Laughing is as ingrained in our day-to-day lives as the need to hydrate. But whilst you’re fueling your body with one, you’re fueling your essence with the other. If we’re to add in another layer of fuel—aka food—then what we’re talking about today would class as a full-blown charging station, specially built for humans.

It has drinks, it has great Tex-Mex food, and it has jokes that welcome you to the corner of West 5th and Campbell in Austin, Texas. The restaurant, named El Arroyo, is a Bored Panda favorite place; we’ve covered the wonderful marquee sign messages that the restaurant has become famous for more times than the Earth has gone around the Sun. 

But as with any good thing in life, we just can’t get enough. So here we go again, dear Pandas, and as you continue this little voyage, let me talk to you about the essence of comedy itself. 

Comedy is everywhere you look. In music, in films, in series, in theater, on the pavement, in the sky… At its core, its main purpose is to incite laughter and amusement, and, as an entertainment medium, it has been successfully doing so since the Ancient Greeks. The tone is light and satirical, and the story always ends well, at least by the classic literary definition.  

What makes one person laugh could potentially make another turn to look at them in horror. The subjectiveness of the medium cannot be understated, yet Alyssa Maio, a screenwriter from New Jersey, believes that there are a few techniques that make a joke, or punch line, all the more appreciated by the majority of the audience. 

According to Alyssa, timing is everything. The way a comedian delivers the punch line, or how actors deliver their lines, can affect the way the audience responds. Good timing builds anticipation. Talking about anticipation, what we expect to happen (or not) greatly twists the narrative and intrigue. It’s especially hilarious when whatever happens is completely random. And finally, comedy is best when it’s relatable, slightly tragic, and when it acts as a means of dealing with the complexities of real life. 

However, this kind of comedy is difficult to write. Alexi Duggins argues that it’s often more difficult than drama, but the art form is rarely given its fair share of credit. He says: “Crafting laughs is the most high-stakes form of creation. It is intrinsically difficult, as ‘funny’ varies from person to person in a way that ‘sad’ or ‘romantic’ just doesn’t.” 

Furthermore, he states that comedy is part of the human experience. What does that mean exactly? Well, according to The School Of Life, comedy offers us a way of having a better time around things that feel pretty disastrous when we think about them seriously, such as the purpose of our meager existence. 

What the artist does with the help of comedy is show a completely different relationship one can have with misery. Humor can nudge us towards accepting the darkest parts of life and to building a greater sense of compassion for ourselves and others. If the audience can applaud the lovable fool and root for them, then maybe the same is possible for us as well. 

The gap between what’s real and what’s fictional can not only be narrowed but also closed up completely for a meager bit of time whilst we’re laughing our heads off at the punch line. By mocking dangerous things, humor helpfully paints what is potentially very frightening as deeply ridiculous, and it’s exciting; our problems aren’t ours alone! 

Interestingly enough, researchers haven’t come to an agreement as to which aspects of a joke or situation make it seem funny. Giovanni Sabato, biologist and science writer, explains that multiple links have been made between forbidden emotions and the ability to finally feel and express them in a way that causes no real damage. 

Sigmund Freud argued that laughter allows people to let off steam or release pent-up “nervous energy,” especially when the situation surrounds taboo topics. When the punch line comes, the energy being expended to suppress inappropriate emotions, such as desire or hostility, is no longer needed and is released as laughter.

In simpler terms, when a person recognizes that an ethical, social or physical norm has been violated in the situation being described and that this violation is not very offensive or upsetting, it will result in feelings of humor. Yet, if another finds the same situation to be scandalous, disgusting, or simply uninteresting, they will simply not find it funny. 

Perhaps the oldest theory of humor, which dates back to Plato and other ancient Greek philosophers, argues that people find humor in the depictions of earlier versions of themselves and the misfortunes of others, as it makes them feel superior. 

In addition to that, a theory proposed in 2011 by Matthew M. Hurley of Indiana University Bloomington, argues that “humor is related to some kind of mistake.” Life is a compilation of a bunch of misunderstandings, and, usually, it’s only funny when it’s not us experiencing them. 

What did we learn today? Laughing is good for you, and we laugh for a variety of reasons; however, our experiences differ from those of others based on our moral compass and personal experiences. 

So please, dear Pandas, continue your exploration of these hilarious and relatable one-liners, upvoting those that make you laugh the most! Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments below as well! 

And if you’ve got some of your own jokes that you think would fit nicely on the restaurant’s board, here’s a link to where you can suggest them and mayhaps get featured. How fun would that be? Until the next one, dear reader, I wish you the best!