Based Camp: Min-Maxing Emotions

Join Simone and Malcolm as they delve into the fascinating world of emotions in this episode. Explore how they manage negative emotions, like anger, in their household with insightful strategies that can benefit everyone. Then, prepare for a deep dive into the intriguing emotion of humor, its different forms, and the contexts that trigger it. Based on their observations, particularly of their children, they have formulated a compelling theory on what makes things funny. Whether you're interested in understanding emotions better or seeking to improve your humor game, this conversation has something for everyone.The Transcript:

Simone: [00:00:00] And so one thing we talk about with our kids is like, does this make you feel good? And this is what we talk about with like negative emotions, right? Like, does it feel good to be angry? Does it make you more efficient to be angry? There are very, very few scenarios in which emotions like anger are going to make you more efficient or make you happier in the long run?

Simone: Maybe with something like grief, this could be different. I disagree. I think it's very rarely of utility. And so we talk through, okay, well if it doesn't make you happy, what can we do to get over it? And the, the core thing that gets over an emotion like that is, one, contextualizing it is not appropriate.

Simone: And two interrupting it. A lot of emotions are just bead cycles, like a can of Pringles. Once you pop you can't stop. And just about walking away from the Pringles having a glass of milk, so, our, our kid three, when he gets angry we're like, well, do you wanna keep being angry or do you wanna take a few breaths?

Simone: And so he'll go, no, I wanna, I wanna take a few breaths, and he'll go, and it helps it pass.

Simone: Hello, gorgeous. Hello, [00:01:00] Simone. Today we are going to talk about our little theories on how different emotions work, and I wanted to start with humor. Do you want to go in to our thesis on how the humor emotion works?

Malcolm: Yes. But first I have to credit you because you are the one who came up with this, and I think it's so endearing how you did it was all by observing our children and discovering what it was that made them laugh, which was really interesting.

Malcolm: Mm-hmm. So your, your theory and model of humor, which you were going to articulate better than me after I sum it up poorly, is that that, which is funny, is something that is surprising, but it makes sense.

Simone: Yes. And I think that there's two other types of humor that exists where comedians sometimes get trapped with them, but they're not actual humor.

Simone: One is a, I'm scared response. Mm-hmm. Which is really bad. But like a lot of, you, you get in, in really like tense situations where like you are socially scared or like actually threatened and like laughing to deescalate [00:02:00] to be like, ah, I'm not threatening. One, you see this in children.

Simone: But in adults as well. And I think a lot of comedians, they'll, they'll build these routines that are really like emotionally cringe because they see people laughing at them. But that is not, that is not like a pleasant laughter. I think for most people who experience it, obviously the human experience is really broad and, and these comedians are appealing to somebody.

Simone: , and, one is somebody is breaking social norms. Mm-hmm. And you are lacking cuz you're kind of threatened by the fact that to decrease tension kind of Yeah.

Simone: Where creates tension and, and people are breaking social norms. So, this other type of humor is one where you will be much more likely to laugh at almost anything somebody says if you're attracted to it.

Simone: Mm-hmm. So if you are attracted or aroused by somebody, you will just laugh at anything they say sometimes, and this is to, I, I guess, convince them. One, one of my favorite studies on this showed that both women and women said they appreciated a sense of humor in a partner. But for women, what that meant is that the person could make them laugh.

Simone: But with amendment by this is that the person laughed at their jokes and that's [00:03:00] what they, isn't that sweet? That's, I just found that so sweet. That's so cute. I don't it, it's sociopathic as, as. Uh, Okay. Anyway, but so the main type of humor, the type that you should be aiming for as a comedian is this makes sense within the context that has been built for me.

Simone: So in, in a, in a fictional world, you can build a fictional world where things deviate a along certain lines. An example here would be like SpongeBob square pants, right? Like that's a somewhat consistent fictional world with rules, right? And so something can make sense in that. Fictional context, but still be very surprising to you and thus cause you to to laugh.

Simone: Like you're like, oh, I didn't expect that, but it makes sense. And these are the best, the best types of, of, of humor with this is humor where it's like an idea. You're not supposed to think. And that's why it was surprising to you where you're like, Oh, oh my God.

Malcolm: What? Oh, so yeah, all the, all the cancelable, Netflix, such slash HBO comedy specials that involve, like people, shitting a brick because someone says [00:04:00] stuff they're not supposed to say.

Malcolm: It's humor. That's, that's surprising, but it makes sense because it's something that you're not allowed to say, but it's kind of true. And that's where that kind of humor comes from. Then there's

Simone: like workplace humor, that makes sense in context. Yeah. But you're not supposed to say that.

Simone: Mm-hmm. So it is surprised to me to hear that. Mm-hmm. But you can also subvert this, like you're going to say one thing, like the people think the joke, oh, I know where the joke's gonna end, and then you go in another direction. And that Right. Surprise, but makes sense in the other direction. It went in.

Simone: It's, it is funny. It's especially funny if it really makes sense for a character. Mm-hmm. So you can also do this with a character where a character is in a situation. Where you think oh, there's a generic way that people respond in this situation. Mm-hmm. But this character then responds in a different way that is surprising, but makes sense given the priors they've set up around that character.

Malcolm: Well then there's the word based ones like a, a lot of dad jokes or like word puns. Like, oh, how do you know it's a dad joke? I don't know. How do, how do I know it's a dad? It's apparent.[00:05:00]

Simone: Oh, but you see, right there, it fits this theory of humor that we have, which is, that was surprising. I didn't expect it, but it made sense. Mm-hmm. And what, where I think that really makes you laugh is it makes sense. Along multiple spectrums. Exactly,

Malcolm: exactly. And, and there's another type of humor that I particularly like in which that's more like a narrative based humor where a comedian will describe something even pretty mundane in life, but just using words that are not the typical words to use to describe it.

Malcolm: A really good example of this is describing snakes as danger noodles. And it's like Yes, yes. Where you're like, oh, yes. Like it is, it is funny cuz it, it is a danger noodle. It's a danger. Yeah. Like normally you'd be like, it, it is a snake, don't touch it. But saying danger noodle not safe to boop sounds like, oh