If It Bends It's Funny

So I think this Dinosaur Comic on laughter identifies something true about comedy. The key line is, "The more obscure a joke is, the less [sic] people there are who'll get it, but the MORE they'll find it correspondingly HILARIOUS."

I think this is true in a general sense. It fits with my sociobiological explanation for laughter. Basically, the idea is that laughter is used to signal awareness of something. This in turn signals mental ability, knowledge, or whatever. So for instance, irony is often funny. We notice things that are different or unexpected and we laugh at them. This is a good way of signaling that we can identify things that don't belong.

So this fits with T-Rex's theory. The fewer people know something, the more valuable it is to convey that you know it. It doesn't do you much good to signal that you know that cats like to sleep a lot. It does you more good, in terms of demonstrating your knowledge, to signal that you know that a Bordeaux is a claret.

Now, obviously this simple explanation doesn't predict all the forms of humor we see. I do suspect that most laughter is best explained on the genetic level as a form of signaling, if we bear in mind that comedy is a function of the underlying genetic tendency to laugh and the specific cultural practices that have developed around that tendency.

Also, T-Rex's observation might help explain the crappiness of most TV humor. The economics of advertiser-supported television drive networks to appeal to a wide swathe of viewers. However, the more people you have to amuse, the less funny your jokes can be (if T-Rex is right). Clearly there's more going on, but I think this is probably some of what's driving it.