The jacket copy sounds like a reality TV series promo: "Two Guys. 19 Experiments. Five Continents. 91,000 miles. And a Book That Will Forever Change the Way You Think About Humor." After reading the international exploits of Dr. Peter McGraw and his traveling companion, accomplice, and chronicler, writer Joel Warner, that would be a TV show I would watch happily.
Told through Warner's eyes, we follow Dr. McGraw, founder of the Humor Research Lab at the University of Colorado in Boulder, as he travels the globe to find out if there is a secret to comedy, and if so, can one become funnier by using it. Researchers, it seems, believe they have already discovered the funniest joke in the world (included in the book), so McGraw has his work cut out for himself. The duo start their quest in a comedy club in Denver, where Dr. McGraw tries his hand as a stand-up comedian at an open mic. (Spoiler alert: He survives.) Their quest takes them to L.A. where they discover what it takes to be a professional live TV audience member; to New York, to find out how to create a cartoon that The New Yorker will publish; and to Osaka, to experience the bizarre world of Japanese improv and comedy duos. Other stops have them exploring the dark side of humor in Scandinavia, discovering the reason why we laugh in Africa, finding humor in hard times in the Middle East, and participating with a medical clown troupe in a South American jungle. Then comes the moment of truth: Can Dr. McGraw take what he has learned and "kill" at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival, the largest festival in the world? You'll just have to read The Humor Code to find out.
