9.10.14: Researching What Makes Something Funny & Designing Technology To Deceive

At her funeral on Sunday, fellow comedians applauded Joan Rivers for her sharp wit, biting humor, and irreverent routines. What really made Joan Rivers so funny? On today’s show, the director of the Humor Research Lab offers some theories into what makes us laugh. Plus, from walk sign buttons that don’t reflect reality to digital signs over-estimating wait times at amusement parks; we’ll consider why technology is sometimes designed to give us the illusion of control.

Listen to the full show and Read more for individual segments. 

Researching What Makes Something Funny

• Peter McGraw is a marketing and psychology professor, and the director of the Humor Research Lab at the University of Colorado where he studies what makes us laugh, and why. He is also the co-author of The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny.
• We've got some clips and more information from Peter, right here.

Teaching People to be Funny

• Bryan Bowden is a teacher – not of the standard curriculum, but of stand-up comedy – which means not just nurturing talents, but coming to terms with their insecurities. This profile was produced by Annie Gilbertson as part of the Deutsche Welle radio’s series, “Generation Change”. You can listen to the segment here.

Dishonest by Design

• Kate Greene is a San Francisco-based writer who covers science and technology. She is the co-author of Reality Mining: Using Big Data to Engineer a Better World. We found her article, “How Should We Program Computers to Deceive?” at Pacific Standard.

Guster's Ryan Miller

• Born in Boston in the early 1990s, Guster first hit the pop charts in 1999 with the song, “Fa Fa” – and they’ve been drawing sell-out crowds ever since.  We spoke with Guster’s guitarist and lead singer Ryan Miller early last year.
• Guster is playing at the Palace Theater in Manchester, New Hampshire, this Friday, September 12^th. Their latest album is called Live Acoustic and they’ve got a full length album planned for January.