Couch + high humidity does solve problem.

I discovered that when I was nine and I am not even smart.

In a spray bottle, mix one tablespoon of Downy Fabric Softener and one cup of water. Spray on couch.

Its simpler than that. Water is enough of a conductor to leak the surface charge away, back to where the other ( reverse ) charge is. So high humidity allows the surfaces to be covered with a thin layer of water, acting as a conductor.

What you DONT want is an insulator, that would keep the charge separated, leading to shocks.

Hence the use of water spray, preferably with a bit of detergent in it, to increase both the conductivity and the retention time.

Pure water is quite a good insulator. It's also hard to get. Generally water mixed with salts that readily ionized in solution. It takes very little to make a fairly conductive surface, as you have discovered.

Pedantically yours...

The isolator I seek is to prevent rubbing of the materials against each other, so it will help.

I used to live in southern AZ where humidity can often be in the single digits. any carpet and car seats were specially problematic. Spraying lightly with liquid Downey worked amazingly for weeks at a time. Art

I remember a warning about putting gas in your car during times of low humidity. Take the nozzle, and then touch the car with your other hand to bleed off the charge before filling or it might go BOOM.

I live in Idaho and this is a big problem here.

At one point they found that women were far more likely to blow themselves up at gas stations. This didn't make much sense until they looked at anoth er statistic: Women are far more likely to get back in their car while fue ling. Tank gets full, they hop back out and reach for the pump handle...WO OSH!