THE MOST INFLUENTIAL HUMOR

TECHNIQUES

By: Jorge Nazario

Why do we find some jokes funnier than others?

What is comedy?

Incongruity Theory

Superiority Theory

Relief Theory

Relief Theory

■Folly

■Veiled insults

■Non-sense

■Indecency

■Want of knowledge

■Small misfortunes

■Anything masquerading something that is not

■Importing into one situation what belongs to another

Types of Humor

Slang Languag

e

• Shaping the humor to what the intended audience wants

Knowledge of

regional culture

• Understanding of the audience’s culture, stereotypes, history, etc.

Awareness of

target audience

Three techniques that successful comedians incorporate

My culture

-“They don’t look alike,” says the woman

-“Cabron (asshole) of course they don’t look alike; he has been jodio (fucked up) like that for the past year and you didn’t visit him once!” replies Luis Raul

Language Techniques

Knowledge of regional culture ■Chente Ydrach

– Derides people from different towns in Puerto Rico■Culture■Location■Technology■Traditions

-“The internet arrived at Corozal! Fuck yeah!”

Chente derides Corozal’s technology

Chente derides the common people of Corozal

Awareness of target audience ■Lejuan James:– Addresses a young audience (ages 11-23)– His jokes are

shaped by his audience

Lejuan James with this video addresses a Puerto Rican young audience

My own experiment

• Did not find Chente Ydrach or Lejuan James funny

• Found Luis Raul funny

2 Latinos from

Central America

• Laughed at the three comedians’ jokes

2 Puerto Ricans

from the capital

Slang Language Knowledge of regional culture

Awareness of target audience

0

2

4

6

8

10

12 My Personal Graph

Level of effectiveness

Culturally Dependent Humor Intende

d audienc

e

Non-intende

d audienc

e