by Peter McGraw
censorship in, 160
geography and economy of, 150–51
Israeli-Palestinian friendship in, 173
Israeli settlers in, 171
as laughter-free zone, 170–71
McGraw and Warner’s lessons learned from, 200, 205
McGraw and Warner’s trip to, 149–53, 155–62, 164, 205, 211
Ramadan in, 150–52, 156, 159
restrictions in, 157
See also Gaza Strip; Hebron (West Bank): McGraw and Warner’s trip to; Ramallah (West Bank): McGraw and Warner’s trip to; West Bank
Panksepp, Jaak, 80
Paradise Island (show): advertising about, 136, 139
Paramount Theatre (Denver), 17–18
Parkinson’s disease: Glick and, 191–92
Pascal, Blaise, 7
penis questions, 18, 19
The Peregrine Penis (Legman), 122
performing environment, 31–32
See also context
personality: and what makes comedians, 18, 37–38
Peruvian Air Force, 175, 176
PET (Danish intelligence service), 132, 133
Pew Research Center: Mohammad cartoon survey by, 127–28
Philip, P. J., 68, 74, 83
Philogelos (joke book), 98
Pickering, Lucy, 26
Pinsker, Sanford, 44
Pirates of the Dotombori (Osaka, Japan), 99
Pirates of Tokyo Bay (Tokyo, Japan), 99
Plato, 6, 122–23
play fighting: incongruity theory and, 7
pleasure: humor as balance of pain and, 210
Plucker, Alvin, 154, 170
Poehler, Amy, 27
Polish jokes, 98, 135–36
politics/political jokes, 95, 110–12, 167
See also Mohammad cartoons
Politiken (Danish newspaper), 130–31
Popovic, Srda, 168–69
positive-humor movement, 122
post-traumatic stress disorder, 170
Power Purin (Yoshimoto variety show), 116–17
pranks/practical jokes, 140–41
“prejudiced norm theory,” 142
The Primer of Humor Research (Raskin), 13
protest: laughter as, 89–90, 168–69
Provine, Robert, 71–73, 89
Pryor, Richard, 20, 25, 36
The Psychology of Humor (Martin), 108, 179
punch lines
Dean’s views about, 25
delivery of, 201
everyday laughter and, 212
incongruity theory and, 7
Japanese humor and, 103
and Koestler’s views about creating humor, 49
linguistic theory of humor and, 24
in Soviet Union, 157
and who is funny, 26–27
puns, 7, 11, 49, 51, 123
Qualtrics, 97, 115
Rabbo, Yasser Abed, 160
race
jokes about, 141, 142
political jokes and, 112
and what makes a good/successful comedian, 35
rakugo (Japanese storytelling), 94–95, 116
Ramallah (West Bank): McGraw and Warner’s trip to, 155–62, 164, 170–71
Ramiro (Amazonian clown), 188
randy-Frenchmen bon mots, 96
Rankin, A. M., 68, 74, 83
Raskin, Victor, 13, 24–25, 206
Rasmussen, Anders Fogh, 126, 138, 139
rat-tickling experiments, 80–81
Rationale of the Dirty Joke (Legman), 121–22
Refn, Lars, 125–27, 128–29, 133, 148
refugee camp, Palestinian, 165–67
Reilly, Bill, 99–100, 101, 102
relationships: sense of humor and, 75–76, 212
relief: humor/jokes as, 7, 8, 12, 134, 163–64, 167, 173, 189–91, 200, 206
religion: humor and, 156–57
Remnick, David, 65
Republicans: comedy and, 111–12
Richards (Keith) story, 12
riffs, 25
risk
creativity and, 144, 147
mass-market comedy and, 58–59
Robbins, Tony, 24
robo-jokesters, 50
robots: and creation of funny, 50–51
Rock, Chris, 30, 35
Rock, John, 194
Roll Me in Your Arms and Blow the Candle Out (Legman), 122
Rose, Flemming, 130
Ross, Harold, 44, 54
Rubondo Island National Park: McGraw and Warner’s trip to, 79–80, 81–83
Ruch, Willibald, 124
Rugeiyamu, Kroeber, 88–89
Rutta, William (Tanzanian guide), 70, 73, 74–75, 79, 81–82, 83, 84, 86–88, 91, 92
Saatchi & Saatchi, 53
safari, African: McGraw and Warner on, 79–80, 81–83
safety valves
See coping/relief
Sahl, Mort, 36
samurai: Japanese humor and, 99, 100
Santa Monica Playhouse, 23, 25
Sarah Silverman Strategy, 12
sarcasm, 11, 99
satire, 134, 160, 164, 167
Saturday Night Live (TV program), 52, 60, 65, 111, 116
Scandinavia
McGraw and Warner’s lessons learned from, 200
