I was reading Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A.Heinlein (if you have no read this book i strongly recommend it, it's an amazing book!).
The character in this book claimed he understood why humans laugh.
"I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts... because
it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting...I had thought a funny thing is a thing of goodness. It isn't. The goodness is in the laughing. I grok it is a bravery...and a sharing...against pain and
sorrow and defeat." p289-290
I believe this holds truth. Think about all the jokes you can remember. The 'punchline' or the height of the joke is the when the cruelty, the sadness, or just plain bad is revealed to the listener (or reader).
The same goes for when see someone do something stupid, like walk into a lamp post, or fall over. We laugh.
Do you agree? If not then why? Why do we laugh? What do we find funny?