Sigmund said that a joke was as beneficial as a glass of sherry in promoting a feeling of comfort, conviviality and well-being - or some such condition of that ilk.

Having heard one of his jokes I would opt for the bottle.

In polite Victorian Viennese society it was customary to have "at homes" which meant people visited and were offered a glass of sherry as they came through the door. In the Frued houshold they were proffered a joke.

And just to prove the point about trying to nail-down the nature of a joke I once told an Austrian the old chestnut (paradoxes to the fore) "The German sense of humour is no laughing matter" and she, in all seriousness, insisted that was exactly the case. Which, like all good humour, said a lot more - in this case about the rivalry of neighbours rather more than what each neighbour was (in the broadest sense) like.