Having a Good Laugh: The Comic Advantages of Moral Virtue

Abstract I argue in this paper that there are comic advantages to moral virtue. Namely, it aids and does not hinder one's ability to make reliable comic judgements. This is so for two reasons. First, contrary to the claims of certain theorists, there is no reason why we should expect moral virtue to systematically diminish one's ability to be a reliable comic judge. Second, moral virtue serves as an important corrective to prevent our sense of humour from being distorted by self-deception and injustice. I argue for this claim independently of the truth of moralism or immoralism and suggest it remains plausible even on subjectivist or relativist views of humour.