My guest is Tom Segura, renowned comedian, writer, actor and director. We discuss the “how-to” of comedy writing and storytelling, and what the science of humor and the creative process reveal about human emotion and memory. We explore why surprise and the act of "saying the unspoken truth" activate the brain’s reward circuits, as well as the subconscious mechanisms that shape our sense of what is funny. The episode also examines the bi-directional influence between comedy and cultural standards. It will interest anyone curious about the science of humor, the art of performance and emotional contagion. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Maui Nui: https://mauinuivenison.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman David Protein: https://davidprotein.com/huberman Function Health: https://functionhealth.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Tom Segura 00:01:45 Family, Sports, Running 00:09:35 Sponsors: Maui Nui & Helix Sleep 00:12:37 Ideas, Running, Sleep & Brain, Tools: Exercise for Energy; Phone Outside Room 00:20:16 Capturing Ideas, Cannabis, Storytelling, Experimentation 00:27:28 Ideas & Set List, Performance 00:31:52 Wife, Jokes, Reframing Content; Cancel Culture, Audience Reaction 00:40:56 Jokes, Self & Amusement; Evolution & New Material 00:48:26 Sponsors: AG1 & David Protein 00:51:24 Surprise, Hidden Thoughts; Acting 00:59:02 Voice Impersonation, Kids, Strength Training, Activities 01:05:40 Repeating Jokes; State Changes, Crowds & Energy 01:13:11 Silly Mindset; Audience, Emotional Contagion; Humor & Subconscious Mind 01:27:44 Sponsor: Function 01:29:32 Crowd Work, Comedy Clubs; Original Comedy 01:38:13 Comedy & Social Context; Dark Comedy 01:47:51 Drugs, Overdose, Comedian Deaths, Mental Health; Cynicism, Hope 01:54:21 Audience, Twin Comics; Vulnerability; Stand-Up & Performance 02:01:49 Comedy & Passion, Complaints; Childhood Struggle, Insecurities, Therapy 02:10:53 “Bad Thoughts” Show, Upcoming Projects 02:14:44 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Tom Segura. Tom Segura is a renowned comedian, writer and director.
During today's episode, we explore the neuroscience and psychology behind comedy and we explore the creative process more generally. Tom shares his approach to capturing and developing ideas into narratives that are once funny and thought provoking. We discuss the interplay between daily life observations and larger cultural dynamics when developing comedy routines.
We spend a fair bit of time discussing the neurobiological basis of humor and what data and brain lesion patients have taught us about why we find certain ideas novel, funny, or exciting. We also talk about how this relates to the activation reward circuits in the brain and the seemingly automatic way that things are either funny or not funny to people, suggesting that humor is like taste or smell.
You really can't negotiate what works for you or what doesn't. We also discuss emotional contagion and how skilled performers like Tom become masters at reading, shifting, and dancing with the collective energy of crowds, whether in small comedy clubs or large arena shows.
So if you're creative or you're curious about human psychology, or if you simply love to laugh, you'll come away from today's episode having learned a ton of useful information about the creative process and human nature. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.
It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, this episode does include sponsors. And now for my discussion with Tom Segura. Tom Segura, welcome. Thanks for having me, cuz. We'll let...
people know who don't already know, yes, we are related. Yes, we are related. People have asked me so many times the details and I, you know, I was trying to like, because I learned about it obviously later that it was like, my mom's great-grandmother and your father's great-grandmother We're first cousins. They're both Basque, so northern Spain cousins.
And then, you know, generations later, they moved to South America, yours to Argentina, mine to Peru, and that's how we're cousins. Yeah. I guess distant cousins. And my dad was on the podcast a little while ago. How did that go? Because I remember we talked about him coming on.
It was great. I mean, he's a theoretical physicist by training. So we got to talk about physics, but we also got to talk about life. And I learned a lot from him. Did you? I learned a lot about him that I didn't know.
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