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Secrets to a Funnier You: April 1, 2011
About the PAI Project(all projects)
PAI is collaborating with grant recipient, Bay Area Theater Sports (BATS), an improvisational theater school that fosters playfulness in both children and adults on developing programs to help people learn how to be funnier. With Chris Sams, director of BATS Improv’s On-The-Go programs we taught a week-long class to second grade students at the Nueva School in Burlingame, and we held a T3 Talk on April 1, 2011 with five great speakers. We are currently working on a book which will explore the science of what makes things funny, some of the universal principles of humor, and the role humor plays in strengthening social connections, and will include practical and fun tips drawn from the games and philosophy of improv.
April 1, 2011: Secrets to a Funnier You: The Art and Science of Being Funny
What makes things funny? How does humor defuse tension? Laughter is the best medicine - ever wonder why? Experience first-hand the benefits of laughter from various perspectives: from political cartoons to interactive improvisation to hilarity in the brain. Brilliant and funny speakers explore these questions and offer tips from different disciplines at our upcoming T3 Talks, Secrets to a Funnier You: The Art and Science of Being Funny. Even though we all know humor is fundamental to our well-being, we don't always give it the attention it deserves. For our second interdisciplinary T3 Talks, we hope to look at humor differently.
We lined up five amazing speakers:
Kevin Kallaugher (KAL), the editorial cartoonist for the Economist magazine of London is generally acknowledged to be one of the premier caricaturists of the twentieth century. His award-winning print work has appeared in more than 100 publications worldwide. KAL’s work in animation includes the development of 3D digital characters that can be animated in real time. Starting in October 2007, KAL teamed up with Chicago's famous "Second City" comedy troupe for a 6 city touring show called 'The Art of Satire". KAL employed "real-time" interactive animated satire for the shows including live press conferences and dance competitions with his 3-D caricatures.
Dr. Peter McGraw, is the director of the Humor Research Lab (aka HuRL) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The lab is dedicated to the experimental study of humor, its antecedents, and the consequences. McGraw is an assistant professor of marketing and psychology, and his research expertise is in the interdisciplinary fields of behavioral decision theory and emotions. McGraw is a popular speaker, lecturing frequently to academic and mainstream audiences, and he writes a popular blog on the study of judgement, emotion, and choice. His research has been covered by Scientific American, the Wall Street Journal and the BBC, and his research appears in Psychological Science, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Management Science.
Chris Sams, the director of BATS Improv's On-The-Go programs, delights in using improvisational theater technique as a trainer-facilitator to teach spontaneity, adaptability, creativity, leadership, storytelling, communication/listening, ensemble and team building. Chris leads improv classes and workplace workshops for companies and corporate teams. His professional background is in non-profit management.
John Morreall, an internationally recognized authority on humor and its benefits, has been teaching university courses on humor since 1983. His sixty articles and five books include Comic Relief and Humor Works. Since 1988 John has been on the editorial board of Humor: International Journal of Humor Research. He has also served on the board of the International Journal for Humor and Health. For 2004 and 2005, he was elected President of the International Society of Humor Studies. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The Economist, Forbes, and the Financial Times. Among John’s clients are IBM, ING, and the IRS. His hobbies include plumbing and looking for the remote.
Emily Levine, a comedian/philosopher combines big ideas with big laughs. Her ability to make connections between the personal, the political and the cosmological has earned her a devoted following on line (her TED talk has garnered over a million hits), in sold-out stage shows in New York and Los Angeles, and with comedy afficionados like The Simpsons creator Matt Groening: “If you don’t get Emily Levine’s smart comedy, you’re an idiot”. She is currently in post-production on “Emily @ the Edge of Chaos” in which she explains quantum physics, chaos theory and why there’s a setting on the iron for “Permanent Press.”