Funny people are all around, and so are attractive people. But for some reason, the two traits can’t really coincide. But why? As much as I wish there was a simple answer for this question, unfortunately it gets pretty philosophical. To figure it out, I had to look into the psychology of humor as a whole, as well as the societal perceptions of attractiveness.
What Makes People Funny?
After hours of deliberation in my kitchen, I realized that all kinds of funny can be boiled down to one fundamental principal: relatability. You laugh when your friends tell an embarrassing story about themselves, because you relate to the human emotion of embarrassment. You laugh when someone falls on their face as you relate to the feeling of “I’m really glad I’m not in that position right now!”. And you laugh when someone shares a struggle that you experience as well, because you relate to their frustration. It’s been about relatability ever since the beginning of time. If you aren’t relatable, you won’t get many laughs.
See, the above picture is funny. It’s funny because you really wouldn’t want to be in that guys situation; being put on blast in a liquor store after being caught red handed. It’s funny because it’s relatable.
Although specific instances of what any one person finds funny are completely subjective, there are some themes that can be identified as “funny” throughout all types of humor. To list a few, we have: good timing (or bad), self-deprecation, wit, observational comments, and physical comedy. When listed so simply, you’d assume anyone can take a crack at being funny, but you’d be wrong. These “skills” I’ve listed take time to develop, and they have to be developed naturally to work. And to develop these skills naturally, you have to have a multitude of experiences that allows you to sympathize with people of all walks of life.
Attractive people just simply don’t go through the same types of experiences as you or I (assuming you’re also mid). They grew up constantly being reinforced by people all around, telling them what they had was enough, which unknowingly stumped their progress when it comes to developing a sense of humor. They were never rejected in middle school. They never had to win a group of people over only using their humor. They’re ability to succeed based of their looks alone creates a gap between middies, above middies, and below middies alike.
So unfortunately, attractive people are not relatable, at least not as relatable as us common folk, which means they aren’t as funny.
Other Things to Consider
Although attractive people have lacked rejection throughout their life, they are still human beings, and they do maintain the ability to be relatable in some other ways. At some point, you might recall having seen a handsome fella cracking bland jokes and getting a group to laugh. A situation like this seems like it disproves my entire argument, but I assure you that what you witnessed was a textbook case of “funny fraudulence”.
You see, attractive people have the ability to learn to be funny through practicing the craft in order to flirt and charm others, rather than becoming funny as a coping/defense mechanism formed from years of childhood trauma and rejection. It’s the equivalent of taking swimming lessons from Michael Phelps whilst wearing floaties compared to a toddler being tossed into the water to fend for themselves. If the toddler ends up a decent swimmer it’s at least respectable, right? They had the odds stacked against them, and they earned it.
This brings me to my last point: I think a lot of people consider humor and “being funny” as a selective social club. To be considered funny is a positive thing, it’s considered a privilege, and frankly I don’t think the majority of people want to give super attractive people another thing to be “up” on, simply because they know they don’t need it.
Conclusion
Just to be clear, especially to any super attractive people who might be reading this: attractive people can be funny. Just not as funny as average looking people, and the reason is because you aren’t as relatable. Maybe in the near future there can be a comedy club where the only form of payment is face card, where no ugly person can cast their judgement. But until then- ain’t nobody laughing!