The 14 most important types of humor

These are the types of humor classified according to their characteristics and psychological effects.

They say that laughing can be the best medicine, and they are right. Humor is an extreme necessity for the human being, since it allows us to face the day to day without falling into the most boring of routines or despair and anguish when we see the hard and cruel world we have to live in.

Naturally, not all moods are the same. There are those for all audiences, guaranteed laughter for the whole family without the parents being scandalized by some off-color joke. In other cases it is just the opposite, pure sex, pessimism, physical violence and mockery of the crudest issues of society.

Here are the 14 types of humor we are going to discover the 14 types of humor along with all its characteristics and some of the and some references of each genre.

The 14 types of humor, and their characteristics

There are all kinds of humor genres. There are jokes that everyone can listen to, since they contain no sexual or violent references, while others are just that, pure sexuality and physical brutality. There is also humor that arises from incoherence, from the most ironic dryness of the protagonist towards his environment, emotionality and people around him.

Here are the 10 most common types of humor, their characteristics and some of their referents.

1. Absurd humor

Absurd humor, also known as surreal humor, has an affinity for that which is unsettling.. It uses all kinds of expressions, both verbal and written, as well as representations that expose unreal situations, real nonsense if we see it from a rational point of view. This nonsense has been premeditated and intelligently thought out. Making nonsense truly funny is quite an art, something that few can do.

Absurd humor exposes circumstances that make no sense, as the name suggests, for which it is not possible to find a congruent explanation.. This type of humorous representation encompasses all the ideas that can be found in the field of imagination, so that some ideas can be difficult to understand.

There are many animations, shows and comedians that make use of this type of humor, which could be considered the most recurrent. A classic reference in this genre is Monty Python, famous between the 60s and 80s. In Spain we have Muchachada Nui and Faemino y Cansado. There are also many cartoons that exploit this humor, such as the classics Looney Tunes, Ren and Stimpy, SpongeBob SquarePants, Running Stories, Gumball's World, Dexter's Laboratory or Clarence.

2. White humor

White humor is so called because its humorous references are wholesome, clean and free of any crudeness or unspoken negative connotation.. It is an innocent type of humor, intended for children and teenagers, in which no insults are used and no bad intentions are implied. It is also called a classroom joke because, by avoiding insults and obscenities, it could even be considered appropriate for school.

It avoids mockery, irony and cynicism, and leaves aside topics such as racism or sexism as humorous forms of expression. It is of a clear childish or "family" character, appropriate for any occasion and practically impossible to offend anyone.It is ideal for family viewing.

Among its most notable references in the Hispanic world are the Mexican Chespirito, Capulina and Mauricio Herrera, the Spanish Gaby, Fofó and Miliki and the Chilean Firulete. It is also common to find this type of humor in animated films for children, protecting their innocence but without depriving them of a good dose of laughter.

3. Black humor

Black humor emerged as a counterpoint to Romanticism at the beginning of the 20th century.. It is an ironic, sarcastic, satirical, skeptical humor related to absurd and grotesque humor. It usually makes comedy of pessimistic ideas, death and other themes related to human tragedy and how unpleasant and pathetic life can be. It covers dark, painful and controversial topics and is constantly questioning the moral fiber of society and the tendency to be politically correct.

Because he has no qualms about touching on subjects that do not leave us indifferent within black humor we find mockery of issues such as discrimination, politics, religion, war, sexuality and violence. He can also be outspoken and give his opinions on rape, racism, terrorism, addictions and mental disorders. He talks about what people don't want to talk about, he makes fun of whatever.

More than a few people have resorted to this type of humor throughout the history of comedy.. Among its great referents we have the Marx Brothers, Charles Chaplin, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino. In the field of animation we have shows for more mature audiences such as South Park, American Dad, Family Guy. In the world of literature we have Roald Dahl, Anton Chekhov, Mark Twain and André Breton.

4. Crude humor

Crude humor is based on generating situations or circumstances that are embarrassing, painful, ridiculing and humiliating for the people involved.. Also called "slapstick" or physical comedy, it is loaded with corporal violence, real or simulated, with which it is desired to generate laughter in the audience. The audience laughs at the Pain and embarrassment of others. It is the humorous materialization of the expression "Schadenfreude".

But there is not only violence, we can also find high doses of explicit sexual references, obscene words and vulgar expressions. Cruelty and hurt people are an extremely recurrent topic in this type of humor, a humor that can only be enjoyed visually given its physical nature.

Among the shows in which we can see this type of humor we have "The Three Stooges", a classic in the genre. In more recent times we have "Jackass" and "The Dudesons" in which we can find highly dangerous scenes, where someone ends up getting hurt, sometimes seriously.

5. Dry humor

Dry humor, also called "deadpan", exposes something funny without resorting to body language at all, hence the term "dry".. The comedian does not express emotions and his message has a monotonous and constant tone. He is serious, informal and natural at the same time. He can also be characterized by a certain air of naivety and little attention to the facts that surround him, showing a calmness and immutability so unchanging that one cannot help but laugh at it, seeing how incoherent the situation itself is.

