[iamcurious]

Hey Jerf, maybe this helps. A good recipe for laughter, is to mix a danger signal with a safety signal. The signals might be physical, like almost falling or tickles. The signals might be grammatical, puns (mistaking one word for another). The signals might be social, things that almost can't be said. I'm sure you can think of examples.

Now, always send safety signals ahead, first build trust and pay attention to how others perceive danger. Make a hypothesis of what signals would work, and test them. Laughter is a great teacher.

[jerf]

That is good, thanks.

I wonder if there is a pre-existing manual for this sort of thing already published? A quick Amazon search didn't produce anything I was looking for.

[iamcurious]

Well, there are guides, but none good enough that I remember. More generally, not specifically about humor, but about that kind of vision of human nature, read The Naked Ape.