The Humor Code teamed up with the Humor Research Lab to answer perhaps our most controversial question yet: “What are the funniest cities in United States?“ The HuRL team, led by Adrian Ward and Caleb Warren, created the Humor Algorithm (HA) to rank the 50 funniest cities in America – the most comprehensive analysis of […]
In the latest installment of “What makes things funny?,” Caleb Warren and I create a Slide Share presentation to answer the question. Those of you who know us won’t be surprised to learn that we use the benign violation theory of humor to do it. Enjoy! What Makes Things Funny? from Peter McGraw . Special […]
As part of the Humor Code launch, we headed to New York City to “take over Gotham.” The event featured improv by Upright Citizens Brigade and standup by Sarah Kennedy, Ophira Eisenberg, and MYQ Kaplan. We topped the night off with a science vs. comedy panel. Heather Willems of Image Think did an amazing job […]
As you probably know, I’ve been working with a journalist, Joel Warner, on a book about the science of humor. After years of work, The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny hits bookstores today. This is not an April Fool’s joke. During our travels we questioned experts, from Louis C.K. to […]
Good people: With the Humor Code launch in full preparation, we were lucky enough to score a ten-part blog series on Slate.com. Here are the first three entries: –What makes something funny? –When is a joke too soon? –Why do we laugh? Enjoy (and hope to see you at our NYC book launch event at Gotham […]
I spend a lot of research time examining the costs and benefits of humor in business. The team at Grasshopper reached out to me recently to discuss how attempts to create funny marketing can fail. Here is what they came up with: Don’t Be Tedious or Tasteless Be Careful If You’re Poking Fun of Consumers […]
My Humor Code co-author Joel Warner and I were recently invited by Chicago Ideas Week to give a talk on our book. We start the show by setting off hundreds of whoopee cushions. Check it out:
By Hillary Anger Elfenbein; Washington University in St. Louis So your three-year-old comes home and tells you that he wants chocolate for dinner. Now what? If you’re anything like me, you start by trying to sell him on what else you’ve prepared. This approach doesn’t work very well, and then he throws himself on the […]
