You've got to laugh: why a sense of humour helps in dark times
你得笑一笑：為什麼幽默感在艱難時期會有所幫助？
Anna Moore 安娜·穆爾
We've seen humour play a role this year. One week into lockdown， the nation still in shock， the Les Mis spoof of One More Day， performed by the Marsh family in Kent racked up millions of views. The public fell gratefully on videos from out-of-work sports commentators commentating on their dogs or unclogging the shower drain. Twitter came alive with memes – loo roll， home educating and overeating featured heavily.
All this has been no surprise to Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas. They have spent five years studying the power of humour: watching hours of standup; interviewing comedians; training in the world's best comedy institutions and teaching it at Stanford University. They've now written a book on their findings， entitled Humour， Seriously， and its message is that humour is an unappreciated， underused superpower.
「Some people believe this is too serious a time to laugh，」 says Bagdonas， speaking via Zoom from her home in California. 「But this is when we need humour more than ever. With this global pandemic， the shift to remote working， loneliness and depression rising precipitously， many of us have never felt so disconnected. When we laugh with someone – whether through a screen or 2m apart – we get this cocktail of hormones that strengthens our emotional bonds in a way that wouldn't otherwise be possible. Studies show it makes us more resilient， creative and resourceful.」
Humour， Seriously presents a huge body of research to illustrate why and how humour works. Laughter triggers the 「happy hormones」 and suppresses cortisol， the stress hormone. It increases blood flow， and is a muscle relaxant. One 15-year Norwegian study of more than 50，000 people found that those with a strong sense of humour lived longer than those who scored lower. Another study of recently bereaved people showed that those able to laugh when recalling their loved ones reported less anger and less distress.
Despite this， warn Aaker and Bagdonas， we're falling over a humour cliff. Their own survey of 1.4 million people in 166 countries found that rates of laughter plunge at the age of 23 – just as we 「grow up」. Other research backs this up. It has been found that a four-year-old laughs 300 times a day; a 40-year-old 300 times every 10 weeks. Aaker and Bagdonas say this is due to a number of factors. There's the belief that adulthood and the work place is 「serious business」. There's the fear of a joke failing – and also， as we become adults， the 「born with it」 myth. You're either funny or you're not.
Their book shows that there are many ways to introduce levity， to live on the precipice of a smile and be open to humour without having to crack jokes. But for those who do wish to improve their comedy， Aaker and Bagdonas examine the anatomy of humour to reveal just what makes something funny. Truth is comedy's beating heart， so Aaker and Bagdonas suggest 「finding the funny」 by 「mining your life」. Notice the absurdities of our world. What would an alien find illogical？ What's irrational about you？ What makes you angry， frightened， envious， embarrassed？ Use your moments of pain， too. There's a saying: 「Comedy equals tragedy， plus time.」
In times like these， though， this is the hardest balance to strike. When comedian Gyles Brandreth recently cracked a Covid joke on This Morning， some viewers complained. 「It's so tough，」 says Bagdonas. 「Humour is one of the most context-dependent things in the world.」 The three factors to consider when making jokes， she says， are truth， pain and distance. 「Examine the truth， ask how great is the pain and is it distant enough？」 she says. 「The closer the truth gets to the very real pain people are experiencing， the greater the risk of offending.」 So， when a Covid joke is cracked on breakfast TV， the audience is unknown and wildly varied and the individual differences in pain and distance are vast. 「We're in a hard place， but we can still joke about it，」 says Bagdonas.
