A Speech about Laughter and Its Effect on Society

This is one of the chief functions of satire and irony. Human pain and suffering are so grim; we float so often on the brink of the war; political realities are usually enough to plunge us into total despair. In such circumstances, cartoons and satirical accounts of dark political events redress the balance. They take the wind out of the snobbish and arrogant politicians who have lost their sense of proportion. They enable us to see that many of our most profound actions are merely comic or absurd. We laugh because we are meant to laugh; but we are meant to weep too.
The sense of humor must be singled out as man's most important quality because it is associated with laughter. And laughter, in turn, is associated with happiness.…