1. Michael Fitzgerald & Victoria Lyons
Comedy on the spectrum
Autism & comedy symposium
University of kent, canterbury
SAT, 30 Jan 2016
Michael Fitzgerald & Victoria Lyons

2. Autism diagnosis

3. Diagnosis Autism Spectrum Disorders DSM V (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
1. Social and Communication Difficulties
- problems social emotional reciprocity
- problems non-verbal communication
- problems in sharing imaginative play
- Or in making friends

4. Diagnosis Autism Spectrum Disorders DSM V (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)B. 2.
a) restricted repetitive patterns of behaviour, interest or activities
- spinning
- idiosyncratic phrases
- Echolalia
b) preservation of Sameness
c) Narrow Interests
d) Sensory Problems

5. Diagnosis Autism Spectrum Disorders DSM V (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
Early life onset D.
Interference with social occupational or other functioning.

6. Severity (of A & B) Level 3 - Requiring very substantial support
Level 2 - Requiring substantial support
Level 1 - Requiring support

7. Issues with Autism Diagnosis Interview
Excessively and unnecessarily long
Narrow spectrum only
Misses many on the broader autism spectrum (about 300,000 are missed in the UK).
Gold standard is a clinical interview by an expert mental health professional (Nice Guidelines)

8. Modern Diagnosis of Autism
Leo Kanner 1943 (plagiarised)
Hans Asperger 1938

9. Prevalence 157/10,000 (Baron-Cohen et al 2009 ) 1/64 Children
2 out of 3 children with autism missed (Baron- Cohen et al 2009, British Journal of Psychiatry)

10. humour

11. Humour and Autism
‘They are not able to laugh at themselves, they are …. ‘rarely relaxed and carefree and never achieve that particular wisdom and deep intuitive human understanding that underlie genuine humour’ (Asperger, 1944, p. 82)
Research Findings
In young children with autism simple forms of humour are intact such as tickling, funny sounds, teasing, etc.
Some people with autism do understand basic types of humour, both verbal and non-verbal, e.g. slapstick humour, simple jokes, riddles etc. This understanding of humour, however, is not in line with their overall developmental level.
Anecdotal and parental reports of humour appreciation

12. Creativity & Humour
Asperger (1944) - highly creative, imaginative and original and their humour
“can range from word-play and sound associations to precisely formulated, truly witty comments”.
Kanner (1946) - highly creative and metaphorical language in children with autism.

13. Definitions
‘Humour is such a complex and human phenomenon, any understanding of it will necessarily enrich our understanding of thought in general’ (J.A. Paulos, 1980)
‘Humour plays a major role in human life; humour helps in communicating ideas, feelings and opinions’ (Brownell and Gardner, 1988)
‘Humour is a core part of human behaviour and considered to be a defining human attribute ‘(Nahemow, 1986)
‘Humour is the ability or quality of people, objects or situations to evoke feelings of amusement in other people. The term encompasses a form of entertainment of human communication which evokes such feelings, or which makes people laugh or feel happy’ (Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)

14. Types of Humour Verbal Humour
e.g. figure of speech, word play, comic sounds or funny words, riddles, irony – (where a statement or situation implies both a superficial and a concealed meaning which are at odds with each other), wit, sarcasm, satire, parody, self-irony, ridicule, nonsense
Non-Verbal Humour
e.g. slapstick (exaggerated or unexpected gestures and movements), practical jokes, absurdity or surreal humour, visual humour such as cartoons, etc.

15. Analysis of Humour in Autism
More topics of special interests
Cognitive/intellectual processing of humour due to excellent linguistic and computational skills
Problems with sharing enjoyment and laughter
Problems with emotional response and reciprocity
Minority unimpaired in humour appreciation

16. Benefits of humour in General Population
“Humour helps individuals feel connected and helps relieve pressure and release anger” (Wu at al, 2014)
“Humour appreciation is the ability of individuals to see funniness of information” (Wu et al, 2014)
A. This relates to the emotion of humour

17. Cognition of Humour-Comprehension
Comprehension-elaboration theory of humour (Wu et al 2014, Wyer & Collins, 1992)
A) Reinterpretation of jokes
- perceiving an incongruity through comprehension and elaboration

18. Humour Appreciation (Wu et al, 2014, Ruch, 1992)
A) incongruity – resolution by logically thinking over the content of jokes
B) Nonsense Humour still non logical post refection
C) Sexual Humour – same structure as above

19. Humour Styles (Wu et al, 2014, Martin et al, 2003)
1) Positive
a) Towards onself – kindhearted
b) Towards others – kindhearted
(i) Affiliative Humour (Major problem in Autism)
(ii) Self-enhancing Humour

