Killing Laughter

"There seems to be no lengths to which humorless people will not go to analyze humor," said Robert Benchley. If the 180 behavioral scientists who last week attended the world's first International Symposium on Humor at the University of Wales had listened closely, they might have heard a sigh from Benchley's grave. TIME London Correspondent Christopher Byron attended the three-day meeting and sent this report:

Sociologist Gary Fine of the University of Minnesota set the tone with his lecture "Humor in situ: the Role of Humor in Small-Group Cultures." As he finished, an American psychologist solemnly asked, "Do you have any observations on the possibility that certain persons are inherently tease worthy?" Fine confidently responded, "No, I believe the matter is entirely situational, teasewise."

Jargonwise, the conference was a regular laff riot. Toronto Teacher John Atkin proposed establishing "designed, unifunctional anxiety-release centers in a community situation." Translation: maybe it would be a good idea to have a string of government-supported laugh parlors, where people could go to chuckle. A group of Canadian researchers reported on "Ethnic Humor as a Function of Social-Normative Incongruity on the Basis of Multiple Dependent Variables." The report questioned whether Chinese immigrants found Canadians funny, but reached no firm conclusions. Another paper analyzed "Glee Rates" of nursery-school children. Among its findings: playfulness decreases when kids are made to stand still.

Without a doubt, the U.S. delegates were the top bananas of the conference. Professor Jennings Bryant of the University of Massachusetts tried to explain why the victim of a joke does not usually laugh unless he can think of a halfway witty comeback ("Degrees of Hostility in Squelches Featuring Retaliatory Equity as a Factor in Humor Appreciation"). Paul McGhee of Pels Research Institute, Yellow Springs, Ohio, read an almost incomprehensible dissertation, "Phylogenetic and Ontogenetic Considerations for a Theory of the Origins of Humor," referring to "intrahumans," "arousal fluctuations" and "stimulus discrepancies." His conclusion: if you can't think, you won't get the joke.

On the second night, all 180 delegates gathered to hear Liverpool Nightclub Comedian Ken Dodd get off a few dreadful one-liners (sample: "The Russians are jealous of the British because the Soviets never win any bronze medals"). The delegates laughed politely and the next morning repeated the jokes to one another. Observed a woman from New York City: "We had a very meaningful humor-making session."

Little League Jokes. Professor Fine--whose current work involves analyzing the jokes of a Minnesota Little League team--is anxious to discover why people laugh. "When we learn that, we will be able to use humorous material as a tool." Fine believes most people laugh as much as 1,000 times a day. If so, the news should alarm California Psychiatrist William Fry, who several years ago developed a theory that laughing is physically harmful and can actually kill you. That might still be a better fate than sitting through an academic conference on humor.

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