The Game of Humor

by Charles R. Gruner
The Game of Humor
Author: Charles R. Gruner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351482378
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Humor, wit, and laughter surround each person. From everyday quips to the carefully contrived comedy of literature, newspapers, and television we experience humor in many forms, yet the impetus for our laughter is far from innocuous. Misfortune, stupidity, and moral or cultural defects, however faintly revealed in others and ourselves, seem to make us laugh. Although discomforting, such negative terms as superiority, aggression, hostility, ridicule, or degradation can be applied to instances of humor. According to scholars, Thomas Hobbes's "superiority theory"?that humor arises from mischances, infirmities, and indecencies, where there is no wit at all?applies to most humor. With the exception of good-natured play, Charles R. Gruner claims that humor is rarely as innocent as it first appears.Gruner's proposed superiority theory of humor is all-encompassing. In The Game of Humor, he expands the scope of Hobbes's theory to include and explore the contest aspect of "good-natured" play. As such, the author believes all instances of humor can be examined as games, in terms of competition and keeping score?winners and losers. Gruner draws on a broad spectrum of thought-provoking examples. Holocaust jokes, sexual humor, the racialist dialogue of such comic characters as Stepin Fetchit and Archie Bunker, simple puns, and many of the author's own encounters with everyday humor. Gruner challenges the reader to offer a single example of humor that cannot be "de-humorized" by its agonistic nature.The Game of Humor makes intriguing and enjoyable reading for people interested in humor and the aspects of human motivation. This book will also be valuable to professionals in communication and information studies, sociologists, literary critics and linguists, and psychologists concerned with the conflicts and tensions of everyday life.

The Game of Humor

by Charles R. Gruner
The Game of Humor
Author: Charles R. Gruner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351482386
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Humor, wit, and laughter surround each person. From everyday quips to the carefully contrived comedy of literature, newspapers, and television we experience humor in many forms, yet the impetus for our laughter is far from innocuous. Misfortune, stupidity, and moral or cultural defects, however faintly revealed in others and ourselves, seem to make us laugh. Although discomforting, such negative terms as superiority, aggression, hostility, ridicule, or degradation can be applied to instances of humor. According to scholars, Thomas Hobbes's "superiority theory" that humor arises from mischances, infirmities, and indecencies, where there is no wit at all applies to most humor. With the exception of good-natured play, Charles R. Gruner claims that humor is rarely as innocent as it first appears.Gruner's proposed superiority theory of humor is all-encompassing. In The Game of Humor, he expands the scope of Hobbes's theory to include and explore the contest aspect of "good-natured" play. As such, the author believes all instances of humor can be examined as games, in terms of competition and keeping score winners and losers. Gruner draws on a broad spectrum of thought-provoking examples. Holocaust jokes, sexual humor, the racialist dialogue of such comic characters as Stepin Fetchit and Archie Bunker, simple puns, and many of the author's own encounters with everyday humor. Gruner challenges the reader to offer a single example of humor that cannot be "de-humorized" by its agonistic nature.The Game of Humor makes intriguing and enjoyable reading for people interested in humor and the aspects of human motivation. This book will also be valuable to professionals in communication and information studies, sociologists, literary critics and linguists, and psychologists concerned with the conflicts and tensions of everyday life.

Humor Me

by Barbara Johnson
Humor Me
Author: Barbara Johnson
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2003
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 9780849917875
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Combining humor with faith, this new pick-me-up book is chock-full of Johnson's (the "geranium lady") patented wit and wisdom, love and laughter, and comfort and grace.

Humor, Seriously

by Jennifer Aaker
Humor, Seriously
Author: Jennifer Aaker
Publisher: Crown Currency
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2021-02-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0593135296
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WALL STREET JOURNAL, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER • Anyone—even you!—can learn how to harness the power of humor in business (and life), based on the popular class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Don’t miss the authors’ TED Talk, “Why great leaders take humor seriously,” online now. “The ultimate guide to using the magical power of funny as a tool for leadership and a force for good.”—Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When and Drive We are living through a period of unprecedented uncertainty and upheaval in both our personal and professional lives. So it should come as a surprise to exactly no one that trust, human connection, and mental well-being are all on the decline. This may seem like no laughing matter. Yet, the research shows that humor and laughter are among the most valuable tools we have at our disposal for strengthening bonds and relationships, diffusing stress and tension, boosting resilience, and performing when the stakes are high. That’s why Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach the popular course Humor: Serious Business at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where they help some of the world’s most hard-driving, blazer-wearing business minds infuse more humor and levity into their work and lives. In Humor, Seriously, they draw on findings by behavioral scientists, world-class comedians, and inspiring business leaders to reveal how humor works and—more important—how you can use more of it, better. Aaker and Bagdonas unpack the theory and application of humor: what makes something funny, how to mine your life for material, and simple ways to identify and leverage your unique humor style. They show how to use humor to rebuild vital connections; appear more confident, competent, and authentic at work; and foster cultures where levity and creativity can thrive. President Dwight David Eisenhower once said, “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” If Dwight David Eisenhower, the second least naturally funny president (after Franklin Pierce), thought humor was necessary to win wars, build highways, and warn against the military-industrial complex, then you might consider learning it too.

Humor is Tremendous

by Charlie E. Jones
Humor is Tremendous
Author: Charlie E. Jones
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1988
Genre: Anecdotes
ISBN: 9780842313612
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This is a fun-filled collection of clean jokes, anecdotes, puns, wisecracks, quotations, and tall stories designed for speakers, teachers, pastors, businessmen, masters of ceremonies and everyone who likes to laugh. Arranged alphabetically.

