How Does Our Sense of Humor Change With Age? A Statistical Analysis

An interesting article with some good points. One thing I didn't see mentioned, that I've noticed as an old guy, is that a given joke isn't necessarily funny a second time, and a lot of movies and shows use jokes that have been around a while. Probably nobody laughed when they read the "boy are my arms tired" joke used as an example in the article. That joke has been around since the 40s, and the article uses it because it's so familiar to so many people. It was probably funny once, but now it's a cliche.

So if I go to a movie and the jokes are variants of ones I've seen or heard a bunch of times, I'm probably not going to laugh, and that doesn't mean I've lost my sense of humor.

I find my sense of humor has become broader with age. Its also tinged with (surprisingly) less cynicism but more darkness.

I think laughter is one of the weirdest mechanisms for coping. I laugh when kids get killed in movies, my partner laughs when something causes physical pain.

When it comes to comedy itself, I have less tolerance for the Joe Rogan crew of comedians (Segura, Kreischer, that lot) as well as Chapelle it just feels like exhausting space filler. There's no humor left in it, its just out of touch, rich dudes rambling between punchlines.

That said, I find Bill Hicks as brilliant now as I did as an angsty teen. True comedy (shout out to Carlin, Pryor, and Bruce too) transcends age. Its found in human suffering, which we only accumulate more of with age. Not in tired jokes about gender equality, rich problems, and a discontempt for your audience.