Laughter comes from being surprised. Whether it's an unexpected fall someone has, where we apologize for laughing and then ask if the person is okay... or the baby who giggles at the peekaboo game... or the woman laughing at the comedian onstage who told an undiscovered truth... that "a-ha!" moment surprises us and we laugh in response.

Those who have a sense of humor either know how to connect dots for people in surprising ways or they have a knack for understanding the dots connected by others.

For example, fathers tend to store their jokes in a dad-a-base.

That kind of weird connection between two seemingly disparate points to either craft the joke or get the joke requires a lateral leap in logic that we call "getting it."

Innovation works the same way. To create something that hasn't existed before requires the skill that jokesters have - to jump from one place to another in a way no one expected to arrive at a new way of seeing the world.

We look at Elon Musk carry a literal sink into Twitter's HQ after he purchased it and he says, "Let that sink in." He loves jokes. He even loves outlandish and juvenile humor. But of course he does. His willingness to tell offensive jokes is the same willingness he brings to his willingness to craft unforeseen solutions. It's the same daring attitude, using that same lateral leap ability.

Our society stopped telling jokes about the time Obama was elected. You couldn't tell jokes about him. One comedian used that in a bit he did onstage. He joked that we treated Obama like he was a developmentally disabled child. He pointed out that people would scold others, "You can't say that about HIM!" And he was right. Comedy died in the march to wokeness. (And so did that comedian's career after he made that bit...)

Nicole and I were driving last night and I often do impressions in our private conversations. (You hear me do my Seb Gorka impression if you call my voice mail, for example.) But I was doing Edith Bunker. She laughed and recognized it. Then she remarked how shows back then were far more brazen, unafraid to tell jokes and mock people. That was the era when we were going to the moon. America was a land where anything was possible. Comedians took risks in their comedy.

Thankfully, after shuttering free speech for a time, we're now swinging back in the other direction. Elon now names himself "Harry Bolz" on X. Because why not? He can, and he had reason for doing so that I won't get into here.

We need fearless innovation and fearless comedy and the two go hand in hand. Creativity comes out of the ability to see things from new angles and then communicate that to others. And isn't that what comedy is - seeing things from new angles and then developing it and marketing it others? Do you see how these are all related?

America is better when we don't fetter creativity or innovation or comedy. If you don't like it, vote with your feet and stay away from it, but don't stifle it. We might be one joke away from a major breakthrough.