About Me

My name’s Amanda. I have a PhD in history, but by time I received my degree I had already become obsessed with humor theory. In fact, comedy turned out to be the only “academic” subject I could take seriously. Perverse, I know.

Humor theory draws from psychology, neuroscience, biology, philosophy, and history. I think what I do is closest to philosophy, in that I find it amusing to speculate on how humor works. There’s no such thing as a scientific formula for humor because people have such individual reactions to it, but there are certain mechanics that regularly underlie effective jokes, for example, and that apply to humor from all eras and locations. If you’d like to know a little more, check out my theory page.

And it’s not just theory to me. To many people I’ve seemed like a walking contradiction — a blonde, funny professor who’s able to translate ancient Greek — and let’s just say that their reactions to me do not automatically fall into the “I’m taking you seriously” category. I’m sure some of my interest in humor, with its juxtapositions and unexpected combinations, comes from that. Standing in front of a classroom for ten years gave me time to practice a little amateur standup. Most importantly, I’ve co-authored a translation of Aristophanes that made an entire theater laugh out loud. A lot. That may have been the highlight of my academic career.

So, I use this site to obsess publicly about what’s funny. I like to think of it as a celebration of well-crafted comedy. But I can’t tell you what’s funny. No one else can, either. On the other hand, even if I don’t laugh personally, I try to appreciate what might make it funny to others. That’s part of the fun of theory — it’s not about dissecting jokes dispassionately, it’s about understanding how they work for others.

Oh, and I’m interested in women in the media, too. Since I see so many movies and TV shows and such, I can’t help but remark on the gender stuff from time to time. Also, I’ve got a vested interest in equality being a woman and all. Most people don’t want to admit that comedy can effect change until after the fact (hello Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor), but I can tell you it does — hello Daily Show and Colbert! Now we just need a female Richard Pryor.

I started this blog two years ago, but I’ve only just moved to the WordPress format so right now a lot of the archives aren’t available. I’m working on it, though. I’d really like to show people how interesting humor is — and why, even after thousands of years, no one’s managed to explain it completely.