Scott Adams Is Helpful

I think of myself as being funny, as well as being good looking, personable, caring, a skilled and generous lover, wildly arrogant, and totally self-delusional.

But I think it's the being funny thing that I like the best. I like that way better than the self-delusional thing. But, like the engineer I am, if there's something I like, something I use, I have this insatiable desire to figure out how it works. Possibly by taking it apart.

I feel that way about humor. I like telling jokes and recounting wacky anecdotes from my life, often involving my ass. But I often find myself wanting to know why something is funny. What about that collection of ideas and the delivery thereof made humor spring forth unto the world?

(And don't count out the delivery part of it. If you want a scientific demonstration of the importance of delivery, have me and my mother tell the same joke.)

Scott Adams, the Dilbert guy, is a very funny man. And he's got a blog. Which is higly entertaining. But also, it's insightful.

Like this entry here, where he discusses his formula for humor, the 2-of-6 rule, where everything humorous contains at least two out of these six elements:

Cute (as in kids and animals)

Naughty

Bizarre

Clever

Recognizable (You’ve been there)

Cruel

Next time you laugh at something, try to figure out which of those six things just happened.

But he doesn't just stop there. Since just telling people how to be funny should be like t-ball for him, since that's, like, all he does for a living.

He also gives pointers on how to dance, and how to engage in successful internet debating. A-like-a so:

1. Turn someone’s generality into an absolute. For example, if someone makes a general statement that Americans celebrate Christmas, point out that some people are Jewish and so anyone who thinks that ALL Americans celebrate Christmas is stupid. (Bonus points for accusing the person of being anti-Semitic.)

Worth reading.

Update: As I was drifting off to sleep last night, I decided that there has to be a bit more to it than the 2-of-6 thing. After all Family Circus has been 2-of-6 for decades, those two being cute (arguably) and recognizable ("my grandkids do the same thing!") and yet, it hasn't been funny to anyone not suffering severe senility since 1987.