Trash Cans and a Universal Theory of Comedy

The following is a little video I stumbled upon on the interwebs. It's a dude that's discovered a deeper purpose for trash cans with motion sensors. 

! Warning ! This video is 14 seconds of time you ain't gonna get back, but I think it warrants some attention.

Source: Whats Trending

This is dumber than it looks, folks. So dumb, that I laughed right along with the guy. But, I, like I'm sure most people are, am not laughing at the trash cans. I'm laughing because he's laughing! And, more importantly, at how he's laughing. Honestly, the amount of joy emanating from this man is enough to power a 1000 horsepower engine crafted by kittens.

And almost enough to power Godsmack's new single. 

I gotta admit, though, when i first clicked play, I didn't think there was any guy laughing. In my mind, for that split second after hitting play and the first sounds waved into my ears, I thought it was the trash can. Like it got together with its trash can best friend and the two of them arranged the whole thing and posted their shenanigans on their Instagram accounts. The two of them just laughing it up before the inevitable rotten food and used condoms get thrown at them.

So, I was a little tripped out at first. It was only a second later that I realized it was a human doing the laughing. However, it sounded less like joyful laughter and more like tuberculosis. I thought the dude was about to cough out a lung!

Pictured: Not funny. 

As the video progressed, only then could I discern actual laughter. And that is when I began laughing. At first, I wasn't really into it. I was warming up, doing the kind of cringed giggle you do when your friend burps and farts next to you. I was trying to understand the guy and see what he found so funny about the situation.
However, a second later none of that mattered. The man goes "oh f***!" And I lost it. He was laughing so hard that he pulled out the F-bomb. He reached laughter nirvana.

A place almost as funny as those sunglasses. 

So, I got to thinking, what makes dumb little things like that so funny? After doing a rigorous 5 minutes of research reading 1 article, I deduce that it has to do with a little itty-bitty thing called Benign Violation Theory. Now, even though this sounds more like a theory suited for explaining why the Hindenburg crashed, it actually manages to partly explain what makes guys like Louis C.K and Gabriel Iglesias funny. They take something that seems wrong and make it benign. In Iglesias's case, he takes obesity (a violation) and jokes about it, making it benign.

 

Damn!

Louis C.K is an even more extreme version of this. He ventures to the edge of sanity, scoops up whatever vulgar, crude, horrific little gems he can find and brings them to his stand-up.

In the case with the trash cans, the violation is that it is boring and stupid. However, the benign part is found in that one man's laughter. The fact he makes something funny just with his laugh is benign. It is awesome. It made my day. It makes me want to go and write "F-ck you" under someone's nose.

Of course, Benign Violation Theory does have its holes. For instance, how can you truly define what is a violation and what is benign? Finding a theory that can completely explain humor might be impossible. It is an age old question, something that has been asked by the ancient Greeks and unanswered till this day.

Whatever the case may be, I believe that the day humanity discovers the truth behind comedy will be the day we as a species collectively agree to burp and fart at the exact same time.

Imagine it.

* \m/ *