Wittiness is a trait that provides an excellent platform for replacing physical aggression with verbal behaviour and cognitive contest
It could never have been anticipated that the power to charm the female has been in some few instances more important than the power to conquer the other males in battle.
Selection for physical fitness, and selection for friendliness/groupishness, while both relevant for human evolution to some extent, do not begin to capture the essence of what it means to be human, specifically in relation to language. We may appreciate physical strength in our mates, and we may appreciate their friendly demeanor, but these are not necessarily traits that have to do with language directly, nor are these traits unique to humans.
The view of human evolution as the “survival of the wittiest” offers more explanatory power and a more comprehensive approach than does the “survival of the friendliest.”
The crucial milestone in human evolution, both linguistic and cognitive, was the emergence and entrenchment of the earliest forms of grammar, which unleashed a host of attributes that will turn out to be uniquely human, including increasingly more complex grammars and vast vocabularies, largely enabled by metaphorical extension, the flair for humor and quick-wittedness, and the means to replace physical aggression with cognitive contest.
https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/5/3/pgag052/8559600