Are some sounds naturally humorous?

Factual Questions
1

Many years ago I heard it conjectured that words containing hard C’s and
hard G’s tend to be humorous in spoken English. The examples offered at the
time were Jack Benny’s frequent mention of “Waukegan” and “Cucamonga”,
and W. C. Fields’s “My little Chickadee” (addressing Mae West). Since then,
I have noticed a number of supporting examples:

   the AFLAC duck
   the GEICO gecko
   Hagar
   Helga
   Gomer Pyle
   Ichabod Crane
   Clem Kadiddlehopper
   Andy Capp

   Is there substance to this conjecture?  Is the effect reinforced if the

associated vowels are high and frontal? I don’t see much humor in
“kumquat”, but I can’t even say “stotinki” or “zucchini” without smiling.

2

Craig Ferguson said recently that the letter k is always funny. I don’t know if he was kidding or not, but I notice the k sound in almost all of your examples.

Plus, farts. Farts are always funny. :slight_smile:

3