See also Denmark; Mohammad cartoons; Sweden; specific person
“Scattered Pearls” (Al-Abi), 157
Schiro, Julie, 32, 53
Schneider, Abby, 37
schools: laughter epidemics in, 68–71, 83–85, 89–90, 91–92
science: comedians’ use of, 40
Second City (Tokyo), 113
Seinfeld, Jerry, 35, 37
Seinfeld Strategy, 12, 15
Seinfeld (TV program), 17, 43–44
self
censorship of, 130
and enjoying your own humor, 189, 193–94, 200
making fun of, 199, 200, 201
self-preservation jokes, 163–64
Sellers, Peter, 97, 98
selling: of mass-market humor, 51–54
Semantic Mechanisms of Humor (Raskin), 24
Semmerling, Jeff, 182–83, 187
sense of humor
definition of good, 22
factors influencing, 95
HUNT-2 study and, 180
measurement of, 22
politics and, 112–13
relationships and, 75–76
self-rating of, 22
September 11, 2001, 60–61, 205
Serbia: and “black swan” argument, 168–69
set-ups
everyday laughter and, 212
linguistic theory of humor and, 24
and who is funny, 26–27
settlers, Israeli: humor about, 171
sex, 75, 141, 142
See also dirty jokes; gender
Shakur, Tupac, 79
Shilimpaka, Margaret, 91
Shore, Mitzi, 19
Shore, Sammy, 19
sick jokes, 134
Sikh put-downs, 98
silence: in Osaka, 101
Singer, Jeff, 21, 22–23
Skelton, Red, 179
sketch comedy
See Watan ala Watar
slapstick: superiority theory and, 6
smallest bar in the world (Osaka, Japan), 103, 104
Smalls, Biggie, 83
Smith, Moira, 140–41
Soviet Union
collapse of, 167
jokes in, 154–55, 157, 167
Spa World (Osaka, Japan), 101–2
Spiegelman, Art, 127
Squire Lounge (Denver), 1–2, 5–6, 13–15, 202, 209, 211
St. Claire, Lisette, 33–34
stand-up comedy
audience-comedian relationship in, 23
creativity in, 57
Dean’s class about, 23–24, 25
experience as key in, 25, 199
improvisation compared with, 29–30, 37–38
laughter and, 72
and McGraw and Warner’s lesso
ns learned from travels, 199, 206
McGraw’s first official attempt at, 1–2, 5–6, 13–15
McGraw’s preparation for, 199–202
McGraw’s run-through for, 202
McGraw’s second official attempt at, 197–203, 206–10
Osaki’s views about American, 116
personality and, 37–38
politics and, 112
at Squire Lounge (Denver), 1–2, 5–6, 13–15
Zoglin’s views about, 34–35
See also specific comedian
STANDUP (System to Augment Non-speakers’ Dialogue Using Puns) (robo-jokester), 50
“Stars and Bucks Café” (Ramallah), 158
Steinberg, Saul, 56
Step by Step to Stand-Up Comedy (Dean), 25
stereotypes, 36, 141
Stewart, Jon, 111, 112, 165
Stewart, Patrick, 111
Storytelling
experiment with, 38–39
See also rakugo (Japanese storytelling)
stress: laughter and, 90, 92
stupidity jokes, 98–99, 137
subversion: humor as tool for, 165, 173
successful comedians: what makes, 34–35, 37–38
Superiority Theory, 6, 8, 12, 122–23, 141, 206
Supreme Court Building, U.S.: Mohammad image in, 127, 140
survival humor, 163–64
See also coping/relief
Svebak, Sven, 180
Sweden
derogatory jokes in, 169
McGraw and Warner’s trip to, 143–48, 211
Swift, Jonathan, 165
Syria: reactions to Mohammad cartoons in, 131–32
“Take my wife—please” quip, 26
Tanganyika
See Tanzania
Tanzania
laughter epidemic in, 67–71, 73, 74, 83–85, 87, 89–91
McGraw and Warner’s lessons learned from, 199–200
McGraw and Warner’s trip to, 67–92, 211
sense of humor in, 95
teasing, 6, 140
terrorism
creativity and, 60–61
See also September 11, 2001
Terry (McGraw’s friend), 202
theory of verbal humor, 13
therapeutic humor movement, 176–78, 180
therapy programs: for comedians, 36
“ThriftOnline” (fictional company): creating advertising headlines for, 43
Thurber, James, 56
tickle robots, 11
tickling, 7, 11, 79–80
timing
and benign violation theory, 205–6
difficulty of, 60
and humor in tragedy, 60–61
Japanese humor and, 99
and “too soon” jokes, 61
and who is funny, 26–27
