Lectures For Lifelong Learners!

Well-known gagsters like Sigmund Freud, Immanuel Kant and Thomas Hobbes all had theories about humor, which means jokes are Really Important, not just a way to make someone snort up their milk. From Henny Youngman’s one-liners to the epically filthy “The Aristocrats,” every joke ever told shows how comedy works, using the same basic components as all art forms: tension-and-resolution, pattern recognition, misdirection and surprise. This multimedia presentation looks at the Rule of 3 (Why are things funnier in threes? Really, why? I mean, why?); whether humor is inherently hostile; how jokes make you smarter; dirty jokes that aren’t dirty; and the Official Funniest Joke In The World.