Both our laughter and sense of humor have a tremendous impact on the quality of our lives and represent core attributes of our human nature. It is not surprising their essential qualities have intrigued Western philosophers for well over two millennia. In this chapter, we examine the strengths and weaknesses of the three leading broad-based conceptual models developed to explain these behaviors—superiority theory, incongruity theory, and tension relief theory and briefly mention a few recent incarnations. We agree with the current consensus that neither the old nor the new explanations seem to fully satisfy a clear majority of today’s scholars and present this book, Understanding Laughter and Humor, as an attempt to answer the many unanswered questions associated with these enigmatic behaviors. Because every new laughter and humor theory is inevitably measured against these earlier accounts, we begin with an overview of their conclusions and rationale.