Today our world is filled with laughter: thousands of comedy shows are on television everyday, and hundreds of movie comedies are being released every month. Before the media had developed, people enjoyed going to theaters or reading books to kill their boredom. According to Rabelais in the History of Laughter, the four-hundred-year of the understanding, influence, and interpretation of Rabelais is closely linked with the history of laughter itself. Rabelais, Francois (circa 1493~1553), French writer, whose boisterous work, with its emphasis on individual liberty and its enthusiasm for knowledge and life, is a vigorous expression of Renaissance humanism (Encarta). His novel, Gargantua and Pantagruel, is considered as his premier work, and it is about the adventure of two giants, Gargantua and Pantagruel. It was very popular in France in the sixteenth century. In the story, he made fun of the vices, foolishness of people, institutions, and Roman Catholic Church, although he was a priest. Moreover, broad humor was mingled with keen social satire, political insight, and pedagogic wisdom, and his writing style and attitude influenced twentieth century writers, such as Henry Miller and James Joyce. I will discuss the elements of laughter by relating to Rabelais's "Gargantua and Pantagruel" and compare Rabelais's days to those of the present. .
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According to William F. Fry, Jr., the joke must be understood as being a joke for it to be funny. Many practical jokes result in anger, fear, sadness - all sorts of inappropriate emotions - until the joke angle is revealed. Then the possibility of laughter becomes available (Fry 1963, p32). For instance, "Cheech and Chong" was considered one of the most popular comedy movies in the United States in the seventy's. It poked fun at the drug culture, especially about smoking marijuana. Since it is very difficult to find Americans who have never smoked marijuana, this joke is widely understood and appreciated in the US, and it is still a very popular movie: smoking dog *censored* is very hilarious for them.