Among the clearest examples of dry humor are Eugenio, Bill Murray, Zach Galifianakis, Leslie Nielsen, Tommy Lee Jones, Cacho Garay, Ricardo Quevedo and many others. Even, in a way, Mr. Bean's character can be considered with a certain air of dry humor in some episodes, especially when he doesn't know what is going on around him.

6. Grotesque humor

The etymological origin of the word "grotesque" comes from the Italian word "grotto". comes from the Italian word "grotta", referring to the alteration of what is traditionally aesthetic or proportionate. Thus, grotesque humor refers to a type of comedy related to the strange, ridiculous, eccentric, fantastic and irrational. It mixes horror, animalization, mockery and indifference.

It is a cult humor, in the sense that it is closely related to the arts such as literature, painting and sculpture. Cartoons are often a clear example of taking proportions to the extreme and playing with the ideas of what is beautiful and mixing it with the ugly and horrifying, whether applied to things or people. Incongruity is made a comic element.

As the beautiful and the ugly are mixed in multiple ways, words like "decadence", "monstrosity" and, of course, "deformation" cannot be omitted when describing this type of humor, especially when it is exposed pictorially. The grotesque provokes all kinds of emotions in us, among them disgust, anxiety, fear and disgust.

7. Satirical humor

Satirical humor is intended to criticize and denounce some kind of injustice through comedy. It tends to teach us some valueIt is moralizing and uses ridicule to show that there are defects and problems in a society or in humanity in its maximum extension. Burlesque and humorous resources are used in different forms of expression, especially in literature and drama.

There are several literary genres that expose a satirical humor. To mention only a few, we can find the grotesque tragedy, the esperpento, the fable, the picaresque novel and graphic publications.. It is also common to find satire in posters, television programs and movies that use comic situations as a means to make social criticism and hope that the situation will change.

8. Sarcastic humor

Etymologically speaking, the word "sarcastic" comes from the Greek "sarkazéin" which means "lip biting" since it is like we effectively bite our lips, without saying things clearly and explicitly but using clever remarks instead, apparently contrary. It makes use of cruelty, sadism and mordacity to obtain the desired effect.. It is usually very recurrent in parody, transforming a serious situation into a more familiar one.

Its basis is the devaluation or degradation of that which is the object of its mockery. This intentional contempt is turned into something funny by ridiculing the one being laughed at, telling him something that is just the opposite of what he feels and thinks. It is just this contrast of ideas and values that gives rise to a comical situation, or at least in those who know how to "get" the real message. The fun lies in identifying the opposite meaning of what is literally said.

9. Green humor

Green humor is the humor of both explicit and implicit sex.. Its content is of a clearly vulgar nature, with a heightened tone and a bad taste at times that makes it inevitable to laugh while feeling embarrassed. Naturally, it is a humor that is only suitable for adults, although it is universal and can be understood by any culture and social class since it is not necessary to be very intelligent to understand penis, vaginas, tits and ass jokes.

10. Hacker humor

Hacker humor derives from the computer culture and refers to a type of humor that refers to a type of humor that comes from those experts who have mastered the vocabulary of programming.. They are usually elaborate parodies that are related to documents, codes, programming languages and files, all kinds of aspects of the cyber world.

In fact, one of the most common ways of manifesting this kind of humor is in RFCs, requests for comments describing standard Internet protocols. These RFCs have a formal language but the hacker humorists manipulate it in a very funny way, as inside jokes made in the program code or document, which only other programming language experts can understand.

Psychological classification

After seeing the types of humor in terms of their characteristics in themselves we move on to see a more psychological classification. Humor can have different facets, utilities and, also, it can be more harmful depending on the use and intentionality with which they are produced.. Everyone has a sense of humor to a greater or lesser extent, what varies significantly is whether it is really funny, appropriate and has some real social benefit. In the following we will see the moods following a psychological classification.

1. Connective humor

It is a humor of clear social intentionality, which is made because it is funny to the majority who can identify with it. it is funny to the majority of people who can identify with it.. Actions and situations of everyday life are used, which are funny for everyone, generating a sense of happiness, well-being and a greater idea of belonging to a group.

2. Aggressive humor

Insults or vexations are used against other people, being only "comfortable" for a part of the audience.. It may be funny for some to see how other people are abused, threatened and hurt, while the victims may become afraid.

3. Affirming humor

This is the humor we do to try to bring some good out of an adverse situation. It arises from the need to laugh at oneself in a healthy way, being reflective about one's mistakes.Being reflective about the mistakes and misfortunes one may have but can learn from them.

4. Self-defeating humor

This is the humor we make of ourselves, but unlike the reaffirming one, the self-destructive one is self-punishing. acquires a function as self-punishment.. It makes use of aggressiveness or self-pity. Some may consider it a healthy humorous form, but it can also be a form of indirect defense against abusers or a sign of depression and lack of self-esteem.

Bibliographic references:

• Ronald E. Reggio (2015). The 4 Styles of Humor. Web: psychologytoday.com.
• Plester, Barbara (2009-01-01). "Healthy humour: Using humour to cope at work". Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online. 4 (1): 89-102. doi:10.1080/1177083X.2009.9522446.
• Martin, Rod; Patricia Puhlik-Doris; Gwen Larsen; Jeanette Gray; Kelly Weir (2003). "Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire". Journal of Research in Personality 37 (1): 48-75. doi:10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00534-2.