Funny Is in the Brain of the Beholder
According to the UK Telegraph, scientists discovered a brain cell responding to comedy.
The unique experiment found that an individual brain
cell fires during The
Simpsons, and go into action once again as a
person freely recalls the same episode.The same cell became more excited, albeit to a lesser extent, when it came to the TV sitcom Seinfeld too. It was silent when it came to another long running sitcom, Friends.
To be fair, Friends was never intended as a comedy. It was
actually a social experiment testing how long something could be billed
a sitcom before people realized there weren't any jokes. The answer wasn't a day, a month, or even a year. The
answer was Joey.
"It is highly speculative to conclude that it is a
"comedy cell", and even if it were it is just one cell in this study of
many cells."The critical finding, says Prof Fried, was that the same select nerve
cells went into action when people recalled these memories too.
The "comedy cell" works closely with memory. This probably explains why The Simpsons, creates such a strong reaction. As animation, it is highly recognizable. I'm sure there is a separate brain cell that goes Yo Yo Ma for Seinfeld. I mean, who didn't laugh when Jerry and the gang were convicted for all their wacky misdemeanors?! Court scenes plus clip-show-esque structure equals hilarity!
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