When we’re exhausted, overworked, or just going through a
difficult time, our instinct is often to put our heads down and
simply focus on getting through it. But those serious moments may
actually be when we benefit from a little silliness and absurdity
the most.
Laurie explores the science of humor with comedian Chris Duffy,
host of How to Be a Better Human and author of the new book Humor
Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected,
and Happy. Chris shares what he’s learned about how to find humor
in almost any situation — and how embracing the funny can improve
our wellbeing in surprising ways.
Experts Mentioned:
Chris Duffy, comedian, author, and host of How to Be a Better
Human
E. B. White, writer and essayist
Mimi M.Y. Tse, Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University
Ross Gay, poet, essayist, and Professor of English at Indiana
University
Annie Rauwerda, creator of “Depths of Wikipedia”
Aparna Nancherla, comedian and author
Greg Bryant, Professor of Communication at UCLA
Adam Mastroianni, experimental psychologist and author
Resources Mentioned:
Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative,
Connected, and Happy, by Chris Duffy (2026)
How to Be a Better Human, TED podcast hosted by Chris Duffy
“The impression management benefits of humorous
self-disclosures: How humor influences perceptions of veracity,”
by T. Bradford Bitterly and Maurice Schweitzer (Organizational
Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2019)
“The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal
attractiveness,” by Elliot Aronson, Ben Willerman, and Joanne
Floyd (Human Learning and Thinking, 1966)
“Humor Therapy: Relieving Chronic Pain and Enhancing
Happiness for Older Adults,” Mimi Tse, Anna Lo, Tracy Cheng, Eva
Chan, Annie Chan, and Helena Chung (Journal of Aging Research,
2010)
The Book of Delights: Essays, by Ross Gay (2019)
Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching, directed by
Owen Reiser (2025)
“Depths of Wikipedia”
“Hello, stranger? Pleasant conversations are preceded by
concerns about starting one,” by Juliana Schroeder, Donald Lyons,
and Nicholas Epley (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,
2022)
“The Perception of Spontaneous and Volitional Laughter Across
21 Societies,” by Greg Bryant et al. (Psychological Science,
2018)
“Neural substrates of spontaneous musical performance: an
FMRI study of jazz improvisation,” by Charles Limb and Allen
Braun (PLoS One, 2008)
“Good conversations have lots of doorknobs,” by Adam
Mastroianni (Experimental History, 2022)
Related Episodes:
“Laurie Gets a Fun-tervention (Part One)”
“The Surprising Case for Oversharing”
“How To Embrace Imperfection”
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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