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What makes things funny | Peter McGraw | TEDxBoulder



Pete McGraw is a leading researcher at the Humor Research Lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In this talk he not only discusses what is funny, but what makes something funny as well.

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27 thoughts on “What makes things funny | Peter McGraw | TEDxBoulder
  1. We love Peter McGraw and his Benign Violation Theory! A simple way to remember this theory is "if laughing at this is wrong, why does it feel so right?"

  2. I laughed quite hard at how he got overly exited in a somewhat stereotypical "nerdy" way at 7:19. Then i started to analyze it according to his own theory. Was this situation funny because his awkward grinning was a "break" or social norm? Is awkwardness funny because it deviates from the norm and is it therefore a "violation"?

  3. One of my brothers friends was really funny was driving us somewhere. He said, "Ya know, I want to go out like my grandpa, in my sleep." Which is sad but okay. But then he said. "And not like the people who were in the car. " I hope not to offend anyone but I just wanted to share this.

  4. I make a point to surround myself with friends who have no "off-limits" topics for joke-making.

    Some of them are minorities, and those are my favorite.

  5. So violations in Malign, Benign, and Unfamiliar rules of humor block jokes from being interpreted as funny.

    BUM-symmetry theory.

    Edit: Or if you're not familiar with Physics BSM: BM-symmetry. Apologies for the BS violation.

  6. Well… I should know something about that subject. My husband hurt his little toe this morning and our 4-year-old was laughing. When dad said: "this is NOT FUNNY", he, of course, laughed even more. On another note: it is somewhat difficult to laugh at the same things if you and your partner are from different countries. This is our case anyway. I find much more things funny than my husband.
    The funny thing is… my husband's sister just broke her toe recently too. Again! Awww! I'm so lucky that I'm not from toe-breaking family. That sucks big toe!

  7. Go watch Norm macdonald's Albert Fish joke . If you think its the funniest thing you've ever heard then it's a safe bet you understand comedy.

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