What's funny?

Reading the segment in Tell It Slant about humor was particularly interesting to me, because I am fascinated by funny.

What's funny? Why do people laugh at what they laugh at? What do some people laugh at my jokes, and others not? Why will some people laugh at things I say that aren't even joke?s  Why are jokes different depending on if you are writing them, or performing them? Why do certain crowds like certain jokes over others, and why is laughter contagious? Why are some people just. not. funny?

These are questions I ask myself every day, as I prepare jokes to preform in front of a much too generous Humor U crowd.  That's another question.  Why are BYU audiences so much better than other ones? Is their attitude of service so ingrained into them it comes out in every way, including finding pity on an unfunny performer?

I did a set at a high school in Salt Lake City this week.  No one laughed.  They smiled, I'm sure.  Chuckled, occasionally.  But the same jokes I preformed the same way for approximately the same demographic failed miserably, when they were previously eaten up.

There are lots of reasons this was.  The auditorium was much too large for the small audience, and small audiences are hard to work on as it is.  But why should the amount of people we are preforming for change the success of the joke?  Would one person laugh at my joke in a big crowd, but not laugh at my joke in a small crowd? Why? Are people that impressionable, or is atmosphere really that important?

I don't know the answer to any of these questions.  At the end of the day, all I know is funny is a powerful thing, and I want so badly to be able to be in control of it.  Like the last airbender or something.  Which makes me feel sad about myself that I just made that comparison. Which makes me ripe for a self-deprecating joke.  Perfect.