This week's cover story, "The Nutty Professor," profiles Peter McGraw, a CU-Boulder professor who believes he's discovered the answer to what makes things funny -- a conundrum that's stumped academics for centuries.

To test his theory, McGraw got on stage at the Squire Lounge's open-mic comedy night, aka the hardest stand-up room in Denver -- even though he'd never done stand up before. Watch the video below to see how it went down.