Know laughing matter

Bug feces
Why should we laugh? “Anyone who has a kid knows that the funniest way to illicit a laugh is to mention poop, and there are some caterpillars that can fling their poop 153 centimeters. [Proportionally] that’s equivalent to a 76-yard field goal,” says University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign etymology professor May Berenbaum. “There are also insects that don’t poop at all. It’s the ultimate anal retentiveness.” Berenbaum and co-presenter Amy Leach discuss buttloads of poop and other quirky bug behavior at “Insect Antics.” Harold Washington Library Center (400 S State St). Sun 8, 1:30-2:30pm, $5.

Freud and Jews
Why should we laugh? Jokes about Jews may make you squirm in your seat, but for Sander Gilman, a humanities professor at Atlanta’s Emory University, they’re enlightening. “There’s a point before Jews were considered funny and jokes from and about Jewish people mark when that starts—somewhere around the year 1790,” explains Gilman. “Being funny is tied to becoming human—becoming a member of the club. [Society] started relating to the Jewish people when they found humor in Jewish culture. [Sigmund] Freud based his whole theory of laughter on Jewish jokes.” Gilman explains the evolution of Jewish jokes and the perception that Jews are naturally a humorous people at “Dr. Freud’s Little Jokes, Or How the Jews Became Funny.” Chicago Cultural Center (77 E Randolph St). Sat 7, 10–11am, $5.

The Bible
Why should we laugh? According to writer and NPR commentator Aaron Freeman, God is the ultimate prankster. “Comedy is a way of looking at life that makes happy endings seem inevitable, and there’s nobody that’s more true for than [the Old Testament figure] Job,” Freeman says. As the story goes, goodie two-shoes Job lost his health, wealth and family when Satan bet God that no man could hold faith in the face of too much adversity. Job holds strong and gets rewarded in the end and we all get a laugh, says Freeman. “[Job’s] the most optimistic of characters and the one that keeps slipping on that banana peel. He’s basically the ultimate comedian.” Freeman explains more about finding ha ha in life’s horseshit at “The Book of Job and the Comedy of Suffering.” Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies (610 S Michigan Ave). Sun 8, 2:30–3:30pm, $5.

Norman Rockwell
Why should we laugh? “Rockwell was a perverted practical joker,” says Johns Hopkins University English lit professor Richard Halpern. “In his early life, he illustrated for children’s magazines, and the only models they used were young boys. When he was done with a modeling session, [Rockwell] would tell the boys to shuffle out with their heads down, saying something like ‘Oh Mr. Rockwell, I didn’t know you were that sort of man!’ He wanted to make it look like he was molesting them.” For the record, he really didn’t. Rockwell’s mischievous underbelly gets revealed at “Laughing at Norman Rockwell,” The Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Ave). Sat 7, 11am–noon, $5.

For tickets to all lectures, call 312-661-1028 or go to chicagohumanities.org.

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