Humor is a sudden surprising or shocking decrease in status of an idea, group, thing, person, affiliation, nationality, etc. By knowing instinctively where to take a joke / humor and getting rhythm down you can control how funny you are 'off the cuff' without much effort in an improvisational way.

We enjoy humor because we are all mostly preoccupied spend most of our time worrying about our status, how things will work out, whether people will like and accept us etc. and when we encounter a sudden shocking or surprising decrease in status of a group, person, affiliation, or idea our psychological immune system makes us laugh, much the same way our immune system makes us feel good when we sneeze getting rid of germs.

It's important to be able to use humor as a tool as often as possible for many reasons. It's good for bonding, people will like you more, it makes people feel good, girls love it etc.

Let's test this definition of humor in Louis CK's standup at the Beacon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSafPJJlYdE&t=1197s

Within a few seconds he's already surprisingly decreasing the status of a group of people.

"Don't yell out during the show. If you have something you need to say to me, totally, this is what we do we we write it down. Then we go outside in the lobby, and then you go home and you kill yourself."

The rest of the show follows a similar principle. Let's look at a few other bits.

"There's enough people here to say that within two months at least one of you will die. I'm just saying I think it's probably accurate to say that out of any random group of 2,500 people not all of you are going to make it to Christmas unfortunately. At least one of you here tonight is going to ruin your family's Christmas by dying a shitty death."

The elements here are a group (the audience) and a sudden or shocking decrease in their status (ruining their family's Christmas by dying a shitty death).

In the next bit the cherished idea, topic, or group is 'dead people.'

"I don't know your death is whatever. Some people they want you to do things when they die. [old lady's voice] "I want you to take my ashes, and I want you to sprinkle..." [Louis CK] Fuck you I'm doing none of that shit. You're dead. I'm not doing things for you once you're dead. You don't matter anymore."

It's not all about seeming superior. Louis decreases his own status in a sudden or shocking way as often as he does others. He's an equal object to make fun of. In a later bit when he mentions fantasizing about switching his first class seat with an army veteran he says:

"I've never even seriously came close. And here's the worst part, I still just enjoyed the fantasy, for myself to enjoy. I was actually proud of myself for having thought of [switching a first class seat with an army vet]. "I am such a sweet man. That is so nice of me for thinking of doing that but then never doing it." "

Here he's decreasing his status by highlighting an abnormal or shocking lack of empathy and capacity for self-indulgence.

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There's thousands of variations or of shocking or surprising ways to decrease something's status, and there are an endless amount of things, people, and groups to do it with. It's mostly a matter of rhythm and knowing a cherished idea, group, or thing has to end up with a sudden shocking decrease in status. It's something you feel, not something you think about.

As long as you follow these principles people will laugh at what you say and when you internalize it you should get a sense it's going to work even before it works, and if it doesn't you know it didn't meet the following criteria, so you can either follow up and try to hit it again, or change the subject and treat the failed bit as harmless commentary.

Why it doesn't work:

a. it was taken seriously. That does not count because it produces a battle for status, in other words, more of the same struggle we usually find ourselves in daily.

b. it wasn't sudden, shocking, or surprising.

c. it didn't decrease the things' status in a sudden, surprising or shocking way.

When it clicks you can get into a real Zen space where you aren't thinking about anything and can make people laugh almost at will. It's interesting that women are so into men with a sense of humor. Maybe because humor dovetails so much with hypergamy, but others might have thoughts on that.

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Falsification or the 'null hypothesis' - to avoid confirmation bias if you can find examples where a joke was funny that didn't surprisingly or shockingly decrease something's status the theory would be falsified.

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TL;DR: Humor is a sudden surprising or shocking decrease in status of an idea, group, thing, person, affiliation, nationality, etc. By knowing instinctively where to take a joke / humor and getting rhythm down you can control how funny you are 'off the cuff' in an improvisational way.