20. Humour Styles... Cont/d
2) Negative – Persons with Autism use more ( Samson et al, 2013)
Due to empathy and Theory of Mind Deficits
(Lyons & Fitzgerald, 2014)
But note, Wu et al, Aggressive humour, same, Autism and controls ( I don’t agree)
a) Towards oneself – Masochistic
b) Towards others – Malicious
(i) Aggressive Humour
(ii) Self Defeating Humour
(iii) Humour Styles Questionnaire ( Martin, 2003)

21. Humour Styles A) Affiliative B) Self Enhancing C) Aggressive
D) Self Defeating
E) Humour Appreciation
F) Nonsense Joke
G) Incongruity – Resolution

22. Style & Appreciation of Humour
Humour Style
Materials
Sample Item
Affiliative Humour
I don’t have to work very hard at making other individuals laugh – I seem to be a naturally funny person.
Self Enhancing Humour
If am feeling depressed, I can usually cheer myself up with humour.
Aggressive Humour
If someone makes a mistake, I will often tease them about it.
Self-Defeating Humour
I often try to make individuals like or accept me more by saying something funny about my own weaknesses, mistakes or faults.

23. Style & Appreciation of Humour Cont/d.
Humour Appreciation
Materials
Sample Item
Nonsense Joke
A Chinese unicorn leaves home
and flies northwards. He flies to the Arctic where it is so cold that he becomes an ice-cream. His two younger brothers don’t know where to find him. So they walk southwards. Finally they arrive at the south pole and become soft serve ice-cream. Note: Chinese unicorn and ice cream have the same pronunciation in Chinese.

24. Style & Appreciation of Humour Cont/d.
Incongruity - Resolution
Materials
Sample items
Joke
A woman walked into a pharmacy and asked for a bottle of poison. The pharmacist asked why she needed the poison. The woman said she was planning to kill her husband. The pharmacist refused to give her the poison. The woman reached into her purse and pulled out a picture of her husband in bed with the pharmacists wife. The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, “Well, now. You didn’t tell me you had a prescription.”

25. Theories of Humour Freud’s Theory
‘Jokes and Their relation to the Unconscious’ (1905)
- ‘laughter can release tension and psychic
energy’
- defence mechanism
- humour is ‘a rare and precious gift’
‘The neurotic who learns to laugh
at himself may be on the way to
self-management, perhaps to a cure’
(Allport, 1950)

26. Benefits of Sense of Humour
Stress reduction
Enhances physical and
emotional wellbeing
Beneficial for social interaction
Self esteem
Impact on mood

27. Incongruity Theory of Humour
‘The cause of laughter in every case is simply the sudden perception of the incongruity between a concept and the real objects which have been thought through it in some relation and the laugh itself is just an expression of this incongruity’. (Schopenhauer)
‘incongruity is intended in a wide sense, comprising the following oppositions: expectation versus surprise, the mechanical versus the spiritual, superiority versus incompetence, balance versus exaggeration and propriety versus vulgarity’ (Paulos, p. 102).
Incongruity resolution model (Suls, 1972).
‘humour appreciation is a problem-solving task in which the punch-line, which is incongruous with the body of the text, must be detected and then reconciled with the lead.

28. Social and Affective Aspects of Humour
Sharing of fun and laughter with others
Emotional engagement
Feeling of closeness, intimacy
Affective response
Social context

29. Social and Affective Aspects of Humour Cont’d/.
‘Humour depends on so many emotional, social and intellectual facets of human beings, and is particularly immune to computer simulation and therefore difficult for persons with autism’ (Paulos, 1980, p. 51).
‘ we tell jokes because they invite a certain intimacy, and when that intimacy is achieved, we know we have reached someone else. Someone else feels or responds as we do, and in knowing this we know we are not alone. (Ted Cohen)
‘they give us pleasure, and that they are not solitary pleasures’.

30. Humour in Normal Development
Universal
Laughter at 4 months of age
Hardwired characteristic (Darwin, 1872)
Social Development
Play
Understanding of emotions, expectations, intentions
Joint attention

31. Autism & Humour Weak Central Coherence
- Problems seeing the big picture
- Gets focused on details or “bits” of social scenes etc.
2) Information Processing
A) Central Route – Pig Picture – Context
B) Peripheral Route - Details

32. Autism & Humour... Cont/d. 3. Impaired Language in ASD
Semantic Pragmatic Problems
Autistic Narrative (Fitzgerald, 2004)
Problems with Verbal Jokes (Wu et al, 2014)
Better with Pictorial Jokes (e.g.) Ludwig Wittgenstein (Can have strengths in visual area in Autism)
Problems with Nonsense – Verbal Humour
Concrete Thinking
Literalness
“Not interested in socially oriented humour” according to Wu et al, 2014 – I would disagree – the problem with difficulties with socially oriented humour

