October 2009
Blog from member Sonia Fazlali
It was another very enjoyable and interesting Areté club dinner; we were once again lucky enough to have as chair Rear Admiral Richard Cobbold, whose jollity well matched the subject mater of the night “What makes us laugh?” Set in the illustrious *** Room of the Cavalry and Guards Club, with what was hopefully coincidentally a rather spooky lighting effect for the advent of Halloween, the scene was set for the delightful duo act that ensued- I use the word “act” as it was quite a departure from the usual formula of Areté speeches. Our two distinguished speakers complimented each other perfectly in a sort of tag team exchange of what was a revelry of jokes, funny stories as well as informative exegeses, as they wove their way through the question presented. Was there a conclusive answer? I would say no, nor did they try or want to give a conclusive answer but rather the night left one with plenty to think about in constructing the personal response to “What makes us laugh?” I shall briefly go over the ideas that I got out of the night.
For me the answer to what makes us laugh is rooted in what we can relate to. This is not to say that the exact situation or genre of the joke must have been something that happened to us but that there is a sentiment that we relate to. The popularity of racist jokes, fattist jokes, or any joke that is not too abstract, I believe, triggers a sentiment we once experienced. Is the man slipping over the banana skin funny because seeing it happen to someone else releases a little of the fear of embarrassing yourself in front of a crowd? Does the laughter in shadenfreude come from the happiness that it happened to someone else and not you? Is laughter just a social mechanism for the realisation of self and man’s place in society? It is true that laughter is a tool for social cohesion. It makes people feel closer together. Sitting in an audience for a stand-up show at the Apollo, laughing to the same jokes, makes you feel part of a group. You leave at the end of the night feeling as though you have shared the same intimate experience with people you will never meet again. Laughter is the quickest way to sentiments of community. Friendships are often started from a shared laugh. The stranger in a foreign country is accepted into the group through a shared joke- something that, although there is a language barrier, has caused a shared sentiment or expression that can be related to. Is the answer to what makes us laugh the simple fact that it is a fundamental tool for human society and is that why we are the only species that have real laughter?
Expanding on this theme is the power of laughter in breaking down boundaries and uniting people. An amusing anecdote is the story of Abraham Lincoln and his theory of farts and world peace. However, his theory might have been lacking with regards to an interesting angle that one of the speakers interjected- the comparability and differences in what makes people across the world laugh. I sincerely doubt that fart jokes would be considered funny in some countries and in fact could even cause serious offence. Perhaps Lincoln’s great theory on world peace through fart jokes was a bit of a stinker- a feeble attempt I know but it leads me onto my next exposition. Another answer I find to the question of “What makes us laugh?” is the appreciation of wit. A clever joke or witty pun never fails to achieve its desired laugh.
Finally, in thinking about “What makes us laugh?” I would like to briefly look into the different forms of comedy. Throughout the evening aural comedy was given prominence in answering the question set. The art of storytelling as a visual and aural experience: stand-up comedy, the verbal telling of jokes and such, was given primary importance. Yet we must not forget that a laugh comes from many different mediums. The visual and physical humour of silent films from artists such as Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Hal Beetle’s Beetle Boy comedies pioneered the comedy of animated cartoons before verbal comedy began to take over and become prevalent. Any what about comedy in the written form? I still hear myself laughing out loud to my highly intellectual bedtime reading of Calvin and Hobbes.
To conclude, even if we may not be able to pin down exactly what it is that makes us laugh, laughter is undeniably important. As we get older we become more cynical and find ourselves laughing less and less. Apparently, as suggested during the evening, children laugh far more than adults- although I believe this to be a cyclical thing and find that as one gets even older one’s sense of humour returns somewhat- nevertheless, one thing is certain we should strive to laugh more. Therefore it is with a smile on my face that I recommend everyone of you reading this to go forth and have a laugh or two- watch a funny movie, be silly, get your best group of friends with whom you can have a jolly good cackle together and get some of that hearty laughter that scientists tell us is so good for us 
