Disclaimer:

Strong language, of the non-sciencey sort, will be used in the following piece. The content may be disturbing to readers denying the gender based violence women experience on a daily basis in the workplace, traveling to the workplace, getting a coffee outside the workplace, leaving the workplace, oh – and being hired in the workplace to begin with. Lewd thoughts/gestures/remarks and the occasional pussy-grabbing affect the objectifier as much as the objectified. Learn why. And change it.  

Reading with discretion is advised.

The spontaneous chuckle erupting out of you requires creativity, attuned observation skills and precise timing on the behalf of the comedian. To make someone laugh, as another comedian puts it, “is a preposterous thing. I am forcing you to have an involuntary reaction to something I say.” Professional comedians (like Louis C.K.) are experts at combining these skills and generating humorous ideas for our enjoyment, and indeed – making us laugh. How is a joke set in motion within the brain networks of a professional humor maker?  

Let’s play a game. One of the quotes below belongs to a trained soldier speaking of killing the enemy, while the other to a convicted felon describing his first murder. Can you tell the difference?

(1) ‘I realised that I had just done something that separated me from the human race and it was something that could never be undone. I realised that from that point on I could never be like normal people.’

(2) ‘I was cool, calm and collected the whole time. I knew what I had to do. I knew I was going to do it, and I did.’