[The comfort of a pleasant discomfort. Humour as a biological phenomenon I].

No understanding of the nature of humour can be complete without a description of the emotional reactions and mechanisms accompanying humour. The enjoyment of a good laugh is essential to an explanation of humour and the reason why we seek humorous experiences. Humour is, however, not only coupled with positive emotions, but also triggered by potentially harmful experiences. In this regard, humour can best be described as the experience of something potentially harmful in a safe (social) context. Humour, seen as a biological phenomenon, therefore has its evolutionary roots in the mechanisms underlying the ability to learn to avoid danger. In humans this often takes place in a complex social context, and the final steps in the evolution of humour therefore must be sought in the complex primate society. In this, the first of two articles on humour in a biological context, we examine the role of emotions in experiencing humour.