Our service on April 3rd focused on the subject of “Laughter,” both what it is – the quintessential cross-cultural stereotypical human behavior – and how it functions in human societies.
It turns out that the characteristic HAHAHA or HOHOHO or HEHEHE almost certainly owes a lot to human bipedalism since it frees the upper extremities and chest/lungs from the need to be involved in locomotion. This means that humans have more control over breathing and can use a long exhalation to laught - or form words and language. Chimps "laugh" but their "laughing" is a kind of panting.
There are also some interesting gender-related effects. Observers have shown, for example, that women laugh more when the speaker is male, but men, not so much.
So there is a lot more to laughter and humor than most people realize! We also watched some laugh- and smile-inducing videos.