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The science of telling jokes: Indonesia's first comedy institute
We visited the Indonesian Modern Humor Institute (IHIK) to answer the question: Is it possible to be funny when we don’t think we are?
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The Indonesian Modern Humor Institute's (IHIK) first Teaching with Humor training in 2018. Lecturers from various universities gathered to learn the benefits of bringing humor into their classrooms.
(Institut Humor Indonesia Kini/Courtesy of Institut Humor Indonesia Kini)
Y
ou may think of yourself as one clumsy, awkward human being and that telling jokes is not your virtue. Don’t fret, my friend, because research shows that everyone has the potential to be funny. Perhaps not up to the level of legendary stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle or Indonesian comedic icon Komeng but enough to lighten up the atmosphere. At least that’s what the Indonesian Modern Humor Institute (IHIK) believes.
Founded in March 2016 by eccentric trio Seno Gumira Ajidarma, Danny Septriadi and Darminto M. Sudarmo, IHIK has the mission to spread humor. To achieve that, it conducts various kinds of training to incorporate humor in everyday life: teaching, public speaking, presentation, therapy and negotiation, just to name a few. Along with the training, it also provides a wealth of humor-centric literature in their Library of Humor Studies in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.
According to the trio, many people from diverse, unexpected backgrounds aspire to be funny. People from oil and gas companies, police institutions, universities, private banks, start-ups and the comedy world have signed up for IHIK’s training.
“We need to take humor seriously,” said Novrita Widiyastuti, IHIK’s CEO.
She wants people to realize that humor offers something more than entertainment.
“Humor is proven to benefit your work in [fields such as] communications, business, sociology, advertising, graphic design, anthropology, psychology, philosophy and even neuroscience,” said the 42-year-old.
