There are many different kinds of humour, and often culture and tradition plays a big part in how funny you may find something, or not.
A to Z of Types of Humour
Humour comes in all shapes and sizes. Below you will find a list of various types.
1. Adviser: the comic adviser gives uncalled for advice in a Punch prototype. For example:
Advice to people who want to buy a puppy: Don't.
2. Anecdote: any interesting event, either having to do with a celebrity or something smaller, that helps the humourist make a point.
3. Aside: a thought added as if something the speaker was saying reminded him of it.
4. Banter: good-natured back and forth joking.
5. Black (Dark) humour: taking topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo and treating them in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining their seriousness. For example: The 1964 Stanley Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove was about nuclear warfare and the annihilation of life on Earth, but it was also very, very, funny.
6. Blue humour: also called off-colour, or risqué humour is based on offensive subjects like sex, body parts, and bodily functions.
7. Bull: a humourous statement that is based on an outrageous contradiction. Ex: "The best people have never had kids."
8. Burlesque: a form of satire. Burlesque ridicules any basic style of speech or writing. (Parody makes fun of specific writings.)
9. Caricature: exaggeration of a person’s mental, physical, or personality traits, in wisecrack form.
10. Clown: to act stupidly, often to make other people laugh.
11. Conundrum: a word puzzle that can’t be solved because the answer is a pun. For example: Why do cows wear bells? Because their horns don’t work.
12. Epigram: clever, short saying about a general group. Mostly satire about mankind.
13.Exaggerism: an exaggerated witticism that overstates the features, defects, or the strangeness of someone or something.
14. Farce: light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect.
15. Freudian Slip: a funny statement which seems to just pop out, but which actually comes from the person’s subconscious thoughts.
16. Gag: a short joke or quip.
17. Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration.
18.Innuendo: "an indirect remark about somebody or something, usually suggesting something bad or rude". Used a lot in British sitcoms of the 70s like Are you Being Served.
19. Irony: a leading part of humour. Irony is using words to express something completely different from the literal meaning. Usually, someone says the opposite of what they mean and the listener believes the opposite of what they said.
20. Joke: short story ending with a funny climactic twist.
21. Limericks: five-line rhyming poems, which intend to be witty or humorous, and are sometimes obscene with humorous intent.
22. Nonsensism: inclusive of the epigram and the wisecrack, it is any kind of funny nonsense in speaking form. Nonsensism includes all kinds of absurdity without realistic logic and makes a general observation of absurd reference, often found in limericks.
23.Parody: humourous version of any well-known writing. For example: Weird Al Yankovic’s "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi".
24. Practical Joke: a joke put into action. You hear an oral joke, sees a printed joke, and feel the practical joke. The trick is played on another person and the humour comes from what happens. These kinds of jokes are often played on April Fool's Day in the UK.
25. Quip: a smart, sarcastic retort.
26. Recovery: a combination of blunder and wit, where a person makes an error, and then saves himself with a fast correction.
27. Repartee: includes clever replies and retorts. The most common form is the insult.
28.Sarcasm: using witty language to convey insults or scorn.
29. Satire: wit that is critical humour. Satire is sarcasm that makes fun of something.
30.Sitcom: (short for Situational Comedy) a funny television or radio show in which the same characters appear in each programme in a different story.
31.Situational Humour: this is comedy that comes from your own life. No one in your audience will have heard it and it can get a group used to you. This type of humour is based on a humourous situation that you have experienced. Situational humour is the bread and butter of sitcoms like Friends.
32.Slapstick: a boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes, like slipping on banana skins. It gets its name from a paddle designed to produce a loud whacking sound, which was formerly used by performers in farces.
33. Switching: a common form of switching is changing the main parts of the story, such as the setup or the punch line, and creating a new joke.
34.Understatement: making something that is regular or large seem extremely smaller or less. Intentionally down- sizing a large object.
35.Wisecrack: any clever remark about a particular person or thing. Wisecracks are quick wordplays about a person.
