Humour

Humour (in Commonwealth English), or humor (in American English) is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humours (Latin: humor, "body fluid"), controlled human health and emotion.

People of all ages and cultures respond to humour. Most people are able to experience humour—be amused, smile or laugh at something funny—and thus are considered to have a sense of humour. The hypothetical person lacking a sense of humour would likely find the behaviour induced by humour to be inexplicable, strange, or even irrational. Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which a person finds something humorous depends on a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context. For example, young children may favour slapstick such as Punch and Judy puppet shows or cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, whose physical nature makes it accessible to them. By contrast, sophisticated forms of humour such as satire require an understanding of its social meaning and context, and thus tend to appeal to the mature audience.

Hilarious (film)

Hilarious is a 2010 concert film by stand-up comedian Louis C.K., as well as his third album, containing the audio of the concert recorded at The Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. The film was first screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2010, had a one-day theater screening in select cities on September 8, 2010, and had its world premiere on the television network Epix on September 18, 2010. The film received two nominations at the 2011 Primetime Emmy Awards. The film was later shown on Comedy Central, and the album was released on January 11, 2011 by Comedy Central Records. The album was awarded Best Comedy Album at the 54th Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012.

Background and development

After the airing of his second hour special, Chewed Up, Louis C.K. launched his Hilarious tour in the fall of 2008, where he continued his trend of ditching all the material of his previous effort and began performing with a brand new hour. The themes and subjects include C.K.'s life post-divorce, living with kids, and numerous accounts of social criticism, such as the now-famous "Everything's Amazing & Nobody's Happy" routine (featured on the album as "Cell Phones and Flying"). He had done that routine in conversation on the October 1, 2008 episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which had resulted in a viral frenzy after it was posted to YouTube and other media outlets; it was seen more than 7 million times before it was blocked by copyright claims from NBC Universal. In reference to the appearance and internet attention, Eric Spitznagel praised his honesty in Vanity Fair, saying: