Humans have existed for thousands of years and as long as there has been human interaction, there has been comedic opportunity. Whether it has been cave men hitting each other over the head with sticks and drawing inappropriate observations on walls of rock, or Tina Fey and Amy Poehler dropping an at first seemingly too harsh Bill Cosby joke at the Golden Globes this year, people have on some level understood how to make others laugh. The “how-to” manual for making people laugh is ever-changing with circumstances and periods in time; which is sort of awesome and epic when you think about it.

Years ago comedy was developed around the reaction of the human behavior and interaction of everyday people. It then blossomed into the reacting of news and politics, which in turn led to people with high social standing to also fall to the demise of comedic publications. Nowadays, we have whole shows and films dedicated to just simply poking fun. There’s “TMZ” for celebrities, America’s “Funniest Home Videos” for those who like to laugh at other’s pain, and of course we have “Saturday Night Live” to basically make fun of anything and everything in American society.

Though the most important thing to grasp when unfolding the characteristics of comedy, is that nothing is ever really off-limits. Some think this is what’s wrong with our generation: that we are okay with poking fun at anyone and great at finding new ways to make serious things funny. Others think the human adaptation of using comedy to go through serious, even harsh and painful, things is the reason anybody can live through this world. Whichever way you look at it, comedy is beautiful. It is an evolutionary tale that is ever changing and continues to grow with the minds of each generation, whilst still managing to use similar techniques as those who have come before. Cheers to the evolution of comedy, and all the pioneers who have made it worth responding to!