Is comedy funnier when it is easier to process? A coherence framework for humor appreciation

What is it about?

While jokes need incongruity, they must also make sense. Our research shows that easier-to-process comedy feels more coherent and thus funnier. This framework explains the prevalence of familiar joke structures, like recurring meme templates ("She X on my Y till I Z"), TikTok trends, and more.

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Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Many humor variables seem to influence our ease of processing a joke. Our framework organizes them under one umbrella. Audio fluency (i.e., acoustics, unfamiliar accent, background noise), visual fluency (i.e., distance from the stage, visual contrast), and phonological fluency (i.e., rhyme, alliteration) influence our ability to easily perceive a joke. Analogies and familiar joke structures ("White people when there's X at the function") facilitate our processing of meaning. Laugh tracks, catchphrases, and comedic delivery flourishes facilitate easier detection of a speaker's intentions as comedic. All of these variables may influence humor appreciation through increasing perceived coherence of the material.

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