Humor and Satire

Allusion

Any reference made by an author/artist that they expect the audience to know. Especially important for parody.

Anachronism

An object, event, custom, person, or thing out of its natural order in time.

Anthropomorphism

Giving inanimate objects human qualities (personification). Very common in animation

Archetype

An original model on which authors/artists base their ideas or works. Archetypes are typically allusion to “original” images, work, or ideas.

Banter

Witty dialogue between two performers usually a straight man (who sets up the joke) to a comedian (the person who delivers the joke)

Black Humor (Comedy)

Makes fun of serious subjects, like death or war. Black humor is not for the sensitive. It is morbid and occasionally gruesome or horrible.

Burlesque

An imitation of a serious literary work or genre, but creates humorous situation between form and subject matter. Similar to parody.

Variety shows that incorporated comic sketches or musical performances in between female performers who did risque dances (stripping)

Centrist Humor

Humor that appeals to a big audience, non-political/unbiased

Colloquialism

Informal writing or speaking. Slang is an example

Comedian/Comedienne

A performer who attempts to create humor in his/her performance.

Comedy

An amusing event or series of events designed to provide enjoyment and cause laughter.

Comedy of Manners

Comedy that plays on societal conventions or standards of behavior/action. It will typically make fun of the attitudes/behaviors of the upper class.

High Comedy

Subtle and thoughtful humor. High comedy is the opposite of low comedy.

Low comedy

Crude, slapstick, gross-out humor. Humar that is "dumbed down".

Commedia

European comedy performed by stock characters wearing masks and costumes (each represeting certain roles or stereotypes), and followed traditional plots.

Dialogue

Speech between two or more characters.

Disguise

Anything used to change an entertainer’s appearance

Double Entendre

A phrase that’s intended to have more than one meaning, similar to a pun

Dumb Show

Pantomime. Acts done in vaudeville, as well as its influences, were often strictly physical and/or silent.

Epigram

A short, witty statement at the end of a satirical work; a humorous moral.

Eulogy

A formal speech praising someone, usually deceased

Euphemism

Use of indirefct, mild, or vague language in place of more blunt or insulting terms.

Farce

Primarily visual comedy that depnds on outlandish situations, stereotyped characters, and exaggerated, often abusive physical action.

Folderol

Trivial or nonsensical foolishness; silly or inane comedy

Funny

Having a humorous or comic quality

Grotesque

Exaggeration and distortion of the natural or expected

Humor

Having a comic quality that causes amusement

Humorist

A writer with a comic quality in his/her writing

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Hysterical

Unnaturally excited; extremely funny or humorous

Idiom

The informal language or dialect of a particular region or group

Invective

Insulting or offensive language

Irony

The recognition of the differen between reality and appearance or sound. A difference between expected and unexpected

Dramatic Irony

Irony where the audience knows a character's real situation before the character becomes aware.

Situational Irony

The contrast between what the audience expects to happen and what actually occurs.

Thematic Irony

When an author feigns/pretends ignorance of another point of view in order to draw out an argument and then refute or provide evidence against that point of view.

Verbal Irony

The contrast between what someone says and what they actually mean (puns/sarcasm).

Joke

A short story designed to cause laughter.

Lampoon

A short satirical work that caricatures the appearance and character of a particular person or group

Local color/regionalism

The setting, dialect, customs, and dress of a particular region

Malaprop(ism)

An inappropriate use of a word in place of one with a similar sound

Medicine Show

A traveling show using entertainers to attract a crowd in order to sell various (fake) remedies.

Minstrel Show

Shows performed by white (and African-American) actors in blackface that protrayed stereotypical images of African-American as humor during the middle 1800s.

Mixed Metaphor

A comparison of two items, with one completely inconsistent or incongruous from the first

Monologue

A speech delivers by a single person

Moralist

A person who teaches/preaches the values of proper conduct (morals).

Motif

A recurring image, idea, or thing in an author’s work.

Niche Comedy

Comedy that pertains to a certain group of people; opposite of centrist

Nom de Plume

A fictious name used to hide the author’s identity

Non-sequitir

A concluding statement that does not follow logically from anything previously stated in a story.

Obscene

Disgusting, repulsive, immoral, or wicked

One-liner

A succinct joke; a brief retort meant as observation or criticism

Parody

Humorous or satirical imitation of a person, event, or literature. Meant to ridicule. Relies on allusion

Pratfall

A fall meant to create amusement or be funny

Pun

The use of a word with more than one meaning; play on words. Typically, puns are only one word. Otherwise other terms apply.

Punchline

The concluding comedic line in banger, or the humorous end of a joke

Putdown

One-liners meant to criticize, insult, or demean

Quip

A short, clever saying, usually not sarcastic

Raillery

Light, good-natured teasing or banter; a teasing act or remark

Realism

The accurate portrayal of life

Repartee

A contest of wit where one person/performer tries to top his opponent's remarks with a funnier comment.

Ribald

Vulgar, lewd, or indecent in actions or speech

Risibility

The ability to laugh or find something ridiculous or amusing

Sarcasm

Apparent praise inteded as disrespect. A form of verbal irony. Easily confused with sardonic(ism) and hard to determine from text.

Sardonic

Mocking or disdainful in tone; no praise intended

Satire

The use of humor, wit, or irony to criticize human activities or institutions with a specific tone of voice.

Social Satire

Criticizes human culture, beliefs, behaviors, or traditions

Political Satire

Criticizes human institutions (government, organized religion (should be specific to one) business, etc.)

Horatian Satire

Satire that is gentle, chiding, or corrective in tone.

Juvenalian Satire

Satire that is harsh or bitter in tone

Sexual Innuendo

A joke that hints or alludes to anything sexual.

Sight Gag

A comic bit produced by physical action or reaction to props, rather than by words.

Slapstick

Physical comedy stressing farce; horseplay.

Slob Humor

Depends on slapstick, gross-out, or physically repulsive sight gags or references.

Standup Comedy

Comedy that depends on the plot or the setting to create humor. What happens and where are the two most important elements. An encounter between a singl standing performer who behaves comically directly to an audience usually with unsupported props.

Stereotype

An oversimplified or overgeneralized image or idea about a group of people. Racial, ethnic, and gender-based jokes rely on stereotyping as the basis of humor.

Stock Character

A persona or stereotype used in comedy to represent an entire group.

Style

A combination of words, types of sentences, tone of voice, and overall attitude conveyed by a writer.

Tall Tale

A story which relates bizarre, exaggerated, or hard to believe events or circumstances.

Topical Humor

Humor that focuses on current events, ideas, or topics, or that pertains to a specific issue.

Tragedy

Literary work where serious or important actions turn out negatively for the protagonist

Tragicomedy

Literary work that traditionally mixes people of high and low class, and where a serious situation threatens a protagonist but end happily because of some twist of fate.

Vaudeville

Variety shoes that included theatrical entertainment.

Wisecrack

A clever remark that usually makes fun of someone else. IT is usually harsh or sarcastic in tone.

Wit

Brief verbal expression meant to create comic surprise.

Ziegfeld Follies

Style Broadway musicals created and promoted by Florenz Ziegfeld