"A HUMOROUS INTERVIEW WITH MÜFİT CAN SAÇINTI"
A humorous interview was held with Müfit Can Saçıntı, who is widely known for the film “Mandıra Filozofu,” during a live broadcast program organized by Manisa Mental Health and Diseases Hospital.
Moderated by psychiatrist Dr. Arzu Dalmış from Manisa Mental Health and Diseases Hospital, Saçıntı said, “Even if there is no one actively making humor, we can still provide a kind of emotional relief to our mental health through the smile created by urgently watching a comedy film or reading a humorous story.” He also noted that laughter varies from person to person and that not everyone laughs at the same things, adding:
“People do not laugh at what they do not understand. If we cannot perceive or understand the same things, it is impossible to laugh at something we do not understand. For example, doctors sometimes make professional jokes; you may laugh while we just look on, because we do not understand the context. Generation gaps are also part of this. Since each generation understands different things, they do not laugh at the same things either.”
“Humor gives us a chance to reduce pain”
Providing historical context, Dalmış explained that laughter likely began among early humans as a way to celebrate victory or signal that danger had passed. Today, humor functions as a defense mechanism, helping the ego protect itself in difficult situations. She stated that looking at life with humor helps people cope with problems, adding: “Humor gives us the chance to accept what happens to us and reduce the pain we feel.”
Explaining the cognitive processes behind humor, Dalmış said that both the person telling a joke and the person hearing it go through mental processing. She stated that humor arises from an unexpected situation and continued:
“According to the incongruity theory, the brain first needs to resolve the unexpected event and understand the surprise or contradiction. Both telling and laughing at jokes are cognitive processes. For the person creating humor, the material is processed in the frontal cortex, analyzed, and creatively structured to produce humor. For the listener, the frontal cortex solves the cognitive puzzle, and once the surprise is understood, signals are sent to the limbic system, which regulates emotions. This triggers the release of dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, and ultimately the body responds with laughter, involving facial and chest muscles as well as the whole body.”
“Dark humor is the brain’s way of rebelling against absurdity”
Highlighting the critical aspect of humor, Saçıntı explained dark humor, which sometimes emerges in tragic situations. He said: “Dark humor is the brain’s way of rebelling against absurdity through comedy and humor.” He continued:
“Dark humor is essentially an attempt to bring the irrational into the realm of reason. It is an effort to process absurdity and correct it. It expresses the inconsistencies and irrational aspects of painful events.”
Saçıntı emphasized that dark humor should not be confused with offensive humor, explaining that offensive humor is based on a superiority theory, where people feel superior by laughing at others’ flaws. He said true artistic humor cannot be based on humiliating the weak:
“Serious humor cannot be built on humiliating others. Humor is a serious matter. Some take it seriously, others do not. Humor based on superiority—making people laugh by degrading others—is not true humor in an artistic sense, even if it makes people laugh.”
“It is possible to make quality humor about sexuality”
Saçıntı also distinguished between comedy and humor, stating that modern audiences often prefer comedy shaped by demographic expectations. He noted that films targeting younger audiences often include sexual content and profanity because of perceived preferences:
“In cinema, the main audience is adolescents. Distributors think young people prefer sexual and vulgar content. During adolescence, hormonal activity is at its peak. There is an exploitation of this. It is a way of making money by using young people’s hormonal and sexual curiosity. However, it is possible to create high-quality humor about sexuality. What we criticize is the crude exploitation of youth.”
Dalmış added that sexuality and aggression are basic human drives that can be difficult to express directly, and humor helps soften and release these impulses. She stated that adolescents often use humor more frequently in relation to sexuality and aggression due to increased hormonal energy, referencing Freud’s theory that humor helps discharge repressed energy. She emphasized that this does not mean vulgar content is inherently good or desirable.
Laughter therapy is healing
Dalmış noted that laughter increases the release of happiness hormones, reduces pain perception and feelings of loneliness, and strengthens social bonds. She highlighted that humor therapy is widely used in some European and South American countries and is also applied in Turkey, especially in pediatric wards and long-term cancer treatment units for children.
She suggested that humor therapy can be used as a complementary method alongside primary treatments, including activities such as watching funny videos, sharing humorous stories, and playing laughter-based games.