"Occasionally we're surprised into laughing at something funny, but most laughter has little to do with humor. It's an instinctual survival tool for social animals, not an intellectual response to wit. It's not about getting the joke. It's about getting along." This was the not surprising finding of a recent study involving a horribly unfunny joke about talking muffins and female grad students, who laughed much more if the joke-teller was perceived to be in a higher-status position. Hear that, Christopher Hitchens? That "real, out-loud, head-back, mouth-open-to-expose-the-full-horseshoe-of-lovely-teeth, involuntary, full, and deep-throated mirth" is just ladies reacting to your famousness, not your funniness. OKAY?
What's So Funny? Maybe Nothing [NYT]