taelor comments on False Laughter - Less Wrong
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I suspect that the "You think it, I say it" brand of comedy is more about signalling and/or wish-fulfillment than any thing else. Alternately, the surprise could be derived from the comedian saying things that the audience didn't expect to anyone to say out loud, which would explain why this kind of schtick quickly loses it's charm as you can predict the jokes by asking yourself what you'd think in thesituation, but wouldn't say (of course this requires that the audience be good enough at metacognition to complete the pattern).
Personaly, my theory is that humor is derived from seeing the unexpected, and realizing that we should have expected it.