36.Wit: a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter.
37.Wordplay: a humorous play on words with witty verbal exchanges.
Can you find humour in it?
Read through the below examples of various types of humour and try to pinpoint which type it is using to get a laugh out of you.
1. My best relationship advice: Make sure you’re the crazy one.
______________________
2. When the phone rings, it's for your teenager. When the phone bill arrives, it's for you.
______________________
3. Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?
______________________
4. The awkward moment when you’re that one friend who always gives relationship advice but it still single.
______________________
5. Why do men find it difficult to make eye contact? Breasts don’t have eyes.
______________________
6. Why did this woman cross the road? Because I was not fast enough to hit her.
______________________
7. Two friends talking, “Sorry man, I slept with your wife,” the other answers, “It's ok, I sleep with her every night.”
______________________
8. I know I threatened to leave and go round the world, but, joking aside, I do need a vacation.
______________________
9. A day without sunshine is like, night.
______________________
10. The bible teaches us to love, and Kamasutra shows how to do that.
______________________
11. I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!
______________________
12. A man walks into a psychiatrist’s office wearing only shorts made of plastic wrap. The shrink says, “Well, I can clearly see you’re nuts.”
______________________
13.It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets.
______________________
14. “Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.” – Groucho Marx
______________________
15. Kids are like the summer dew they grow they cling they wet on you.
______________________
16. A person who claims to be a vegan and avoids meat but will eat a slice of pepperoni pizza because they are hungry.
______________________
17. 'What pleasant weather!’ – said while walking through a hailstorm.
______________________
18.Not very friendly - used to describe abusive, aggressive behavior.
______________________
19. Why did the elephant paint its toe nails red? Answer: To hide in the strawberry patch.
______________________
20. The variations on The Ten Commandments, i.e. for cooks, children, wives, husbands, shopkeepers, office workers, cats, babies ...
______________________
21. Mary is a thoroughly delightful woman with a delightful figure, a delightful dress sense, a delightful brain and an equally delightful husband to match. So much delight is entirely overwhelming and I must decline her invitation to dinner.
______________________
As for the answers, Ill post these tomorrow! So stay tuned!
3. Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?
______________________
4. The awkward moment when you’re that one friend who always gives relationship advice but it still single.
______________________
5. Why do men find it difficult to make eye contact? Breasts don’t have eyes.
______________________
6. Why did this woman cross the road? Because I was not fast enough to hit her.
______________________
7. Two friends talking, “Sorry man, I slept with your wife,” the other answers, “It's ok, I sleep with her every night.”
______________________
8. I know I threatened to leave and go round the world, but, joking aside, I do need a vacation.
______________________
9. A day without sunshine is like, night.
______________________
10. The bible teaches us to love, and Kamasutra shows how to do that.
______________________
11. I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!
______________________
12. A man walks into a psychiatrist’s office wearing only shorts made of plastic wrap. The shrink says, “Well, I can clearly see you’re nuts.”
______________________
13.It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets.
______________________
14. “Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.” – Groucho Marx
______________________
15. Kids are like the summer dew they grow they cling they wet on you.
______________________
16. A person who claims to be a vegan and avoids meat but will eat a slice of pepperoni pizza because they are hungry.
______________________
17. 'What pleasant weather!’ – said while walking through a hailstorm.
______________________
18.Not very friendly - used to describe abusive, aggressive behavior.
______________________
19. Why did the elephant paint its toe nails red? Answer: To hide in the strawberry patch.
______________________
20. The variations on The Ten Commandments, i.e. for cooks, children, wives, husbands, shopkeepers, office workers, cats, babies ...
______________________
21. Mary is a thoroughly delightful woman with a delightful figure, a delightful dress sense, a delightful brain and an equally delightful husband to match. So much delight is entirely overwhelming and I must decline her invitation to dinner.
______________________
As for the answers, Ill post these tomorrow! So stay tuned!