Jokes. Like the British public, many societies take pride in their sense of humour. This also dates back to ancient tribes, where they believed in a supernatural "prankster". This prankster committed many pranks from harmless ones, to serious crimes, all because of a joke. His actions provided comic relief and occasionally struck fear in the general public, to let them learn and know their places in society, preventing them from wreaking havoc. Also reminding them of how jokes can go too far. Tribes also believed that, as a joke, this "prankster" stole fire from the gods and gave it to the humans, in turn saving the human race and allowed them to further move on developing and improving 'Man's' lifestyle. This may not sound so bad. Other tribes would pick a ruler once a year to rule the tribe, city, kingdom, what have you, for a month and any outrageous rules and laws MUST be followed. Later on this ruler is then killed and sacrificed to the god. If the person refuses to participate in this event he is killed, for being a 'party pooper'. This 'tradition' creates a tight knit community and is beneficial for the people and the temporary king to learn about jokes and their limits.
The jester is hired by the king to provide entertainment, however the jester is allowed to touch upon taboo topics, or perhaps mock the throne through the implementation of hidden satire and jokes.
"The Naked Jape" is a book about the history of jokes. Reading it generally gave me a greater sense of appreciation for a joke. the thought process that goes into writing one, delivering it and the importance of them in our lives. I'm sure everyone has commented and made a joke on perhaps the worst time possible. iIm sure many of you received the sick jokes about the tsunami that happened earlier this year in Japan. e.g. my japanese girl friend died... oh well there's plenty more in the sea (sorry for any offence cause :-) ). Jimmy carr explains that jokes like that are important, it allows a person to almost get rid of the burden of grief he is faced with, or puts on just because it feels wrong to laugh at this time. People need to get the sense of awkwardness and fear out of their system in order to carry on with their lives. This book also gave me a slight fear of clowns, as he explains the earlier purposes of a clown and myths and metaphors that are represented through the make-up on their faces, anyways I won't go into any more detail.
Buy the book it is a really good investment and a funny read. Here is the link:
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