Unit five ‘Crikey, that's a hard one!'

The previous unit looked at examples of humour with a target. In the sense that it is used as a form of attack, the humour is part of a battle between groups in society. But some say that humour expresses some sort of battle within ourselves. According to Howard Jacobson (Seriously Funny, Channel 4) the historical Italian drama form Commedia del'Arte ‘jeers at all our feelings and thus releases us from the torment of being ourselves’. Although he talked about sex and death, much of the series was concerned with the connection between comedy and human excreta! It seems convincing in some cases: the comedian Jack Dee said ‘I still think there's nothing funnier than farts’ The psychic release theory of humour explains the triggering of laughter by the sense of release from a threat being overcome — such as a reduction of fears about death and sex.