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I heard a great joke about coronavirus the other day, but you probably won't get it.
Did you hear that researchers have delayed the coronavirus vaccine until they figure out how to make it cause autism?
These are just two examples of humor used in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are anywhere on social media, you have seen the jokes and memes. According to an old adage, "comedy is tragedy plus time." This has been true for many terrible events when, after periods of shock and sadness, humor and laughter are restored.
But the current situation seems different. People haven't stopped joking about it. Memes and funny videos are all over social media, even while an ever-increasing number of people across the world get sick and die. So why is this happening? Why is there no gap between the disaster and the humor created around it?
One thing that makes the current situation unique is that it is not a single event in a specific place and time. It is a rolling and continuous crisis, spreading endlessly across continents with no end in sight. The shock factor is therefore reduced compared to a single terror attack, for example. This enables people to adjust more easily to what is happening—and humor may be one of the best ways to do just that.
Of course, many people will feel uncomfortable laughing in these dire times, especially if they know someone who has been directly affected. But for others, it is not only acceptable to use humor in the face of the pandemic—it may even be a necessity.
Obviously, we do not laugh at the tragedy itself, the victims of the virus, or the people who are suffering from it. But we can take aim at the seemingly absurd situation we are all in.
This is because, from a psychological point of view, humor is a great defense mechanism that helps us deal with emotionally challenging situations, especially ones that are overwhelming and unpredictable. Many cancer patients and their doctors, for example, routinely tell jokes and laugh about the disease in an attempt to cope and distract themselves from a serious situation.
Coping strategy
On top of this, the unique circumstances surrounding the pandemic may make humor more prevalent, not less.
First, many people now have an unusual amount of time on our hands. Being stuck at home with not much to do forces people to find ways to be more creative with their time. While the situation is serious, in our daily activities, we are mostly preoccupied with more mundane tasks, such as what to do all day, how to entertain children, how not to eat too much, and how to stay sane in general.
Second, being a bit scared, tense, and in a state of alert, it is actually a good thing for humor to develop. These states of physiological and emotional arousal serve as driving forces in creating and enjoying the humor.
Usually, intermediate levels of arousal are best. With too little, you are bored, and with too much, you are too excited to enjoy humor. Right in the middle is perfect. The laughter after hearing a good joke serves as a release of all the physiological and emotional energy that was built up, and that's what makes us feel good.
Another important element of humor that is prominent during the pandemic is what humor researchers call "incongruity." For something to be funny, there needs to be something odd or surprising in the situation. The current situation reveals plenty of such oddities.
Here is a joke that illustrates this point: “All this time, I thought that the tumble dryer was shrinking my clothes. Turns out, it was actually the refrigerator.”
The joke is built on the unusual circumstances we live in, of being stuck at home. The setup is the common knowledge that the heat of a tumble dryer can shrink clothes, but then there is a surprise. It’s not the dryer at fault, but the refrigerator, where we store our food. We resolve this incongruity by realizing that we are getting fatter from eating too much when we are at home. This resolution gives us the "Aha!" moment that makes the joke funny. (And yes, analyzing a joke does ruin it.)
So, while humor may not get us out of this awful crisis, it can help us deal with it. We cannot change the reality of the disease or the economic impact, but we can try and change how we feel about it.
By creating and sharing humor, we can cope better and ease some of the tension due to the pandemic. That way, we can have at least some control of the situation. And what better way to do that than by having a good laugh?
