Laughter may be the “best medicine” – but I like to know where my drugs come from.
So, I did a lil research.
While I’ve written about comedy before, I’ve never managed to get to the causes behind the actual act of laughter.
From an evolutionary standpoint – why would we do that?
What purpose would it serve?
With language or circumstances, it’s usually to do with learning something in an unexpected way. Even though it’s not funny, I get a similar feeling when I watch Through the Wormhole and Cosmos – as when I hear science be made funny on Discovery News. Why? Because they’re both larnin’ me new shiz – whether that’s with puns or with McFarlane animation – and it’s in a different, unexpected way. It’s chock full of examples and comparisons where my mind can go “Ah, yes. This is like that other concept I already know.”
And it’s light years away from what I got from boring monotone Ben Stein teachers all those years of middle and high school.
With jokes, it’s similar.
You see or hear a sentence you expect to go a certain way.
Then, boom! It suddenly it veers off course. And your brain fcking loves it for the same reason we love the “yes-and” approach, whether we realize it or not. The thought train keeps adding cars – one thing’s connected to the preceding thought. It might be that unusual extraordinary looking Chiquita banana car – but however unexpected of a punchline it may be, we like a pattern (it’s still a train car), and roll with it.
(Joke explained: We dance in the pussy pop song. Alice is dancing too. Laughing is fun!)
Those language based laugh reactions can and do translate into the physical, too. Ever been tickled? How stupid is it that someone can invade our personal space bubble barrier and manhandle our vulnerable zones, only to have our body gleefully betray our orders with its happy cacophony?
Well, those vulnerability zones are actually why we react this way.
Our furrier ancestors would giggle when tickled by brethren ‘cause it benefited them. When you’re tickled, you kinda hunch and contort over to protect yourself. Practice this enough, and it becomes a go-to reaction when you face less pleasant forms of surprise – like danger – because if you’re an animal, the pleasant response your pals see makes them keep doing it till it’s second nature enough to be a fight-or-flight tool.
Or maybe they’re just dicks.
So, great. We like surprise and the non-verbal part of laughter is protective. But I’m not being protected when I visit the HaHa. Maybe the people around me are a little safer when my mind tunes into a happier frequency….But how does an hour of improv prepare me for a future threat? The answer’s pretty much that it helps bond us to our own herd who might help defend us later – ’cause laughter is said to be a mostly social thing. Even though some people like me still laugh at jokes when alone, though.
Is that ’cause I march to beat up drummers who don’t play the songs I like?
Is that how that saying goes?
Is this thing on?
Probably, definitely, and no – I’m sane enough to say – are the indisputable answers.
For the most part, laughing’s a way for people to connect that we can still see in animals today. Does your dog bounce around and do loud huffs that sound like coughing when she’s being playful? Mine does. It was only recently that I realized that “panting” – which apes do too – is where our playful laughter comes from. And there’s a fine line between annoyance and delight with these reactions. When I brush my pup’s teeth, afterward, she shakes her body and does a far louder, more exasperated sounding huff. Why are these reactions so similar? I know she ain’t happy – however clean them chompers end up.
That’s why I have to gear up like a prison guard against defensive gnawing and ape-shittery lest she off-with-my-finger me.
It’s a release.
Which is the same physiological reason we often laugh during conversations or social sitches when we wouldn’t laugh alone. When there’s a buildup of tension, what do you do? Find a way to make something funny? Get sad? Get angry? All of these have releases – laughter, tears, and yelling. I suppose you could think of laughter as being like pleasant screaming – because it announces loudly how you feel, while being opposite of aggressive.
Also, giggling’s a great silence filler if we’ve nada else to say but wanna be nice.
Whatever the reason (short of being derisive in delivery), it helps strengthen ties to our clique – both by educing cackles and by laughing ourselves.
Not only does it release pent up tension, but it also:
1. Shows you’re a non-threat.
2. Contagiously gets others to join in.
3. Releases mind altering happy-hormones for all involved.
So, whether you’re delivering the laughs or giving someone else’s yours – just flow with the funny. If for no other reason than the fact that someone high on their own brain drugs is falling in love with you…
…even while you’re not looking.