Tokyo, Japan
McGraw and Warner’s visit to Yoshimoto in, 112–17
New Star Creation comedy school in, 104–6
The Tonight Show (TV program), 17, 20
“too soon” jokes, 61
tragedy
humor and, 60–61
See also type of tragedy or specific tragedy
translations of jokes, 104
trickster motif, 113–14
truth: comedy and, 28, 30
Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation (Halpern), 28
tsukkomi (Japanese straight-man), 106
Twain, Mark, 60, 154
tweets: about Hurricane Sandy, 170
“two-ness,” 30
Uganda: McGraw and Warner’s trip to, 67
Understanding Humor In Japan (Milner-Davis et al.), 113
United Nations, 124
United States
diversity of humor in, 103–4
influence on Japan of, 113
political jokes in, 111–12
See also Los Angeles, California; New York City; specific comedian
universal humor, 114–15, 118, 200
University of California, Berkeley: Folklore Archive at, 135
University College London: tickle robot at, 11
University of Colorado
See Humor Research Lab (HuRL)
University of Sheffield: clown study at, 187
University of Southern California: academic comedy concentration at, 19
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) (Los Angeles), 27–28, 37–38, 39, 115
USS Pueblo incident, 153–54, 170, 190
variety shows, 113
vaudeville, 113
Veatch, Thomas, 8–9
Venn diagrams, 63–66, 208–9
Vilks, Lars, 143–46, 147, 148
Vohs, Kathleen, 110
Wallace, George, 35–37
Warner, Gabriel (son), 4, 182, 188, 210
Warner, Joel
family background of, 150–51
impact of global expedition on, 210–12
personality of, 4
See also specific topic
Warren, Caleb, 9–10, 12, 32, 43, 52, 110, 128, 170, 190
Watan ala Watar (TV comedy show), 150, 159–61, 162, 164, 165
Wengert, Joe, 27, 29–30, 38
West Bank
McGraw and Warner’s trip to, 149, 150, 152–53, 165–66
restrictions in, 157
See also Ramallah (West Bank): McGraw and Warner’s trip to
Westergaard, Kurt, 133–37, 139, 143, 148
Westword (Denver newspaper), 2, 5
White, E. B., 207
Why the French Love Jerry Lewis (Gordon), 97
Wiig, Kristen, 27
Williams, Lawrence, 128, 170
Williams, Robin, 20
Wilmer Grace and His Dog (made-up movie): Warner in, 27–28
Wilson, David Sloan, 76–79
Wilson, Pam, 180
Wilson, Steve, 180
Wiseman, Richard, 114, 115
With, Aaron, 58
wolfman in a barbershop (cartoon), 41, 43, 46–48
wood-mill accidents study, 190
World Humor and Irony Membership (WHIM), 6
World Laughter Tour, 15, 180, 210–12
See also specific nation or city
world’s funniest joke, 114–15
Wright, Steven, 34
Yelp.com: study of business ratings on, 190–91
“yo mamma” jokes, 36
yoga, laughter, 178–79, 212
Yorihiro, Aki, 106, 116
Yoshimoto Kogyo (Japanese comedy company), 105–6, 107, 112–16
Youngman, Henny, 26, 27
Zamen (Ramallah cafés), 156, 157, 161
Zebra (Danish artist co-op), 125
zingers, 50–51, 110, 114, 201
Zoglin, Richard, 34
Zubeidi, Zakaria, 165, 169
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2014 by Peter McGraw and Joel Warner
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition April 2014
SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Designed by Esther Paradelo
Jacket design by FDT Design
Jacket photographs: Globe © Photobucket; Glasses © Getty Images
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McGraw, Peter.
The humor code : a global search for what makes things funny / Peter McGraw, PhD and Joel Warner.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-4516-6541-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 9
78-1-4516-6543-7 (ebook)—ISBN 978-1-4516-6542-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Wit and humor—Psychological aspects. I. Title.
BF575.L3M384 2014
152.4'3—dc23
2013031454
ISBN 978-1-4516-6541-3
ISBN 978-1-4516-6543-7(eBook)