Laugh Until You Cry?

The Three Stooges. Jerry Lewis. Gilligan's Island. Looney Tunes.

All of these shows are prime examples of slapstick comedy. Slapstick is a form of physical comedy that surpasses all levels of intellect. Anyone form the driest sense of humor to the most immature sense of humor can be impacted by slapstick comedy.

So the question stands: Why is slapstick so gosh darn hilarious? And why does EVERYONE seem to enjoy it?

The answer is simpler than you might think.

We all have pain in common.

I know, this may not be the happy go lucky satire you were looking for her, but lets give this some thought.

The reason some humor appeals to one group of people and not to another is because of a certain environment this group has grown up in. For those in accounting, money jokes will make more sense than jokes about kitchen work. They have the environment in common.

What is the one thing that all humanity has in common?

Pain.

We have all slipped on something before and we know how that feels.

We have all at one point in our lives have seen someone fall and have been glad it wasn't us.

I think a piece of the humor is understanding the context of the situation and being grateful that we weren't the ones in tat situation.

Is it wrong to laugh at situations like this? To a point, no. It would be too far if the pain was intentionally inflicted on another person for the personal gain of another. Why you laugh in this scenario, you are not holding a proper ethical standard for yourself.

Slapstick is funny as it should be. But lets make sure we are not laughing at a pain that can be avoided.