What’s funny?

Human nature is a funny thing.
We are, as humans, a whole big massive and dominant species. We got here because we’re intelligent and changeable and efficient at basic survival. Human nature is part of us, part of our every day life. It effects the decisions we make and the responses we give to various situations we find ourselves in. it’s curious and interesting and complicated and wonderful all at the same time.

There is one particular piece of human nature, however which fascinates me. And that’s the unnatural bit which separates us from any other living thing on the planet. I don’t mean the peculiar or unusual bits like hate, resentment, jealousy or frustration, all of these bits have actually been found in some primate species and are well on the way to being claimed by animals that fight or prove themselves worthy of the opposite sex. (All very much like human beings).

No. What I am referring to is that specific and magical piece of us which we alone claim as ours. It is the ability not only to understand humour, respond to it in a very obvious and yet totally unique way - but also our ability to create and carefully construct something in words and actions which, in themselves, are purely for the sake of laughing and to be appreciated as this thing called ‘funny’. And the strange thing about it is, it means nothing else. It’s not a survival technique. (Unless you’re in a bond film and feel the need to tell knock-knock jokes to get out of the clutches of professor ‘insert evil name’ by confusing him with witty banter). It doesn’t do anything to aid our health, our well being or even our ability to hunt, gather or procreate. So why is it there? What’s its purpose? Why is it such a huge part of us and why, most importantly of all, can’t we live without it?

Ok. So when I said humour wasn’t about surviving or procreating I wasn’t exactly honest with you. Actually, it is.
I’ve read a few studies, (and by read I mean watched a lot of Michael Mosley documentaries) which in simple terms outline ‘humour’ as the equivalent to an animal mating ritual, and for the purposes of this ‘study’ (I’m using the phrase very loosely here, because in truth I am neither an expert nor have I actually bothered to do much studying)- I shall use the Pacific Bull-frog as my example of why we laugh like we do. The Bull-Frog (let’s call him bob), puts on a performance. He doesn’t just ribbet, or stick out his chest, or dance- he actually does all three. He carefully constructs a beautiful show for female frogs to appreciate, consider and if they’re suitably impressed receive and mate with. Bob is an entertainer, and he does this basically to show off. (Remind you of anything?) Yes. In the same way many animals need to show they’re worthiness to the opposite sex, so do we as humans.

Ask any female who has switched her computer on in an attempt to find ‘the one’ without having to sift through a thousand drunk and incoherent twits in bars and she will tell you that above abs, wavy hair, nice skin, a lovely bum and a well-endowed wallet comes a sense of humour. Why? Well, because it screams intelligence. And I don’t mean knowledge. You can have 5 degrees in neuro-science and a PhD in micro-technology but if you can’t make a girl laugh you are on the road to many a lonely night with nothing but top-gear re-runs and a bottle of Stella to keep you company. Turn this on its head and look at the many comedians out there with stunning wives. They achieve this by being confident, sharp and clever- and with this often comes a lot of success and prestige. It’s almost considered a ‘Myth’ for a woman to be ‘talked’ into the bedroom these days- but ask around the comedy circuit and you’ll actually realise this is not a myth- bizarrely even in this day and age, in many cases its very true.

But this isn’t the final say in comedy and why we need humour. This is only one part. The other part comes with these delightful little things called endorphins, and they truly are human nature’s best friends.

It would be naive to think that humour is used purely as a means to getting your end away. It’s not. Consider the thousands of comedy clubs around the world and particularly here in the UK. The hundreds of comedy shows, and the plentiful supply of comedians making a living through making people laugh. If all this was to procreate we’d never get anything done. What this is actually about is that little ‘high’ humans get when they laugh. Connected to the mating ritual described above, endorphins give us a little ‘kick’ whenever we do something right to our body- like a little piece of encouragement every time we do something like eat good food, have naughty-cuddles and exercise.

Most importantly we get this little ‘kick’ when we laugh. In the same way that we find the opposite sex attractive because they’re witty, we also get deep enjoyment out of reacting to something funny- because laughing is good for us. It stops depression, it encourages human-interaction and it connects couples together in order to make babies and live happily ever after.

Therefore, in the same way that we have a rush of adrenaline from a roller-coaster that frightens the living bejesus out of us, we also get huge enjoyment through going to a comedy club and being able to laugh for three hours. Its natural, and its wonderful. And believe it or not, it’s completely necessary to the survival of mankind.

So go out, get a few drinks, meet some nice people and go to a comedy night- because that’s what funny is there for. To make us better human beings.


-Sarah-May Philo.