33. Theory of mind

34. Theory of Mind
1. “Individuals with Autism can still appreciate jokes using difference logical concepts, even if they are not able to understand the content” ( Wu et al, 2014)
- Problems understanding the intentionality of others
2. Persons with Autism may find a joke very funny but for an entirely different reason than the general population due to unique cognitive processing style. (Fitzgerald, 2004)
3. Persons with Autism prefer “comedy and simple jokes” (Ricks and Wing, 1975) Results inconsistent – see Samson et al, 2013

35. Theory of Mind.... Cont/d.
4. Adults with Autism , less appreciation for nonsense jokes and incongruity – resolution humour than a control group using 3 Witz-Dimensional Humour Test (Ruch, 1992 & Samson et al, 2013)
5. Types of preferred joke were neither consistent nor humourous (Wu et al, 2014, Emerich et al, 2003)
- Different cognitive processing style due to brain
connectivity problems (Casanova & Fitzgerald)

36. Autism: Heterogeneity & Diversity
1. Note massive heterogeneity in Autism and its overlap with Schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, ADHD and personality disorders (Fitzgerald, 2013)
2. The chance that two groups of persons with Autism would be exactly the same, has almost an infinitesimal chance of occurring. This is one of the reasons for the endless non replication of findings in so many studies
3. There is probably as much diversity among persons with Autism as there is in the “so-called” non-autism population. Autism traits occur in the non-autistic population (Constantino)
4. The issue of diagnosis in largely unresolved in psychiatry and abnormal psychology (see NIMH)

37. Autism: Heterogeneity & Diversity
Perceived Pun Humour Pictures - Humour appreciation – No Difference between controls and persons with Autism (Emerich et al 2003, Wu et al, 2014)
James et al 1994, Wu et al 2014 note that there is no improvement in the “ability to use humour after reaching adulthood”. This is completely out of line with my 45 years as a clinician with children and adults with Autism.
It is a myth, that persons with Autism have no humour.

38. ‘Extreme Male Brain Theory’ Baron-Cohen (2003)
Autism/AS is an extreme of the male condition.
‘it can explain why those who live with this condition are brilliant at analyzing the most complex systems yet cannot relate to he emotional lives of those they live with’.
Superior abilities in ‘folk physics’
Genetic Contribution

39. Autism & Humour (Wu et al, 2014)
283 high school students, 164 students with Autism
Age years, average 13.7
5.8 males to 1 female
“Diagnosis” - rating scales
Instrument – Humour styles Questionnaire

40. Results 1. Controls had greater tendency to use positive humour
( Fs (1, 1308) > 6.97, Ps < 0.05, h2 > 0.01)
(Stronger affiliative than self enhancing)
2. No difference between negative (Aggressive or self defeating)
3. Non-Autism students understand both types of jokes better but control and autism subjects appreciated the incongruity-resolution jokes more than the nonsense jokes.

41. Results contd
4. The relation between humour and Autism is extremely variable. There is no simple one to one relationship – massive variability in findings. The sweeping phrase used that they can’t understand humour is absurd.
5. Persons with Autism are extremely, commonly bullied, teased and the subject of vicious humour, which occasionally leads to suicide.
6. Persons with Autism have a very significant tendency to imitate and copy others. They often copy aggressive humour from peers and use it indiscriminately. This leads to further relationship breakdown and further vicious bullying of the person with Autism.
7. They are very often the victims of aggressive mocking humour but copy this as well and use it.

42. Neural substrates of Humour
Right Hemisphere

43. Right Hemisphere Verbal humour appreciation
Right hemisphere patients: (recognize jokes but not meaning; slapstick humour but not theory of mind or sophisticated linguistic ability)
ERP Studies: Only RH activated in joke comprehension
Memory

44. Right Hemisphere .. Cont’d/.
RH – Episodic and autobiographic memories
Autobiographic memory and self awareness
Frontal lobes and self awareness (Damasio, 1994)
Right Frontal lobe and self awareness
RH: integration of cognitive and affective Information

45. Left Hemisphere

46. Left Hemisphere fMRI study (Goel and Dolan, 2001)
Separate and Different Networks:
Incongruity: bilateral Temporal Lobe
Puns: LH network, speech areas
Wernecke’s area and Broca’s area

47. Left Hemisphere .. Cont’d/.
Differential system for cognitive and affective components of humour. Separate network for affective components: medial ventral prefrontal cortex and bilateral cerebellum
‘We were able to separate the cognitive aspects of jokes from the affective aspect. The cognitive aspect involves the mental set shift. I could tell you a joke and you may get the joke but not find it funny. There you have the mental set shift but you don’t have the component associated with the funny joke’ (Goel & Dolan, 2001).

