{"id":50242,"date":"2015-09-10T16:36:22","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T21:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=50242"},"modified":"2026-10-27T11:31:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T16:31:41","slug":"podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #137: The Humor Code With Peter McGraw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a question that philosophers have asked&nbsp;since Aristotle.<\/p>\n<p>What makes something funny?<\/p>\n<p>Going beyond that &#8212; why do we laugh in the first place? Because if you step back and look at it, laughing is pretty dang weird.<\/p>\n<p>Well, my guest today on the podcast went on a worldwide tour to uncover the science of humor. His name is Peter McGraw. He&#8217;s a behavioral scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder and he&#8217;s the co-author of the book <i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1451665423\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1451665423&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=stucosuccess-20&amp;linkId=WC6JIANACN25GBFG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny<\/a>. <\/i>Today on the podcast Peter and I discuss the findings of&nbsp;his far-ranging research&nbsp;as well as the work done in his humor lab at the University of Colorado. If you&#8217;re looking to add a bit more humor into your life, you won&#8217;t want to miss this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a question that philosophers have asked&nbsp;since Aristotle. What makes something funny? Going beyond that &#8212; why do we laugh in the first place? Because if you step back and look at it, laughing is pretty dang weird. Well, my guest today on the podcast went on a worldwide tour to uncover the science of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":195894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,156,42388],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-podcast","category-self-improvement"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Podcast: The Science of Humor | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I talk with author and researcher Peter McGraw about the science of humor, including how you can inject more humor in your life today!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #137: The Humor Code With Peter McGraw | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I talk with author and researcher Peter McGraw about the science of humor, including how you can inject more humor in your life today!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-10T21:36:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-27T16:31:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\"},\"headline\":\"Podcast #137: The Humor Code With Peter McGraw\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-10T21:36:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-27T16:31:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":153,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/137.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Character\",\"Podcast\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2015\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/\",\"name\":\"Podcast: The Science of Humor | The Art of Manliness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/137.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-10T21:36:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-27T16:31:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\"},\"description\":\"I talk with author and researcher Peter McGraw about the science of humor, including how you can inject more humor in your life today!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/137.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/137.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/character\\\/self-improvement\\\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Podcast #137: The Humor Code With Peter McGraw\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Manliness\",\"description\":\"Men&#039;s Interest and Lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\",\"name\":\"Brett\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/artofmanliness.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/author\\\/brett\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Podcast: The Science of Humor | The Art of Manliness","description":"I talk with author and researcher Peter McGraw about the science of humor, including how you can inject more humor in your life today!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Podcast #137: The Humor Code With Peter McGraw | The Art of Manliness","og_description":"I talk with author and researcher Peter McGraw about the science of humor, including how you can inject more humor in your life today!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/","og_site_name":"The Art of Manliness","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness","article_published_time":"2015-09-10T21:36:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-27T16:31:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Brett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@artofmanliness","twitter_site":"@artofmanliness","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brett","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/"},"author":{"name":"Brett","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832"},"headline":"Podcast #137: The Humor Code With Peter McGraw","datePublished":"2015-09-10T21:36:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-27T16:31:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/"},"wordCount":153,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137.png","articleSection":["Character","Podcast","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2015","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/","name":"Podcast: The Science of Humor | The Art of Manliness","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137.png","datePublished":"2015-09-10T21:36:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-27T16:31:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832"},"description":"I talk with author and researcher Peter McGraw about the science of humor, including how you can inject more humor in your life today!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/137.png","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/character\/self-improvement\/podcast-137-the-humor-code-with-peter-mcgraw\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Podcast #137: The Humor Code With Peter McGraw"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/","name":"The Art of Manliness","description":"Men&#039;s Interest and Lifestyle","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/#\/schema\/person\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832","name":"Brett","sameAs":["http:\/\/artofmanliness.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/author\/brett\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}