About the Book
A brief synopsis
Humour is one of the uniquely human traits that has remained unexplained, despite all our advances in understanding of human biology, sociology, and evolution. Ideas abound, but no one can say with finality what humour is, why we have it, and, maybe most importantly, how exactly to use it reliably and more effectively.
As a performing comedian, I can say with outright certainty that there is no formula, no system, no algorithm that can be used to ensure laughs. If there were, you can be sure that every comedian would be using it, because no matter how much success we've had in the past making audiences laugh, there is always the fear that the next joke, and the next performance, will fail.
Why is humour so elusive? There are lots of reasons, but when assessing existing theories, there is one way of reliably demonstrating that they are inadequate. For any theory that tries to express a mechanism by which jokes are funny, you can always show it to be wrong by finding something that makes people laugh, and yet does not fit the given paradigm.
The observable evidence is that anything has the potential to make people laugh. Words, images, smells, body positions, circumstances, one's own thoughts... Any attempt to try and contain the question of what makes us laugh in order to make it easier to find answers runs the risk of ignoring contrary evidence. A risk that so far has not been avoided by any popular notions of what comedy is.
What if we take it as axiomatic that anything can be funny? Absolutely anything. Anything can be funny, and anything can be not funny. If we tell the same joke to two people, one might laugh, both might, or maybe neither will. I see this all the time when trying out new material on stage.
This is very different from other stimulus, like jabbing people with a pin. Stab someone with a pin, and it will make them feel pain, and we can predict their responses within to be within a set of pain responses. But if the same joke can have one person laughing and another person scratching their head, we can't say the joke is making people laugh. Where is humour taking place then?
It must be something about the relationship between the source of the humour and the recipient. It can't be entirely on one side, because if it were, we could potentially find comedians that are absolutely ensured to make people laugh, or audiences that are absolutely ensured to always respond with laughter. Much to every comedian's disappointment, though, no matter how successful they are, there are always some people who do not enjoy their material. Nor are there audiences you can always turn to for a guaranteed laugh.
It has to be in the relationship, and that's what the book explains. In doing so, we take a look at some of the brain's physiology, human evolution, cultural comparisons, and many other fascinating aspects of humour. Why some jokes work and others don't, why timing matters, and the difference between friend-funny and stage-funny, plus other components of comedy are all explained.
The book offers not only practical advice for comedians, but an insight into a fundamental human trait that we all enjoy.
The book is for everyone who likes to laugh.
Which is everyone, isn't it?