When we joke with our friends, our coworkers and our family, it’s not just about hearing them laugh. More often than not we’re looking for something beyond laughter. We’re after acceptance, bonding, release, shaming… and sometimes even more. This week on State of the Human we’re investigating how people use joking to create new realities for themselves and the people around them.
We have six  stories, exploring the way jokes, pranks, and even puns can change our lives.  We’ll hear stories from stand up comedian Tig Notaro and humor theorist Marvin Diogenes, and we’ll travel from Stanford’s cafeterias to the presidential suite on Air Force One.  We’ll hear stories about how jokes can help us and synchronize our minds,  stare cancer in the face and make us question our humanity along with everything we take for granted. And also, we'll laugh a lot.

Producers: Natacha Ruck and Nina Foushee
Featuring: Rosie La Puma, Jackson Roach, Nina Foushee, Miles S., Justine Beed, Charlie Mintz, Ken Grobe, Lora Kelley, Marvin Diogenes, David Demarest, Sam Roach, Jay Roach, the La Puma family, Claire Slattery, Nathaniel Nelson, Reggie Watts, and Tig Notaro.



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Joking (full episode)

As an added bonus to our Reclaiming series, we’re including conversations with the creators who made them to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the craft of audio storytelling. 

In this episode, Alex Strong talks with Aru Nair, the creator of Journey Through Generations, the second story in our Reclaiming series.

BONUS: Story Craft Conversation with Aru Nair on Journey Through Generations

A story of the rise of electric vehicles and their promise to make a more sustainable planet. Yet this promise has proven to be detrimental to the quality of life for the people in the Congo. Sustainability Paradox pulls back the curtain on the realities of the electric car industry, and the promising solutions that might offer real, meaningful change.

Produced by Sydney Davis and Jana Gomri with support from Laura Joyce Davis and the Stories to Save Our Planet class, a part of the Stanford Storytelling Project.

Asu Kulu - Undergraduate Congolese Student at Stanford, Anonymous Congolese Miners via Friends of the Congo https://friendsofthecongo.org/ Links to an external site.

Link to References https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GcK2hsyt8L_VyogsNTaPxsf5AgtizYzm1F9uJHLYzxM/edit?usp=sharing Links to an external site.

All music by Blue Dot Sessions

Sustainability Paradox: Cobalt Mining in the Congo

Missed Connections by Neeharika Bandlapalli

The Stanford Storytelling Project is an arts program at Stanford University that explores how we live in and through stories and how we can use them to change our lives. Our mission is to promote the transformative nature of traditional and modern oral storytelling, from Lakota tales to Radiolab, and empower students to create and perform their own stories. The project sponsors courses, workshops, live events, and grants, along with its radio show State of the Human.

Sustainability Paradox: Cobalt Mining in the Congo

Soundings from Stanford

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