# Where did humour originate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073 "2003-03-21T13:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mallocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@mallocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mallocks)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/1 "2003-03-21T13:03:10Z")
Was just wondering this on the way into school this morning, where, how and why did humour originate? any answers would be appreciated, accurate ones still more šŸ˜ƒ thanks ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/2 "2003-03-21T13:24:49Z")
How and why I do not know. Where, is simple. Humour originated in Scotland, as did everything else worth having. ---
**Author:** ![Davebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/3 "2003-03-21T14:43:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\*How and why I do not know. > > Where, is simple. Humour originated in Scotland, as did everything else worth having. \*\* No, no. I have it on good authority (Mr. Chekhov, Starship Enterprise) that everything worthwhile originated in Russia. The origins of humor are still being debated among the scientific community but, humor, as opposed to verbal jokes, seems to be innate. A sense of humor can be readily observed in species as diverse as dogs, cats, apes, parrots, and dolphins. These are all fairly intelligent animals, so itā€™s possible that humor is an adjunct to intelligence. But, for all we know paramecia are constantly cracking each other up, and we just donā€™t get the jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/4 "2003-03-21T14:56:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Davebear \* > \*\*A sense of humor can be readily observed in species as diverse as dogs, cats, apes, parrots, and dolphins. \*\* Iā€™m not one to think that animals canā€™t have a sense of humorā€¦ but what does work as evidence for humor in other species? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/5 "2003-03-21T15:31:06Z")
Laughter reduces blood pressure, ergo a WAG: humor is as old as sentience, and helps strengthen social bonds. ---
**Author:** ![Bootieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Bootieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootieman)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/6 "2003-03-21T15:49:28Z")
I seem to recall a movie about early manā€¦ and one of the early men dropped something out of a treeā€¦ and it landed on one his counterpartā€™s headā€¦ to which squealing laughter was the response from the rest of the tribeā€¦ I think that is where ā€œslapstickā€ was bornā€¦ hence the beginning of the only true form of pure comedyā€¦ (To be perfected by the 3 stooges early last century) ---
**Author:** ![mallocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@mallocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mallocks)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/7 "2003-03-21T16:07:17Z")
why am I the only person on the board that attracts pretty much no serious answers? ---
**Author:** ![Bootieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Bootieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootieman)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/8 "2003-03-21T16:17:05Z")
You got at least 2 serious responses to your original queryā€¦ the rest were humourous because we had no ideaā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/9 "2003-03-21T16:49:08Z")
Ask a question about humor, get a humorous answer. ---
**Author:** ![Arturas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@Arturas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arturas)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/10 "2003-03-21T18:04:02Z")
You got humorous answers because you asked a vague question. There are many types of humour. Which one did you have in mind? Obviously not puns, perhaps slapstick, as in a caveman runs after an animal, slips in a big dropping and ā€¦ Sorry, I was trying to be seriousā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![mallocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@mallocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mallocks)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-humour-originate/163073/11 "2003-03-21T18:10:11Z")
k, my bad, typical of me to be all serious in a thread on humour really šŸ˜› ah well.