48. Limbic System - Amygdala
Emotion Processing
Theory of Mind

49. Humour and Psychological Theories of Autism
- Frontal Lobe Theory Theory of Mind Executive Functions - Weak Central Coherence Theory

50. Humour – Communication and Theory of Mind
Deficits in verbal and non-verbal communication
Pragmatic Deficits:
- literal Interpretation
- speaker/listener relationship
- conversational rules
Impairments in gesture and mime

51. Humour – Communication and Theory of Mind .. Cont’d/.
Theory of Mind Deficits
Non-literal messages, e.g. lies, jokes, pretence, irony, sarcasm linked to Theory of Mind abilities
(Happé 1993)

52. Right Hemisphere Theory of Mind
Patients with RH damage have problems with TOM.
The RH is necessary for activation of representational sets and integration of meaning and memory.
The RH is considered to be necessary for ‘hot’ or more affectively charged TOM problems (Brothers and Ring, 1992)
TOM impairments play a major role in the problems RH damaged patients have in humour appreciation (Brownell et al., 2000).

53. Right Hemisphere and Personal Memory
The right frontal lobe plays a role in personal or episodic memories and self-awareness. There are strong developmental connections between self-awareness and personal memory.
Self-awareness and episodic memory are impaired in autism.

54. Executive Functions
Executive Functions: shifting of mental set, cognitive flexibility in general, working memory, planning, attention, etc.
Executive Functions involve the ability to plan and organize one’s thoughts and develop the necessary steps to achieve the desired outcome.

55. Executive Functions Cont’d/.
The ability to hold information in mind (working memory) is necessary for both verbal jokes and non-verbal cartoon tests of humour appreciating (Shammi & Stuss, 1999). Verbal humour is linked to abstraction ability and shifting of mental set.
‘Incongruity-resolution theory of humour’ (Suls, 1972): mental shifts, balancing abilities between expectation and surprise, the mechanical versus the spiritual. Mental flexibility is essential.

56. Weak Central Coherence
Problems with Integration of information at different levels, including the integration of contents across narratives and discourse
Inability to understand the global meaning or gist of a story or a joke

57. Summary: Neural and psychological theories
Linguistic abilities, pragmatics, theory of mind skills, executive functions, episodic memory, self awareness and coherence are impaired in autism
Frontal lobes – reciprocal connection with
- the hippocampus (memory)
temporal lobe/limbic system and amygdala
(memory and affect)
- cerebellum (affect, cognition, attention).
All these brain regions are implicated in the neuropathology of autism (e.g. Damasio and Maurer, 1978; Bachevalier, 1994; Courchesne et al., 1994;)

58. Linguistic, Philosophical and Mathematical Humour

59. Linguistic, Philosophical and Mathematical Humour
‘Reversal or permutation of the grammar of a sentence often results in humour’ …’a grammatical or combinatorial humour such as found in spoonerism, puns, transformation etc’ (Paulos, 1980)
I saw a man eating shark in the aquarium’ or
‘I saw a (man eating) shark’
I saw a man (eating shark)’.

60. Linguistic, Philosophical and Mathematical Humour Cont’d/.
‘that a serious work in philosophy could be written that consisted entirely of jokes. One “gets” the joke if and only if one understands the relevant philosophical point’ (Wittgenstein, 1953,1958).
‘Understanding the “correct” logic, pattern, rule, or structure is essential to understanding what is incongruous in a given story – to “getting the joke”.
Both mathematics and humour are economical and explicit’ … ‘they are short and make sense without much context’ (Paulos, 1980)

61. Comedians with Autism (Fitzgerald, 2015)

62. Groucho Marx (Fitzgerald, 2015)
1. called “Groucho” because of
“Serious Demeanour” (Chaldler, 2007)
2. Poor school progress
3. Brilliant at Maths (Marx, 2008)
4. Aggressive Humour and “Scant Sympathy” (Chandler, 2007)
5. Hyperkinetic
6. “Reserved Private Individual” (Chandler, 2007)
7. “Little Emotion” (Chandler, 2007)
8. 3 Divorces – “ Paying alimony is like feeding hay to a dead horse”

63. Peter Sellers Childhood Very poor Peer Relationships Oppositional
Behaviourally Disorder
Cruelty to Animals
Loner
Repetitive Behaviour - Switches on and off lights

