Air date: November 22, 2009

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Say you're in a bad mood. Like, the kind of gloomy irritation that sets in when you've had a lousy day at work and then get stuck in traffic on the way home.

Everyone knows that there's no better antidote for feeling rotten than laughing at a good joke. Like, say, the deadpan one-liners of comedian Steve Wright.

"Bought some land, it was kinda cheap, it was on someone else's property. Guy who lives across the street from me has a circular driveway. He can't get out.

The material's a little old school, but it's funny. You can't help but at least chuckle. And as soon as you do, your mood lightens -- at least a little bit.

But why? To find out, I asked psychiatrist Clifford Kuhn, also known as the Laugh Doctor.

"A joke is sort of like banging your thumb with a hammer in that it creates a sudden contradiction that when you solve it, you get the joke, and it's a release of tension to solve that contradiction."

So when you listen to Steve Wright tell a joke --

"It's a good thing there's gravity otherwise when birds died they'd just stay right up there.'

The mental work it takes to "get" the joke distracts your mind from whatever's weighing it down. And it's that momentary distraction that does the trick.

Of course, the joke has to be clever and funny enough to work. Not just any old knock-knock joke will do. And some bad moods are so entrenched that not even the world's funniest joke would provide the proper distraction.

But under optimal conditions, a little dose of funny can go a long way toward chasing away the blues.

I'm Jeremy Shere.

Additional Resources:

• Good jokes really can lighten a heavy mood. Read more details at WebMD.

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