Bergson's Theory of Laughter

Henry Bergson's theory of laughter focuses on the concept that anything we find funny is because we are witnessing the mechanical encrusted upon the living. According to Bergson, comedy arises from seeing something that appears mechanical in human behavior, which is otherwise fluid and constantly in flux. This contrast between the rigid and the dynamic is what causes us to laugh. Bergson's theory synthesizes elements from the superiority, relief, and incongruity theories of laughter, while also emphasizing the social function of laughter in regulating societies and communities.