Watching Jon Stewart host the Oscars was torture. On Sunday, Stewart, usually a very funny man, spiraled into an amateur comedian unsuccessfully trying to entertain a stoic crowd. For me, his funniest line was after he delivered another dull joke and he dejectedly mumbled, “I’m a loser.” Throughout the whole show, this self-depreciation caused my loudest laugh. I admit I only saw the last two hours of the awards and may have missed his glorious moments. From Stewart’s constant hilarious commentary on his show, I have no doubt in his abilities, but why did he fail in this situation? What makes something funny?

Now this question may conjure up flashes of those awful TBS commercials where viewers would call in to ask if a situation was funny. Those commercials were definitely not funny. I can also guarantee you that this column will not be funny.

When I was abroad, foreigners would often say they just don’t understand American humor. My British friends still look at me strange as I laugh hysterically at an obvious stunt. They attempt to explain the difference: British humor, which I love, is subtler while American humor is more obvious.

I believe all humor has some truth in it. Otherwise, it is not funny. The truth on a small scale usually critiques a society or person. Most humor must be at the expense of others.

Example 1: Jon Stewart. He was obviously failing at the Academy Awards and his verbal recognition of his embarrassment was absolutely hilarious.

Example 2: The Danish Cartoons. A failed attempt to be funny at the expense of others. While some saw them as an attempt to critique the extremists of Islam through humor, they instead offended millions of people and resulted in riots, deaths and increased hostility even on our campus.

Example 3: “Jackass.” Although a somewhat past phenomenon, the idiots continually gained an audience and earned laughs by torturing each other. Think of the physical pain on a smaller scale: seeing another student slip on the ice on the sidewalk in winter – that’s funny.

Example 4: “Wedding Crashers.” The funniest part is when Vince Vaughn emerges from a wild night with his lover and his lover’s gay brother. He’s sacrificed for Owen Wilson’s character and entertainment.

Example 5: The Booze News. The newspaper that brings humor to this campus (unless you find the Orange and Blue Observer entertaining).

The Booze News is the prime example of entertainment at the expense of others, yet its humor contains some truth. After the cartoon scandal at the DI, the Booze News hilariously offered jobs to former DI employees. In last week’s issue, Megan Forbook proposed invading Canada. I think everyone secretly knows that if we needed to take over Canada we could, more easily than Mexico. This secret knowledge we all share makes her article absolutely hilarious.

One of the best sections of the newspaper is Atish Doshi’s “Five things I know I know.” After three weeks of ridiculing Britney Spears in the newspaper, Doshi pointed out that Britney’s rumored second pregnancy is quite funny. Why? According to Doshi, Britney’s life made a 180 transformation. We find it funny to see people fail. We like to objectify those who are successful. Another hilarious comment was at the expense of our secretary of state. Allegedly, Condoleeza Rice accepted “Condolence Sex” with Hugo Chavez.

Probably the most scandalous Booze News issue featured trading cards of the Green Street Bums. Many of you reacted in anger and disgust. How can we debase people as objects and treat them as less human? However, we do this all the time. Maybe The Booze News implicitly pointed out how we treat homeless people on campus.

Humor inherently functions in a dual nature. As comedy points out a flaw in society, it also perpetuates stereotypes and ignorance through the avenue of entertainment. The social function of humor depends on the reader’s reception. If the individual solely digests humor as explicit entertainment, then the comedy fails in its implicit intention – to expose what a society claims to value and conversely, how the society actually functions. Thus, good humor shows us this disjunction in our society and maybe, like Jon Stewart, we laugh in embarrassment.

Renee Thessing is a junior in LAS. She cannot tell a joke, so don’t ask. Her column appears on a rotating schedule. She can be reached at [email protected].