The Science & Art of Comedy & Creativity | Tom Segura

**Andrew D. Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Tom Segura. Tom Segura is a renowned comedian, writer and director. During today's episode, we explore the neuroscience and psychology behind comedy, and we explore the creative process more generally. Tom shares his approach to capturing and developing ideas into narratives that are once funny and thought provoking. We discuss the interplay between daily life observations and larger cultural dynamics when developing comedy routines. We spend a fair bit of time discussing the neurobiological basis of humor and what data and brain lesion patients have taught us about why we find certain ideas novel, funny or exciting. We also talk about how this relates to the activation reward circuits in the brain and the seemingly automatic way that things are either funny or not funny to people, suggesting that humor is like taste or smell. You really can't negotiate what works for you or what doesn't. We also discuss emotional contagion and how skilled performers like Tom become masters at reading, shifting and dancing with the collective energy of crowds, whether in small comedy clubs or large arena shows. So if you're creative or you're curious about human psychology, or if you simply love to laugh, you'll come away from today's episode having learned a ton of useful information about the creative process and human nature. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is however part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, this episode does include sponsors. And now for my discussion with Tom Segura. Tom Segura, welcome.

**Tom Segura** (1:46)
Thanks for having me, cuz we'll let people know who don't already know.

**Andrew D. Huberman** (1:51)
Yes, we are related.

**Tom Segura** (1:52)
Yes, we are related. People have asked me so many times the details and I was trying to like, cuz I learned about it obviously later that it was like, my mom's great grandmother and your father's great grandmother were first cousins, they're both Basque, so Northern Spain cousins. And then generations later, they moved to South America, yours to Argentina, mine to Peru, and that's how we're cousins. Yeah, I guess distant cousins, but...

**Andrew D. Huberman** (2:24)
And my dad was on the podcast a little while ago.

**Tom Segura** (2:27)
How did that go? I remember we talked about him coming on.

**Andrew D. Huberman** (2:29)
It was great. I mean, he's a theoretical physicist by training, so we got to talk about physics, but we also got to talk about life and I learned a lot from him.

**Tom Segura** (2:37)
Did you?

**Andrew D. Huberman** (2:37)
I learned a lot about him that I'd never know before.

**Tom Segura** (2:39)
In that podcast? Yeah. Really?

**Andrew D. Huberman** (2:40)
Yeah. I'll send it to you if you're ever suffering from insomnia.

**Tom Segura** (2:43)
I would love to listen to it. He's a theoretical, I didn't even know that.

**Andrew D. Huberman** (2:48)
Chaos theory. And now he's into quantum internet.

**Tom Segura** (2:51)
Jesus Christ. Where does he reside now?

**Andrew D. Huberman** (2:53)
Northern California. Still working.

**Tom Segura** (2:55)
Wow.

**Andrew D. Huberman** (2:56)
Yeah. 81 Still working.

**Tom Segura** (2:58)
Look at our different sizes. Your dad is a theoretical physicist and my mom plays bridge.

**Andrew D. Huberman** (3:05)
Yeah. But you can make a half court shot. I saw the clip of you in Lethal Shooter. We'll put a link to it. Okay. I mean, you're an excellent basketball player.
I'm not.

**Tom Segura** (3:17)
High level, very high level. Did you play ball growing up at all?

**Andrew D. Huberman** (3:21)
No.

**Tom Segura** (3:21)
Foot sports.

**Andrew D. Huberman** (3:23)
Foot sports. Soccer, skateboarding. I'm pretty coordinated with my feet.

**Tom Segura** (3:27)
Well, the kid has been Argentine. You got to give it a shot.

**Andrew D. Huberman** (3:31)
Yeah. Every kid where I grew up played soccer.

**Tom Segura** (3:33)
Really?

**Andrew D. Huberman** (3:33)
Oh, yeah. Obsessed.

**Tom Segura** (3:35)
Were you good at soccer?

**Andrew D. Huberman** (3:36)
I was all right. I played goalie. I like playing goalie or fullback. I like to wait back there and just stick people. That was fun.

**Tom Segura** (3:41)
Maybe you should get into lacrosse or something.

**Andrew D. Huberman** (3:43)
No, I like running. I ran cross country my senior year.

**Tom Segura** (3:45)