It’s interesting being a Bible scholar/theologian and a comedian. I love it when those two worlds intersect. And it happens quite often. I spend most of my day thinking deeply about things. As readers of this blog/site know, I’m always thinking deeply about jokes. But I am pretty obsessed with language in general. I’ve spent the majority of my scholarly career writing Ancient Greek books. I’ve formally studied at least 12 languages. I’ve written books, articles, and given many speeches. But one of the hardest, albeit most enjoyable things to write is jokes.
Here’s a new joke I’ve been telling that I quite like: “I just turned 45. So I’m finally at that age where… my back goes out more than I do.” With that joke or any joke that elicits laughs, an interesting question I like to ponder is: Why do people laugh? A materialist might say something like, “Ah, it’s just neurons firing, chemical reactions, and matter moving around.” But I think something deeper is going on, something that may well point to God’s existence. Humor me for a moment, if you will.
Here’s what makes that joke work. The audience already knows two truths about aging. First, your body starts breaking down. Second, you stop going out as much. So, the laugh, we might say, comes from the wordplay that helps us recognize both of those truths simultaneously while also picking up on the ambiguity of the wording. Ok, so far so good. But here’s the real kicker: something had to exist before the joke could land, namely, an ordered reality.
Incongruity Theory, now one of the dominant theories of humor in philosophy and psychology, says humor arises from perceiving something that violates our mental patterns and expectations, our order. I often explain it as the gap that gets exposed between our expectations and reality. Here’s what I mean: a joke needs a setup at the start that creates at least one assumption, then a punchline at the end to break the assumption. The assumption MUST be rooted in what’s real, in reality. The punchline attempts to offer an exception to that reality.
But an exception is only funny if there’s a rule to begin with. Think about it like this: a clown’s gigantic shoes are only funny because they break the assumption, the reality of normal shoes. A bicycle with square tires is only funny because it breaks the assumption, the reality of tires being round. A green dog with an elephant’s trunk is only funny to a kid because they’ve already learned what a dog is supposed to look like. They know dogs aren’t green and that dogs don’t have trunks. My point is: humor doesn’t work without a fixed reference point. Assumptions can’t even exist without a fixed reference point, an order. And for a joke to work, assumptions have to be created.
When we laugh at a twisting or contorting of reality, I think we’re implicitly acknowledging that an ordered, designed reality really does exist. Put another way: the “chaos” of a joke only makes sense against a backdrop of an “ordered” cosmos. Surprisingly, perhaps even stunningly to many, this means that while falsehood is the opposite of truth, humor is, in fact, a tribute to it!!!
I’ve mentioned it on this site before, but it reminds me of a word from Stephen Rosenfield, who trained Jim Gaffigan and Lena Dunham. He wrote one of the wildest dedications I’ve ever seen in his book Mastering Stand-Up: “To the snake in the Garden of Eden. Without this snake, humankind would lack the two absolute essentials of comedy: problems and knowledge.” He’s absolutely right! Humor requires both the Fall and the memory of what came before it.
And here’s where it gets really interesting. Again, humor me for another moment: when a joke’s punchline hits, our brain releases dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins. Neuroscientists suggest this pleasurable response trains us to detect and correct errors. Now, while the human brain is designed to detect errors, it’s also designed to be rewarded when it successfully recognizes truth. Hold that thought!
Maybe you’re thinking, “Designed? Designed by whom?” Well, if the universe were random and disorderly, we couldn’t say “God.” But it isn’t random and disorderly. It is precise and ordered. If there were no ontological explanation for structure and precision, humor couldn’t possibly exist. There would only be sheer frustration and chaos. But we know that’s not reality! We laugh. And our laughter acknowledges something fixed, something true, something ordered.
At the moment, a comprehensive theory explaining what makes something funny still remains the “holy grail” of humor research. I’ve cataloged almost 20 different theories. But I think Incongruity Theory makes a heck of a lot of sense. And if we’re made in God’s image, and God is Truth and Order, then the capacity to revel in the ridiculous must originate with the Creator. This means when you or I enjoy a belly laugh, we’re actually engaging in an act of worship by recognizing the Creator of the created order. That’s mind-blowing!
G.K. Chesterton said, “It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.” He also argued that every joke is a grave theological matter because, as Rosenfield also suggests, every joke is related to The Fall. This, I think, is a clear philosophy of humor that rightly recognizes what is right and what is askew.
Whether you’re an atheist or not and whether you acknowledge it or not, when you laugh at a joke’s sudden absurdity, you’re also recognizing God’s absolute created order and fixed truth in this universe. And what’s really shocking to me about that is, when I go to comedy clubs, how much vitriol and animosity there often is toward God when comedians speak. Yet, if they and their audience laugh, well, they’re unwittingly and unknowingly acknowledging God. How ironic! So, next time you laugh, pay attention to what’s happening neurologically and beyond. Because you’re not just experiencing a chemical reaction; you’re recognizing God’s created order, even if you don’t realize it.
By the way, if you have any interest at all in learning to write some jokes or doing stand-up comedy, check out my online joke writing course, “The Joke Writer’s Lab,” HERE.