Where does humour come from?

While Karin and Chris are on the same page, scientists haven’t officially agreed on this yet.

After all, who’s to say what’s really funny?
To some it’s a cat playing a piano in a hoodie, while others find Homer’s Odyssey hilarious.

According to Peter McGraw, director of the Humor Research Lab (aka HuRL) at the University of Colorado, genetics do play a role, mostly because intelligence is genetic, and so much of a sense of humour is born of brains.

In contrast, there’s also evidence that people can learn to be funnier.

Some of the world’s best comedians have only gotten funnier with age. A case of practice makes perfect?

Alex Berg, a comedian and comedy teacher reckons now that he’s been teaching for longer, he’s seen enough instances where people have learnt to be funnier over time, to decide that a funny bone isn’t just genetic.

So, if you’ve checked your DNA, and worked at it for two decades, and you’re still not funny, people may just have to laugh at you instead of with you, like this guy: