The peculiar sexual magnetism of stand-up comedians

A READER WRITES: “On Sunday evening my girlfriend and I attended a comedy show by the up-and-coming comedian David O’Doherty, who is known for his whimsical humour and for his use of novelty keyboards. As the show proceeded, I became aware that Mr. O’Doherty was exercising a strange sexual hold over the female members of the audience. My girlfriend even confessed to me that she found him ‘stunningly attractive’ and another woman wondered aloud whether Mr. O’Doherty was ‘in a long-term relationship or not’. I found this odd, given that Mr O'Doherty is rather scruffy looking. Can you explain?”

BB SAYS: It is, indeed, a strange one. If you look at the singles pages of any publication, people always say that they want their potential partners to have a GSOH. What is the explanation for this? Since I have no sense of humour myself, I have always found this especially perplexing. I rely on my raw, male physical appeal and my handsome features to attract women (see photo at top of this page). But I have noted that men who are far less physically attractive than me often have more success with women.

According to evolutionary psychologists, making people laugh is a way to advertise sexual fitness to potential mates. It is a fitness display. Human beings are highly social animals. In order to succeed in life and attain status, one must have good social skills. Having a good sense of humour indicates a high level of social intelligence. In order to make people laugh, one must be able to set up a mental expectation, and then knock it down. So a good sense of humour requires a keen understanding of human nature. It also requires confidence and energy, and an ability to understand what other people are thinking or feeling. All of these are useful skills in the struggle for social status and power. Social and emotional intelligence is heritable – if a person has social intelligence, he or she is likely to pass it on to any off-spring they may have. For this reason, people find people with a Good Sense of Humour attractive. They think “This person has good genes. I want to have sex with them”.

According to evolutionary psychologists, human beings are social animals who compete with each other to attain power and prestige. Every human society ever analysed has unequal distributions of power and status. As Steven Pinker puts it:

People everywhere strive for a ghostly substance called authority, cachet, dignity, dominance, eminence, esteem, face, position, pre-eminence, prestige, rank, regard, repute, respect, standing, stature, or status.

In social animals like human beings, possessing power and status within one’s group, increases one’s chances of survival and reproduction. It is therefore an adaptive advantage. Pinker continues:

In all societies people recognise a kind of dominance hierarchy, particularly among men. High-ranking men are deferred to, have a greater voice in group decisions, usually have a greater share of the group’s resources, and always have more wives, more lovers, and more affairs with other men’s wives

Power increases a human’s ability to influence affairs to his own advantage. Status is also a fitness indicator to potential mates. By flaunting one’s status, one tries to demonstrate that one has better genes than one’s competitors, and thereby increase one’s attractiveness to potential mates. A display of status advertises biological fitness and is part of sexual selection. Humour is one way of doing this.

But the struggle for status, power and prestige is a zero-sum game that involves winners and losers. As Pinker puts it:

There are only so many hours in the day, and sycophants must choose whom to fawn over, so status is a limited resource. If A has more, B must have less, and they must compete.

Everybody wants to be above average, whether in looks, intelligence, popularity, fame, or wealth. But, by definition, it is not possible for everyone to be above average. Some must win and some must lose. And this is why the struggle for prestige is a zero-sum game. Conflicts of interest are inevitable.

In conclusion, women are attracted to men who are funny, because being funny is one way of indicating status, and women are attracted to high-status males.