So what it is about laughing? Why is it a release, and why do people sometimes find themselves laughing at the most awful times, and at the most awful things? How has the technique of satire been so prevailing that it is woven into our daily lives since Aristotle all the way around to SNL and John Oliver? What is GOOD with the multi-dimensionality of humor and comedy in society? So I started doing some digging.

Throughout my research on humor, I found through various articles, journals, theorists, psychologists, comedians, writers and basically anyone who has made a joke, ever, that humor itself boils down to: communication. Whether it be a way to understand yourself, a situation or your society, humor functions in a way for human beings to comprehend. Humor being a tool to evoke social change, functions in the way of humor's ability to deconstruct. Of course, you need to have a person, who knows how to deconstruct a certain social issue through the eyes of humor, appropriately (See 'Humor Missing the Mark'). In looking into humor theory, I found out that there is no single humor theory that is considered the ‘golden’ reason of why people utilize humor in a way for communication. For the purposes of my project, I will focus on three theories that many humor intellectuals argue humor stems from: ‘Superiority theory’, ‘Relief theory' and ‘Incongruity theory’. Humor literature can be sectioned into two, broad categories: the first is concerned with the individual level, why individuals use humor, and the second is humor functioning with a social setting or society (Lynch 2005).

RELIEF THEORY

The ‘Relief Theory’ revolves around looking at the absurdities of a situation; finding humor in the absurdness of life brings a sense of ‘relief’, allowing for humor to be found. The Relief Theory traces back to Plato and of course, Freud, because what theory really doesn’t somehow lead back to Sigmund Freud?

Freud, broke down ‘relief humor’ to have two properties in, “Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious”(1905). The first property Freud discussed was that relief humor had a healing quality, an ‘arousal-relief mechanism’ where built up tension and energy can be released; an individual finding something funny and through laughter that tension is broken— allowing the individual to experience relief. The second property Freud discussed was humor being an act of disguised aggression and sanctioned resistance, “The joke then represents a rebellion against that authority, a liberation from its pressure.” (Lynch:2005). Freud’s notion of humor further instills that humor acts as an expression of communication and healing through a ‘release’.

In Plato’s "Philebus", he focuses on the relationship between pleasure and pain when looking at humor. Plato’s work of connecting pain and humor together points to why many of today’s comedians sometimes seem to find their way to comedy through pain. Comedy naturally revolves around looking at the truth and as we know, the truth can be a little harsh (Big shout out to my Mom for telling me when I was eight, that I couldn't sing Mariah's ‘All I want for Christmas is you’ during Christmas dinner).

Comedians are constantly confronting, and discovering the truth of their own lives and society—finding the absurdities. In looking at the relationship of pleasure and pain, Plato’s "Philebus" builds an intricate philosophy that explores humans not being able to accurately separate and examine pleasure apart from pain, “arguing that pleasure is released through the process of riding oneself of pain,” (Perks: 2012). Lisa Glebatis Perk’s work, “The Ancient Roots of Humor Theory" looks closer at the Plato’s concept of human beings having 'mixed pleasures of the soul', “When the natural state of a living organism.. is destroyed, that destruction is pain; conversely, when such organisms return to their own true nature, this reversion is invariably pleasure" (The Philebus of Plato 32b). Plato’s work goes in line with the dialog pertaining to Relief humor, solidifying the close-knit, interconnected relationship humor and pain hold, further exemplifying the dimensionality that can exist between humor and horror.

SUPERIORITY THEORY

The Superiority theory is where a person themselves are ‘funny’ because they, are found somehow ‘inadequate’ or 'inferior' in comparison to an agreed-upon set of social criteria or a social norm. Plato and Aristotle, both wrote that superiority humor was a way of “mockery or disdain, usually self-directed, which should be kept at a minimum” (Lynch:2005). [ Side note: When you have both Plato and Aristotle saying something is fucked up-- not the best sign.] 

Superiority humor can take on two forms of ‘self-derision’: laughing at yourself for being inferior and laughing at others’ shortcomings or inadequacies. Sounds hilarious, right? Yep, it sounds like we’re back to the days of middle school, where you got laughed at for wearing magenta crocs in the 6th grade—a ‘hilarious’ memory that has never allowed you to even look at crocs again. Maybe for the best, but regardless—we will agree on it being a dramatic moment.

The theory is said to have originated from the English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes. The theory has many critiques attached to in finding true ‘humor’, one that David Hector Monro professor at Monash University and author of “The Argument of Laughter”, points out how people don’t just laugh at someone simply because they made a mistake— people will laugh at a situation surrounding the mistake, “the important element in humor: incongruity… the sudden mixing of contrasting attitudes.. that causes laughter” which Monro argues that Hobbe’s initial superiority theory leaves out(Monro: 1988) . But since Hobbes, there have many adaptions and variations of the superiority theory from scholars such as  Henri Bergson,  Alexander Bain and Charles R. Gruner. Charles Gruner’s work in “Understanding Laughter: The Workings of Wit and Humor” suggests that superiority humor helps to avoid aggression. Along with with Leonard Feinberg's work, "The Secret of Humor" offers that superiority humor in itself is aggression, but, “in a nonviolent and socially acceptable fashion”(Feinberg:1978). Through Gruner and Feinberg’s perspectives allude to superiority humor in a certain right becoming a way for people to express themselves, non-violently.

INCONGRUITY THEORY

The third theory that follows how an individual finds humor is the ‘incongruity theory’. The interpretation of incongruity stems from the realization that something is, “inconsistent with the expected rational nature of the perceived environment”(Lynch:2005). Incongruity can be exemplified when a person deals with a “frustrated expectation” (Monro: 1988) or finds something absurd, bizarre, and/or inappropriate.

This theory connects to the way humor is used in a form of therapy [See Humor as Therapy Section]. Incongruity theory pushes that laughter is based on intellectual activity rather than a drive to feel superior, or relieve tension. Incongruity humor is structured around a psychologically-motivation of desire for an individual’s consistency within an environment. The incongruity theory is known as a cognitive-based theory, because it is dependent on an individual’s perception of an event or symbol in comparison to a considered ‘norm’ for a specific person or group of people, leading humor to come from the discrepancy in the relationship of the expected norm and perceived event, “The incongruity conception of humor suggests that humor is a human reaction to ambiguity within their environment”(Lynch:2005). This theory can be understood to align closely with satire, and so much of the humorous political mockery.
CONCLUSIONS

Henri Bergson’s “Laughter” plays a large role in humor theory because his work suggests the expansive context that humor operates in. The essay stresses the importance in combining the psychological, social and communicative phenomena, needed in order to begin breaking down and comprehending the complexities of how humor operates.