[2] He studied at Purdue University under Victor Raskin and extended Raskin's script-based semantic theory of humor (SSTH) into the general theory of verbal humor (GTVH).
He publishes in the field of humor in literature and is considered to be one of the top authorities in the area.
He was born March 14, 1962, in Anderlecht, Belgium, to an Italian State Railways employee and a Belgian mother, living thereafter in Como, Italy, until adulthood.
He has served on the thesis and dissertation committees for other humor scholars, including Christian F. Hempelmann and Katrina Triezenberg.
As a teenager, Attardo attended a High School specializing in Humanities (Liceo Ginnasio Statale Alessando Volta, Como) where along with fellow students he published a satirical magazine on the school life, its teachers and principal, called "Giravolta."