Other types of humor are derivative from this: just as the clown falls on his face because of a (pretended) physical flaw, as if he's a machine that doesn't work and so becomes noticeable as a machine, in satire, we poke fun at society's breaking down, and in wordplay it's as if the language is breaking down, and in a sit-com featuring unlikely coincidences, it's like fate itself is breaking down into senseless patterns of repetition. What is humor? Bergson says that, fundamentally, we laugh as a form of social corrective when others are slow to adapt to society's demands. On Bergson's Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic (1900). Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020 and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more causally.
