Opening Quotes

“The secret to humor is surprise.” – Aristotle

“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.” -Dr. Seuss

“Humor is just another defense against the universe.” – Mel Brooks

Some schools use “an advanced sense of humor” as part of their identifying criteria for giftedness. Why is that? In essence, when a student has advanced verbal ability, they are often adept at puns and word play, but that’s not the whole story. 

Not all people who are gifted are funny. Not all people who are funny would be classified as gifted. But overall, the ability to notice nuances in language causes some individuals to approach everyday life with a sense of humor.

In addition, some individuals cultivate a broad knowledge base, causing them to connect things in unexpected ways. Since “surprise” is a key ingredient when it comes to humor, a person with a high level of intelligence may swoop in with a quick witted remark that is simply a surface level manifestation of a lot of connections brewing under the surface.

In addition, not all humor involves language. Sometimes humor involves “the unexpected” in a spatial sense that plays with timing or symbolism involving facial gestures and overall body language (think Charlie Chaplin).

Humor is complex. Complex people seem to consider it a playground. 

While this sense of humor often shows up in a light-hearted and friendly way, sometimes students need coaching and guidance regarding how to use it. When it is used for dark sarcasm or biting criticism, it can drive people away.

Likewise, “humble bragging” that is meant to be funny is easily noticed by other savvy children and often a turn-off. Most of all, if humor is used to put others down, students should be guided to notice there are higher levels of development to strive for. When their internal level reaches a higher ground via personal growth, their humor will shift away from looking down at others to a universal style that acknowledges the absurdity of the human condition.

It’s great to realize the connection between humor and stress reduction (laughter fires off feel good chemicals in the brain). Also, it’s hard to be negative and cynical when someone with a good sense of humor is around (even if it’s you working by yourself). A sense of humor not only eases anxiety and stress, but can also assist with creative problem solving. When a task is done with an appropriate sense of humor, someone is more likely to stick with it and tolerate inevitable feelings of frustration that come with the creative process.

Here are some tips regarding how to look for humor in everyday situations along with how to write comedy:

  • Great comedy writing requires great empathy. 
  • Gain this empathy and calibrate your taste by studying satire, puns, and high level literature.
  • Funny people anticipate how others will react. Adjust your humor to the audience for maximum effect. How old are they? Will they get it? Do you expect them to laugh?
  • I have attached several resources and videos below if you would like to work on your sense of humor.

Optional journal/discussion questions:

  1. What are the characteristics of some of the funniest people you know? Do you also consider them intelligent? Why or why not?
  2. Have you ever met someone who thought they were funny but it actually struck you as annoying? What components of true humor do you think they were missing?
  3. What is the difference between being genuinely funny and being the “class clown?” 
  4. Do you like to be funny? No one expects you to be funny all of the time. When is it appropriate to be funny? When is it appropriate to shut it off?

Go Deeper/Resources:

These videos by TED are great to study if you are interested in writing humor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNTxSBgDNp4&t=7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6r2ikSjnUo

Additional Resources:

https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4454&context=grp

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1287553.pdf

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/HUMR.2009.024/html

https://funjokesforkids.com/sense-of-humor-in-gifted-students-what-you-need-to-know/

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=humor+in+gifted+populations&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

https://globalgtchatpoweredbytagt.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/humor-and-gifted-kids/

 



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