Humor and Learning Torah
Stimulating the mind through humor is mentioned in the Gemara (Shabbos 30b) where it says that before he would begin the shiur, Rabba would say something that would make the students smile, and then his tone and demeanor would change, the mood in the room would shift from light-hearted to an extremely tense focus, and he would begin the shiur, expecting absolute attention, unforgiving of even the smallest lapse.
Rashi says that one should begin with something comedic, and the rabbis/students would laugh, and their minds would open from the happiness.
I don’t think most people realize how wise and effective this method is. It sounds, to some, like just another quaint story in the Gemara. So for us, the modern thinkers, who don’t believe anything if it’s anecdotal, here are some interesting studies.
A 1976 study by the late professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University, Avner Ziv, (the author of the entry on Humor in the Encyclopedia Judaica) found that those who listened to a comedy album before taking a creativity test scored 20% better than a control group that had not heard the routine.