Humor as Serious Business
http://nca.kma.net/index.asp?sid=1&issuepage=4&False

Scott, Clifton W., Karen K. Myers and Sarah J. Tracy
Communication Currents
2006

Abstract:

If we believe what we see on television, the typical workplace is either dry, rational, and chock full of consensus (like those cheesy, not-so-candid textbook pictures of 'strategic decision making'), dramatic and tense (think Grey's Anatomy or Law and Order) or circus-like (think Scrubs or The Office).