Funny is subjective. The meaning of funny can vary from person to person, situation to situation, and event to event. It’s important to determine the type of funny before you attempt to use it as a weapon. A few examples will give you a good place to start:
Humor can be defined as out of the normal or causing amusement. An example of funny would be a joke, which makes everybody laugh. An example of funny would be a dirty fish smelling funny. You might take offense if I told you that the fish smell funny; however, many people actually do find the smell funny. This same principle applies when using humor in everyday situations, for example telling a funny story to a friend or following the advice of a funny video on YouTube.
The difference between” Comedy” and “Mood” is the intent. Comedy is generally intended to cause some sort of reaction in the audience while most humor is “in the moment”. A perfect example of this is observing that a deputy director tries to tighten security at a public event by asking the crowd if they’d rather have a hoodie instead of a police officer. People laugh, the director smiles, and the security guards put their hands up in surrender.
In contrast, a joke is meant to be funny without any intention of making anyone feel good or feeling bad. So, what’s the difference? A joke isn’t inherently humorous; it just isn’t meant to make anyone feel bad or good. A story that’s funny doesn’t require its subject to experience pain or joy. A story that’s not funny relies on the reader’s ability to let go of discomfort to experience a cathartic release from observing the joke.
The reason we experience pleasure when we laugh is that we send a “feel good” message to the brain. When we smile or laugh, chemicals in our brain are released that make us feel good. This is similar to how a drug addiction treatment works. An alcoholic does indeed need to experience pain in order to experience reward; however, they can also receive that reward when they stop drinking. A drug addict undergoing treatment can still receive a reward when they stop their addiction, but they may be having trouble doing so without receiving pain. Thus, a drug rehab clinic can use laughter as a reward for a patient’s efforts because the drug rehab center needs to offer something to patients in order to keep them going through the recovery process.
Laughter has been proven to release several chemicals in the human brain, which include serotonin and endorphins. These two neurotransmitters are involved in the physical and mental health of a person, and thus the release of them during laughter or enjoyment of a funny situation helps maintain a healthy state. It has been proven that a sense of humor does enhance brain function, even in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. The connection between humor and mental health makes it clear that there’s no reason not to laugh at things that make us laugh, even when it’s a source as silly as a joke.
