195. Arthur Brooks: The Science of Happiness and Humor

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out podcast

Mygirlfriendsboyfriend, Interviews, Comedy Interviews, Sleepwalkwithme, Iraglass, Comedy, Thankgodforjokes, Thenewone, Mikebirbiglia, Dontthinktwice, Birbiglia

4.8 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Arthur Brooks might be the only Working It Out guest who's crossed paths with Jerry Seinfeld, Oprah Winfrey, and the Dalai Lama. He’s a professor and bestselling author, whose books include The Happiness Files, From Strength to Strength, and Build the Life You Want, which he co-authored with Oprah. Mike sits down with Arthur, whose speciality is the science of happiness, to explore what goes on in the brains of comedians and audiences at comedy shows. They discuss creative productivity, how Arthur prepares his lectures, and the benefits of gratitude.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Steve Martin wrote about this once where he said,
0:03.0	as comedians, people typically get less funny as they get older
0:08.0	because the dark things that we joke about when we're younger
0:13.0	happen to people you know or happen to you.
0:16.0	Yeah, well, part of it is, and it was okay.
0:20.0	And it was okay. And it was okay. And it was okay part is really the salient part of us. Right. If it, that bad thing happened to me and I was always worried about, it was worse than I thought. That's still funny. That's still funny, man. You're going to still be able to find plenty of humor in that. But the whole thing happened to me. I got sick and I got through it.
0:39.1	There's nothing funny about that.
0:40.5	Right.
0:41.0	About getting, it's like, yeah, this really,
0:43.6	it's like my spouse had a huge affair and broke up with me
0:47.9	and humiliated me publicly, and I survived.
0:50.5	Right.
0:51.4	Great punchline, man.
0:54.3	Great punchline, man. Great punchline, man. Great punchline, man.
0:57.0	That is the voice of the great Arthur Brooks.
1:04.2	This is a fascinating episode today.
1:06.8	Arthur Brooks, someone I've been following for a while.
1:09.6	He's an author. He's a professor.
1:11.4	He's a scientist.
1:12.8	His specialty is in the science of happiness.
1:15.2	He's written many, many books.
1:18.1	He and I crossed paths a few months ago, and we were in touch about something, and then we thought,
	...

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