According to (former) Onion Editor-In-Chief Scott Dikkers

  1. Irony – Intended meaning is opposite of literal meaning
  2. Character – Comedic character acting on personality traits
  3. Relatable – Common experiences that audiences can relate to
  4. Shock – Surprising jokes typically involving sex, drugs, gross-out humor, swearing
  5. Reference/Parody – Mimic a familiar character, trope or cliche in an unfamiliar way
  6. Hyperbole – Exaggeration to absurd extremes
  7. Wordplay – Puns, rhymes, double entendres, etc.
  8. Analogy – Comparing two disparate things
  9. Madcap – Crazy, wacky, silly, nonsensical
  10. Meta-humor – Jokes about jokes, or about the idea of comedy
  11. Misplaced Focus – Attention is focused on the wrong thing

Do you have a favorite "kind" of joke or is it more about the execution? Do you have a least favorite kind?

Do you agree with this theory of comedy or are there more types of joke?

  • Huldra [they/them, it/its]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I like misplaced focus, which I assume would include dry humor and deliberately downplaying situations.

    Character humor is very funny too sometimes when its done to my tastes, not a character that is a funnyman but a character that has extreme or specific traits that lead to comedic situations. Hyperbole is funny too.

    Generally not a fan of reference and shock humor, madcap also is very easy to make obnoxious.

    • Thomas_Dankara [any,comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      I like misplaced focus

      same, though if dipped in too much irony it can just come across as callous shock humor. Like "my car plowed through a crowd of people. Don't worry, the car's fine."

      Generally not a fan of reference and shock humor, madcap also is very easy to make obnoxious.

      agreed