It’s 7 am, we’re struggling with jetlag from flying into LAX the night before and we’re in the wilds of Burbank, California, about to audition for the world’s only team of professional laughers. We’ve come to Los Angeles to explore the comedy culture that stretches from the film sets to
My colleague, Lawrence Williams, did a fascinating research project, which examines how your physical experiences influences your emotional experiences. I was skeptical when I started hearing about studies like these, but now there are so many examples , that I have come around. What do you think? ————————————————————————————————— Williams,
With Joel Warner (Post on Wired) You’ve seen it on Mad Men: The agency’s creative staff whiles away the noon hour with a liquid lunch of Old Fashioneds, then pops back into the office and whips off a whimsical Lucky Strike ad campaign that gets the masses chomping at
As part of my Humor Code project, I am headed to Los Angeles to examine comedy on stage… Here is a glimpse of some of the things Joel Warner and I are going to do: -Attend Comedy Meltdown at the Nerdist Theater. -Tour Hollywood’s Comedy Store -Attend the Neal
With Joel Warner (Cross posted on The Humor Code’s Psychology Today blog) With the holidays upon us, we’re taking a break from deconstructing what makes things funny and instead pondering the tradition that is Thanksgiving. We’re not talking about gathering with friends and family to express gratitude for what we
In a previous post, I suggested that a joke can be deemed “too late” (as opposed to “too soon”) if a lot of time has passed since the event being joked about. A more common reason that a joke can be seem irrelevant is when the audience doesn’t understand the
Power (or a lack thereof) has pervasive effects on human behavior and thought. We know, for example, that in contrast to the powerless, the powerful are more likely to take action, less likely to empathize with others, and more likely to be goal-directed in their behavior. But power is often
I was recently in New York as part of my Humor Code travels, and I met Paul Noth, a cartoonist whose work appears in The New Yorker. We talked about the types of cartoons that might have broad (even universal) appeal. He kindly agreed to a video interview: Comedy often
Welcome back to another episode of “Aging Single,” where Peter McGraw explores the intricacies of aging, retiring, and dying solo. This time, in episode
Welcome to the final episode of I’M NOT JOKING. Comedian JD Lopez returns from Episode 1 to debrief and reflect on Peter’s experience building
