Seeing others being awkward or stupid does make people laugh. Just like what Kirby said, the most basic reason, explaining the comical effects of people falling and the America's Funniest home Videos, is that people laugh at the goofiness or foolishness of others. This Funny Bone Humor reminds me of my own experience from my childhood.
When I was young, I could not control myself and I always fall on the ground. Any obstacles, for example, pebbles, paper and even a pen could cause me to fall. There was a partial reason due to my body, but the majority was that I did not pay attention to my surroundings. My peers would burst out laughing if they saw me slip. At the beginning I was quite upset that my friends laughed at me. However, one day I found out that if I laughed immediately after my small misfortune, most children would look at me curiously rather than think that I was funny. Later on, every time I felt embarrassed, I made fun of myself before others and this action largely reduced the chance that people would laugh at me.
Although my story differs from that of Kirby, we both laugh to transfer a signal that we are good rather than we are feeling awkward. It could be said that this is my funny bone humor. In this situation, children may feel superior at the beginning as they saw me suffered from small misfortune. Superiority theory could explain why they laughed. However, when I started to laugh at myself, they gradually reduced their laughter and became curious about why I laughed. It was interesting to remember that some kids mimicked what I did and laughed together with me. In that way, they laughed because they found a companion.
This is a very interesting phenomenon--you might think that you laughing would actually make other students more likely to laugh, but it seems that it almost preempted the laughter. I wonder if this response is particular to younger children. Adults might be less ready to offend someone with a laugh, and might want to see someone else laughing first before joining in. But children can be a bit more cruel. Of course, it seems like some laughed with you, but some, interestingly, stopped laughing. Maybe a point in favor of superiority theory as something that explains children's laughter, or certain kinds of it, in particular?
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