64. Peter Sellers .. Cont’d/. Wanderer Fantasies
Massive Memory ( Savant type)
Identity diffusion, “ I have no personality of my own” ( Lewis, 2004)
Death anxiety
“Spiteful and neglectful parent” – Son
Aggressive Humour

65. Tony Hancock (Fitzgerald 2015, Goodwin 2000)
Speech & Language Problems
Preservation of Sameness
Sleep Difficulties
Loner
Oppositional Defiant
High Pitched Tone of Voice

66. Tony Hancock (Fitzgerald 2015, Goodwin 2000)Cont’d/
Spiritualist
Very Poor Peer Relationships
Suspicious
Aggressive Humour
Special Interest - Philosophy (e.g. Spinoza)
Mystic

67. Kenneth Williams (Fitzgerald 2015, Davies 1993)
Always Naive And Immature Emotionally
Clingy To Mother
Solitary
Poor School Progress
Drawing and Trained As Litho Draughtsman
Dyspraxia

68. Kenneth Williams (Fitzgerald 2015, Davies 1993) cont’d/
Diaries
“Home Bird”/Contradictory
Jekyll & Hyde Type Personality
High Pitched Tone Of Voice
Obsessed With Bowel Movements
Suicide By Overdose

69. W. C. Fields (Fitzgerald 2105, Curtis 2004)
School - Oppositional And Disruptive
Poor school Progress
Massive Observer
Outsider And Disconnected - Loner
Poor Social Relationships
Aspergers/ADHD

70. W. C. Fields (Fitzgerald 2105, Curtis 2004) Cont’d/.
Odd Voice
 Hyper Sensory Problems
Contradictions (e.g.) Generous And Stingy, according To John Cleese
“Solipsistic”
Alcoholic

71. Spike Milligan (Fitzgerald 2015, Farnes 2004)
My Personal Contact – Queue at Dublin Airport – “Asked for Low Fat Sugar”
Contradictory (e.g.) “Loyal” And “Traitorous”
Musical
Jekyll & Hyde According To Daily Mail
Child Like and immature
Sensory Issues

72. Spike Milligan (Fitzgerald 2015, Farnes 2004)Cont’d/.
Volcanic Emotions
Major Mood Swings-ECT (Manic-Depressive)
Suspicious
Poor Social Relationships
3+ Marriages “ Harems”
“Crank Letter Writer”

73. Spike Milligan (Fitzgerald 2015, Farnes 2004)Cont’d/.
Anti-Semitic At Times
Stubborn
Screaming Child
Massive Imagination
Enigmatically
Eccentric

74. Jimmy O Dea (Fitzgerald 2015, Ryan 1990)
Shy
Perfectionists
Naive
Immature Emotionally
Dictatorial
Contradictory
Ritualistic

75. Jimmy O Dea (Fitzgerald 2015, Ryan 1990) Cont’d/.
Preservation Of Sameness
Loner
Solitary Walker
Massive Observer
Listener
Controlling And Dominating
Precise Language

76. William Shakespeare (Fitzgerald & Kenny 2014, Bryson 2008)
Balance Of Probabilities
Father –
John Shakespeare
“Skilled Craftsmen”
Poor Financial Manager
Novelty Seeker, Reckless

77. William Shakespeare (Fitzgerald & Kenny 2014, Bryson 2008)Cont’d/
William (Bard)
Narrow Interests: Writing, Planets, Military Matters, Medical Matters, Legal Matters.
Fascination With Language
Workaholics
Original

78. William Shakespeare (Fitzgerald & Kenny 2014, Bryson 2008)Cont’d/.
William (Bard)
Neologisms / New Words
“Seeing bits and putting them together in wholes”
Confused Fact and Fiction
Identity Diffusion - Homoerotic Writing
Long separation From wife when in was in London (Query ,Autistic phemomen?)

79. Philosopher Joke
Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French café, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness.
He says to the waitress, “I’d like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream.”
The waitress replies, “I’m sorry, monsieur, but we’re out of cream. How about with no milk?”

80. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

81. Wittgenstein’s humour
Witty, childlike humour
Simple and uncomplicated
Crude
Nonsense humour
Nonverbal humour - mimicry
‘A fledgling leaves the nest to try out its wings. On returning, it discovers that an orange has taken its place. ‘What are you doing there’ asked the fledgling. ‘Ma-me-aid,’ replies the orange.

82. Lewis Carroll ( )

83. Carroll’s Humour Nonsense humour
Similarities with Wittgenstein (nonsense, logical confusion, language)
She (Alice) ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, “Which way? Which way?” holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was surprised to find that she remained the same size. (Alice in Wonderland, page 10)

84. references

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