The Don't Laugh Challenge - 11 Year Old Edition

by Billy Boy
The Don't Laugh Challenge - 11 Year Old Edition
Author: Billy Boy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 84
Release: 2019-08-19
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781951025205
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The Don't Laugh Challenge(TM) - 11 Year Old Edition is HERE! What do Kings study in school? Their loyal subjects! Welcome to The Don't Laugh Challenge(TM) (A.K.A. The BEST kids joke book and game)! If you are open-minded about your kids learning new jokes, becoming more self-confident, AND developing a stronger sense of humor then this book is for you, well really... THEM! I'm sure by now you have heard of The Don't Laugh Challenge(TM) Joke Books Series, but in the rare case, you haven't, please allow me to explain what all of the fuss is about! The Don't Laugh Challenge(TM) Joke Books are unlike any other joke books on the market! It is not meant to be read in isolation, but instead, it is a game or a challenge that is to be played between friends, siblings, cousins, or any two people who like to tell jokes. In this case, our 6 Year Old Edition is the ultimate showdown between two players or '2 Jesters' that include kid's jokes AND silly scenarios! This book is hours of fun, and great gift ideas for 11 year old boys and girls! If you haven't heard of the rules, here they are: Each round is set up so that the 2 jokesters will take turns reading jokes to the other player. Next comes the Silly Scenarios, where each player will read the scenario to themselves, and act it out to get the other player to guess what in the world they are doing (think Charades)! Don't forget to use your silliest faces to get your opponent to crack a smile! When the person listening laughs or even cracks a smile, the joke teller gets a point. Follow the instructions at the bottom of each page until you tally up the final score and crown the Don't Laugh MASTER! Who should I get this new take on toy for, you ask? Do you know a boy or a girl that likes to laugh? The Don't Laugh Challenge(TM) game is good for all girls and boys age 11 and up! Give it as a stocking stuffer, Christmas gift or present! This imaginative book will spark your child's creative side all while being screen-free! Some old-fashioned, friendly competition never hurt anybody! Whether you are looking for the newest gifts, games, presents, best sellers, or toys on the market, this renovated classic is a guaranteed hit for all ages! Your children will love it and so will you. Try it today!: )

The Westing Game

by Ellen Raskin
The Westing Game
Author: Ellen Raskin
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2020-10-13
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0593118103
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BE CLASSIC with The Westing Game, introduced by New York Times bestselling author Mac Barnett. A highly inventive mystery begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of the very stranger will of the very read Samuel W. Westing. They could become millionaires, depending on how they play a game. All they have to do is find the answer - but the answer to what? The Westing game is tricky and dangerous, but the heirs play on - through blizzards, burglaries, and bombings, Sam Westing may be dead ... but that won't stop him from playing one last game! Winner of the Newbery Medal Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award An ALA Notable Book A School Library Journal One Hundred Books That Shaped the Century "A supersharp mystery...confoundingly clever, and very funny." —Booklist, starred review "Great fun for those who enjoy illusion, word play, or sleight of hand." —The New York Times Book Review "A fascinating medley of word games, disguises, multiple aliases, and subterfuges—a demanding but rewarding book." —The Horn Book

The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues

by Ellen Raskin
The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues
Author: Ellen Raskin
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2011-01-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1101486066
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From the Newbery Award-winning author of THE WESTING GAME, more clever riddles and wordplay, clues to be found, and mysteries to be solved! Wanted: Assistant to a painter (and a secret sleuth) Dickory Dock has come to 12 Cobble Lane to take the job as painter's assistant to the artist Garson. The townhouse looks charming and quaint, but inside its redbrick walls lurk suspicious characters, multiple mysteries, and one very eccentric portrait artist. Clues abound; and suddenly Dickory finds herself assisting Garson not in art but in crime solving. Can Dickory untangle the web of mysteries within mysteries and discover the true secret hiding on Cobble Lane?

All Joking Aside

by Rebecca Krefting
All Joking Aside
Author: Rebecca Krefting
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2014-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1421414295
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A professor of American Studies—and stand-up comic—examines sharply focused comedy and its cultural utility in contemporary society. Outstanding Academic Title, Choice In this examination of stand-up comedy, Rebecca Krefting establishes a new genre of comedic production, “charged humor,” and charts its pathways from production to consumption. Some jokes are tears in the fabric of our beliefs—they challenge myths about how fair and democratic our society is and the behaviors and practices we enact to maintain those fictions. Jokes loaded with vitriol and delivered with verve, charged humor compels audiences to action, artfully summoning political critique. Since the institutionalization of stand-up comedy as a distinct cultural form, stand-up comics have leveraged charged humor to reveal social, political, and economic stratifications. All Joking Aside offers a history of charged comedy from the mid-twentieth century to the early aughts, highlighting dozens of talented comics from Dick Gregory and Robin Tyler to Micia Mosely and Hari Kondabolu. The popularity of charged humor has waxed and waned over the past sixty years. Indeed, the history of charged humor is a tale of intrigue and subversion featuring dive bars, public remonstrations, fickle audiences, movie stars turned politicians, commercial airlines, emergent technologies, neoliberal mind-sets, and a cavalcade of comic misfits with an ax to grind. Along the way, Krefting explores the fault lines in the modern economy of humor, why men are perceived to be funnier than women, the perplexing popularity of modern-day minstrelsy, and the way identities are packaged and sold in the marketplace. Appealing to anyone interested in the politics of humor and generating implications for the study of any form of popular entertainment, this history reflects on why we make the choices we do and the collective power of our consumptive practices. Readers will be delighted by the broad array of comic talent spotlighted in this book, and for those interested in comedy with substance, it will offer an alternative punchline.