The Fun of Tickling

This clip from a Brazilian TV show illustrates just about everything one needs to say about the fun of tickling and being tickled. It is no coincidence that the woman looks like she is being crucified, nor that someone looking very much like death is peering over her shoulder.

The people on the Brazilian game show are, fortunately, despite their vulnerability, well-prepared. They have an entire audience to remind them that this is all supposed to be fun. If they didn't, it would be much closer to what it looks like - sheer torture.

Of all the tastes of fun, tickling is perhaps the the most complex. It is delicious the way eating Fugu is delicious. Prepared correctly, it is sheer delicacy. Incorrectly prepared, it tastes something like death.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith