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The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny,
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Angela Penrose
I think that comes mainly from the idea that humor is based on shared references. If you don't share the references, you won't get the joke. In a way, all jokes are "inside jokes;" it's just that some jokes bang off of universal human experiences, so everyone is a member of the in group. A trout wouldn't laugh at a slipping-on-a-banana-peel joke, because there's nothing in their own frame of reference to match it.
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