The New Yorker Cartoon Editor Bob Mankoff's takeaway from the International Humor Conference.
Cartoon: Alex Gregory

In Wired magazine’s May 2011 issue, Joel Warner detailed Colorado professor Peter McGraw’s attempt to scientifically explain what exactly makes things funny. Since the story made clear that McGraw had a lot to learn about comedy in the real world — an in-person attempt to get Louis C.K. to sign on to his theory devolved into an incoherent question about the comedian’s penis size — McGraw and Warner are teaming up to explore the science of comedy around the world.

Their occasional...