Only Joking: What's So Funny About Making People Laugh?

by Jimmy Carr

A joke is anarchic, a little scrap of chaos from beyond the boundaries of the rational, a toe dipped in the shallow end of antisocial behavior.

Our ability to joke about things that are painful or forbidden is a valuable asset, a handle on sanity in a mad world.

We tell jokes because human existence is an unforgiving slog; we tell them in the face of overwhelming odds and despite the ravages of time and fate.