【標題】你得笑一笑：為什麼幽默感在艱難時期會有所幫助？
【摘要】珍妮弗·阿克和娜奧米·巴格多納斯寫了一本題為《幽默，說真的》的書，其中心思想是，幽默是一種未受重視、未被充分利用的超級力量。研究表明，幽默使我們更具韌性，更具創造力，更能隨機應變。
今年，我們看到幽默發揮了作用。在進入封鎖狀態一周後，整個國家尚處于震驚中，來自肯特的馬什一家表演了惡搞版《悲慘世界》插曲《只待明天》，累計觀看次數達到數百萬次。公眾欣然觀看失業的體育評論員評論他們的狗或疏通淋浴地漏的視頻。推特網站上活躍著各種梗——手紙、居家教育和暴飲暴食屢見不鮮。
這一切對於珍妮弗·阿克和娜奧米·巴格多納斯來說並不意外。她們花了五年時間研究幽默的力量：觀看數小時的單口喜劇；採訪喜劇演員；在世界上最好的喜劇學校接受培訓並在史丹福大學教喜劇。她們現在就自己的研究結果寫了一本題為《幽默，說真的》的書，其中心思想是，幽默是一種未受重視、未被充分利用的超級力量。
「有的人認為，現在是嚴肅時期，不能笑。」巴格多納斯在她位於加利福尼亞州的家中通過Zoom說。「但我們現在比以往任何時候都更需要幽默。由於這場全球疫情、向遠程工作轉變、孤獨和抑鬱突如其來，我們中的許多人從未感覺到如此遠離現實。當我們與某人一起笑時——不管是隔著屏幕還是分隔兩米——我們得到的這種荷爾矇混合物能夠以一種原本不可能的方式強化我們的情感紐帶。研究表明，它使我們更具韌性，更具創造力，更能隨機應變。」
《幽默，說真的》用了大量的研究來說明幽默起作用的原因和方式。笑會觸發「快樂荷爾蒙」，抑制壓力荷爾蒙皮質醇。它能增加血液流量，也是一種肌肉放鬆劑。挪威對逾5萬人進行的一項為期15年的研究發現，幽默感強的人比幽默感差的人更長壽。另一項對最近失去親人的人進行的研究顯示，能夠在回憶親人時開懷大笑的人較少感到憤怒和悲傷。
儘管如此，阿克和巴格多納斯警告說，我們會經歷幽默的斷崖式下跌。她們自己對166個國家的140萬人進行的調查發現，笑的頻率會在23歲——就在我們「長大」的同時——大幅下降。其他研究佐證了這一點。研究發現，4歲的孩子每天笑300次，而40歲的人每10周才笑300次。阿克和巴格多納斯說，這是由很多因素造成的。有人認為成年和工作場所是「嚴肅的事」。有人擔心笑話不好笑——而且隨著我們長大成人，還會擔心「與生俱來」謬論。你要麼風趣，要麼就不可能風趣。
她們的書表明，有許多方法可以不用開玩笑就令人放輕鬆、隨時笑起來和保持幽默感。但為了幫助那些確實希望改進喜劇的人，阿克和巴格多納斯研究了幽默的結構，以揭示究竟是什麼令人覺得好笑。真實是喜劇跳動的心臟，因此阿克和巴格多納斯建議通過「挖掘你的生活」來「發現笑點」。留意我們這個世界的荒謬之處。外星人會覺得什麼不合邏輯？你有什麼不理性的地方？是什麼讓你憤怒、害怕、嫉妒、尷尬？你的痛苦經歷也可以利用起來。有一種說法是：「喜劇就是悲劇加上時間。」
然而，在現在這樣的時候，這是最難取得的平衡。喜劇演員蓋爾斯·布蘭德雷思前不久在《今晨》節目中拿新冠肺炎開了個玩笑，遭到了一些觀眾的抗議。巴格多納斯說：「這太難了。幽默是世界上最取決於環境的事物之一。」她說，開玩笑時要考慮的三個因素是事實、痛苦和距離。「弄清事實，問問痛苦有多大和距離是否足夠？」她說。「事實越接近人們正在經歷的非常真實的痛苦，就越有可能得罪人。」因此，當早餐時段的電視節目開了一個關於新冠的玩笑時，觀眾是未知且千差萬別的，痛苦和距離的個體差異很大。巴格多納斯說：「我們的處境很艱難，但我們仍然可以拿它開開玩笑。」
（王雷譯自英國《衛報》網站10月11日文章）