You think that’s funny?
To understand a country, you can study its economic data and demographic statistics. Or you can collect its jokes
WHAT is laughter? According to Darwin's treatise “On the Expression of Emotion in Men and Animals”, it is a civilised form of a primitive lethal instinct, a sublimation of the ancient urge to kill. According to Jonathan Miller, a doctor and comedian, it is a respiratory convulsion over which we have little control. According to Howard Jacobson, a British writer, it is what you do when someone drops his trousers and whips out his, as it is known in the comedic business, knob.
This article appeared in the Christmas Specials section of the print edition under the headline “You think that’s funny?”
From the December 20th 1997 edition
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