Improbable Research

Prior research on humor in the political context has focused primarily on people’s reactions to humor about politicians in the form of cartoons or jokes, or on specific politicians’ use of humor as a rhetorical strategy. This study provides an empirical test of audience perceptions of the effectiveness of a politician’s use of humor during a political debate. Data were collected during the 2004 election cycle; respondents were told a candidate had made a humorous remark during a recent congressional campaign debate. Party affiliation of the candidate and the target of the humor (himself vs. his opponent) were counterbalanced. The results indicated that self-deprecating humor was rated as more effective, and both Democrats and Republicans saw humor from a Democratic candidate as more effective than from a Republican. Being of the same versus opposite party of the candidate did not affect respondents’ attributions of the candidate’s motives for using humor or its overall effectiveness. Overall, the biggest predictor of perceived effectiveness was respondents’ assessment of the quality (timing and funniness) of the humor.

So says the study “Factors Predicting the Perceived Effectiveness of Politicians’ Use of Humor During a Debate,” Amy Bippus, International Journal of Humor Research. vol. 20, no. 2, May 2007, pp. 105—21. (Thanks to Jules Reynolds for bringing this to our attention.) The author is at California State University, Long Beach.

The June 6, 2008 issue of The Daily Telegraph contains a rare newspaper report about a fine point of taxonomy:

According to a report in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, vets were asked to treat an adult, female giraffe at Israel’s largest zoo, the Safari Park in Ramat Gan.

The team, led by Professor Zohar Amar, took a routine sample of milk and found that it clotted in the way required by Jewish law for kosher certification.

They submitted more milk for verification by the rabbinical authorities and the paper reported that a ruling was made that giraffe meat and milk are acceptable for observant Jews.

(Thanks to Scott Langill for bringing this to our attention.)

Food Fight is an abridged history of war, from World War II to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict. Watch as traditional comestibles slug it out for world domination in this chronologically re-enacted smorgasbord of aggression.

That is the claim — and yes, it’s an accurate claim — by the filmmaker.

(Thanks to Shakespeare’s Sister for bringing this to our attention.)

I told my story in Federal Court in Boston sufficiently well that counsel for the manufacturer asked me to work for that company in any further cases. I found it a bit amusing that the request was made in the men’s lavatory. Sometime later I told the story to a woman lawyer who took umbrage. Her remark was, “There are entirely too many deals going down in men’s rooms.” She had a point, but redress may be difficult. Female professionals have fairly well eliminated the men-only clubs and restaurants where business was once discussed in their absence. Men-only lavatories represent a bit trickier problem.

So writes Ken Russell, MIT professor emeritus of Metallurgy and Nuclear Engineering, in “The Case of the Acrobatic Airplane“

Tonight is Ig Nobel night at the Genoa Science Festival.

The event starts at 9:00 pm. at the Ducal Palace. AIR editor Marc Abrahams will introduce several Ig Nobel Prize winners, and will present the prizes to several of the new winners (Italian winner Massimiliano Zampini and French winners Marie-Christine Cadiurges and Christel Joubert) who were not able to attend the October 2 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony that was held at Harvard.