex or violence.

Incongruence theory: See especially Henri Bergsen, "Laughter: an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic". The idea roughly is that comedy is what happens when meaning breaks down - it is the break in the normal flow of meaning which we find funny.

I think there might be other theories, but a lot tend to fall into one of these groups (there may be a third category of theory - not 100% sure).

Answer 3

Or is there any logic in what is beautiful? To some degree it is just a matter of personal taste. Perhaps if we truly understood these things, their charm would be a lot less effective.
That said, there is a bit of a science to getting laughs. The timing & rythme of joke deliverence plays a very signifacant role. Many comedians spend hours practicing this to improve their acts.

Answer 4

There isn't any logical explanation in funny stuff, because it breaks apart logic that's why it's funny!

Answer 5

I've often wondered about this! What mechanics in the human mind govern the laugh response to specific stimuli, and, more importantly, what manner of value does it/did it have for humans as they were developing into the creatures we know today.

I understand it is somewhat subjective, some people think "The Office" is hilarious, while people like me think it is boring, but even babies laugh when they are very small and children often laugh at different types of things than adults.

It is a mystery to me and I will be checking back later to see if someone can come up with a better answer than my non-answer. +D

Answer 6

What you are trying to decipher is "Comedy fact" which is a subject we must avoid. I, for one, hate british comedy, maybe it is just the overbearing yappy grating pompous accent or the fact that i hate slapstick. My wife loves it. when she watches faulty lower i go take a nap in the over with the gas on until its over. Now some people may think that is funny or may think that I am the jerk- logic? ...no such thing in humor

Answer 7

"Creation: Artistic and Spiritual," O. M. Aivanhov, and "Watch Your Dreams," Ann Ree Colton, have some answers.

Some humor is more general, i.e., logically applying to all people. One example: mechanical things "doing unmechanically." It is based on "surprise," and may be either humorous or horrific.

Such events, occurring in dreams, are less humorous, as our dreaming conscious is our waking subconscious, which tends to accept "what is" with less categoreal awareness, hence less surprise when something mechanical is "haywire."

cordially,

j.

Answer 8

it is a subjective experience that is different for everyone. logical explanation? no it is one of the hardest questions of philosophy up to date since the ancient greeks....why is neural activity accompanied by internal subjective experience? how and why is this subjective experience generated?

these questions may not be answerable.

Answer 9

Yes. Not every ones funny bone is the same.

Answer 10

We laugh at the absurd - We get a physiological, illogical reaction to the absurd and it is highly individual and subjective, as are our understandings and experiences which inform what we consider absurd.