The funny part of a joke is usually how absurd it is. "at which point you realize life is but a joke, and the laugh is on you. Thats funny, right?" We laugh because we can. This moment will never happen again and i can either spend it laughing or commiserating
This is just a musing but my initial inclination is to view humor as like a secondary or tertiary aspect to laughter. I don't think humor is necessarily fundamental to the direct activity of laughing, humor seems like a phenomena that requires complex language structures, some sort of organized tribe/community, and structured lifestyles. I'd view humor as more a sociological phenomena than a biological one. Things like laughter from being tickled or tripping on Psychedelic Mushrooms seem to have a more primal quality about them then the constructs of humor.
And why do babies laugh so much more, at the most mundane things? Also, do women really laugh more hysterically, with men not doing so? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc
Good questions. I wonder why no one has made a concerted attempt to investigate the true nature of humor. Maybe they're afraid it will cause humor to disappear.
I actually think she has a point. I better laugh twice as hard at the next person I see hurt themselves on top20 countdown.
There are more than one reason to laugh. Laughing at another person misfortune in order to feel good yourself is of course easily connected to our more basic/primal feelings. And yes, it works. Seeing people go spastic on a banana peel never gets old.