What's so funny about poo?

I have a five-year-old daughter and she laughs about poo. A lot. It’s the most hilarious topic in the world at the moment. Any reference to poo, wee, farts or burps is always met with raucous laughter.

And it’s not just her. When she’s with her little friends, they like nothing more than to joke about poo and wee. They even try to outdo each other with who can say the most disgusting string of words (don’t know what I’ll do when they discover real swear words), in between fits of giggles.

All this got me thinking. Why do children find poo so funny? What is it about farts that always makes them chuckle? Why does letting rip a stinker leave them in guffaws? What is it about wee that is so goddamn funny to kids? But it’s not just them, is it? It’s us as well. I’ll be the first to hold up my hand and say toilet humour makes me laugh.

But why? It’s just everyday bodily functions after all. There’s nothing innately funny about that, is there?

I think one of the reasons I laugh so much at toilet humour can be attributed to one man: Rik Mayall; he’s responsible for most of my teenage laughter. He made snot, bogies, bottom burps, earwax, farts and any other undesirable bodily fluid into a source of hilarity. And without a doubt, I’ve taken a little part of Rik’s magic and tried to incorporate it into my own parenting.

I once heard one of Rik Mayall’s children describe him as the most vulgar man they had ever known, and I would be so proud if my daughter (or son) ever applied the same epithet to me (I am working on it). In fact, I've been working on it since she was firstborn. And I think that’s where it comes from. Toilet humour is the first humorous interaction we can share with our kids.

They aren’t going to understand clever wordplay or political satire, but they will laugh if you pull a face while changing their stinky nappy. It’s the first chance we get to make them laugh, the first comical interaction we can have with them, and what stronger behaviour reinforcer is there than that? We all want to make people laugh and for a dad to make his kids laugh is the greatest prize there is.

From there on, the amusement and the laughter, just like the farts and the poos, just keep on getting bigger. Now when I walk into the bathroom and find my daughter on the toilet, I immediately grasp at my throat pretending the smell is so bad I can’t breathe before collapsing on to the floor. Or when she asks for something to eat, I offer to make her a snot and bogie sandwich with a glass of wee.

At the age of five, we now have other shared avenues of humour, but poo is still the favourite because it’s the one she can use to make me laugh as well. Toilet humour, as effective as it may be, is also the simplest. It’s become a two-way comedy street for us now, not just me performing like a farty, burpy clown anymore.

The only slight issue is when we’re out in public, her lack of public and private filters means that wherever we are, be it at home on the sofa or out to dinner, stinky trumps and booming burps are always a thing of wonder and a great opportunity for a laugh.

So now what? We just go through life together forever laughing at fart and wee jokes? One day, my daughter will inevitably grow up a bit and stop finding, farts, wees and poos as funny as she does today. Then what will happen to me? Luckily, I’ll have a son to carry on the tradition with, and hopefully, at least one of them will look back and remember me as the most childish and vulgar man they’ve ever met.

Thank you, Rik Mayall. 1958 to 2014