As some have pointed out, analyzing humour can be a bit like dissecting a frog – the frog always dies. Nevertheless, Professor Ori Amir, who is not only Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at Pomona College, US, but also a stand-up comedian – has suggestions for a new humour analysis method, which, he says, […]
Tag: Humor
‘RoastMe’ [study]
The RoastMe practice emerged in 2015 on the online platform Reddit. Devotees of RoastMe post pictures of themselves (i.e. the Roastee’) whilst holding a placard (of some kind) with the phrase ‘Roast Me’ written on it – with the idea of attracting amusing insults (as comments) The first academic review of the practice appeared in […]
Taking Laughter Seriously at the Supreme Court [study update]
Studies into possible implications of laughter episodes at the US Supreme Court were initiated in 2005 by Professor Jay D. Wexler (Boston University School of Law) who was the first to calculate the ‘Laughter Episodes Instigated Per Argument Average’ (LEIPAA) from the records of court proceedings. Details here in a 2016 Improbable Article. Then, in 2019, […]
Recent Progress in Automatic Sarcasm Detection
‘Sentiment mining’ – i.e. trying to gauge the Public’s attitude towards an institution, product, firm (etc. etc.) though automatic analysis of Social Media posts (etc. etc.) is now considered an essential tool for market researchers and ‘reputation managers’. But there are problems. One of which is sarcasm. Given its prevalence, serious errors can be introduced […]
Recent Progress in ‘Monty Python’ studies
Monty Python has not, repeat not, been ignored by academia. Here are links to but a few of the scholarly studies which look at, examine, discuss, evaluate, appraise, assess, analyse and otherwise probe the Monty Python oeuvre, and its wider, and narrower, implications, entailments, illations, connotations, inferences, and ramifications. ● Monty Python and the Mathnavi: […]
Philosophical disagreements on possible reason(s) ‘Why Flatulence is Funny’ – Professor Sellmaier v. Professor Spiegel
If you want a reliable method of raising a laugh, you can always resort to references of flatulence – a comedic ploy that goes back (at least) 2000 years. But the question as to why it’s considered funny, remains, to this day, a hotly debated subject. In 2013, Professor James Spiegel of the Philosophy Department at […]
Sausage Party : a vegan critique
The 2016 movie Sausage Party may have been a box-office hit, but when it comes to inspiring scholarly articles, it’s something of a flop. There are one or two however . . . “This article provides a critical vegan reading of the comedy animation film Sausage Party (2016), directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan […]
Umbrellas blowing inside out – why’s it funny?
What’s funny about watching someone struggle with an unruly umbrella? Few, if any, have come up with a better explanation than W H Auden who took a stab at it in 1952, and came up with two reasons : “a) An umbrella is a mechanism designed by man to function in a particular manner, and its […]
“Being German is No Laughing Matter”
Andreas Kluth, the Berlin bureau chief of the British magazine The Economist, wrote an essay called “Being German is No Laughing Matter“. Here is the beginning of that essay: Shortly after moving back to Germany in 2012 after decades of absence, mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries, I took my kids to the Berlin zoo. The children […]
“Dear Abbe” (Microscopy Today)
The Microscopy Society of America provides (via its journal Microscopy Today) a platform for microscopists to ask pertinent questions – and have them answered by their columnist Herr Abbe. [pictured left] “We are at our wit’s end! We are still using film and making wet prints in our EM [Electro-Microscopy] lab. We’re not happy with […]