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COM 299
American Humor
77
Communication
Undergraduate 2
10/16/2011

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Term

Acquisition of a Sense of Humor

Definition
It has 2 aspects: one is the understanding and appreciation of humor, while the other is the creation and performance of humor.
Term
 Adaptation
Definition

A kind a language play in which a well-known word, name, or phrase is recycle into a new usage.

Example: "Just Do It" by Nike reinforce the idea of checking off items on a "to do list." Yves St Laurent parfum "Champagne" sounds luxurious. 7 Eleven logo has a positive connotations because of being a lucky roll of the dice in a game of craps.V-8 juice sounds strong and healthy because of its association with V-8 engine.

Term
 African American Humor
Definition
Unique history related to the fact that before the Civil War most African American immigrants to the U.S were brought in as slaves. The offensive racist and stereotyping. Black dialect used. Comedians are Eddy Murphy, Woopy Goldberg, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Will Smith
Term
 Aging and Humor
Definition
Three distinctive aspects. 1- humor that the general population creates about older people. 2- humor that older people create and enjoy about themselves or other seniors. 3- humor plays in the lives of people as they grow old. The top 5 topics about the elderly were age or longevity, physical appearance or ability, being old fashioned, losing sexual ability or interest, and concealing one's age.
Term
 Allusion
Definition
An implied or indirect reference. Example: Sleepless in Seattle (movie) with a new headline "Clueless in Washington." Allusions based on current events make timely joke subjects for late-night television because there is nearly always someone in the studio audience who will recognize the allusion and start the laughter.  
Term
 Ambiguity
Definition
Occurs when something can be understood in two or more senses or ways. Example: WC (toilet) WC (Wayside Chapel) story. "The governor is a dirty street fighter." "Cynthia left directions for her Dad to follow." "I have discussed the high cost of living with several women."
Term
 American Indian Humor or Native American Humor
Definition
Overgeneralize type of humor because when Europeans first came to the U.S some 500 years ago, they were hundreds of distinct nations speaking close to 1,000 different languages. These people had lived side by side for generations, but had chosen to keep their tribal beliefs, languages, and customs separate. Creating and enjoying ironic survival humor, often at the expense of white oppressors may be one of the few universal characteristics shared by all Indian tribes.  
Term
Antiauthority Humor
Definition
Illustrates the theory that people use humor to relieve stress by making fun of situations where they feel put upon. Example: Children use it against adults, teenagers against "the establishment," workers against bosses, the general public against government officials etc.. Rule #1 The boss is always right Rule #2 If the boss is wrong, see rule 1. 
Term
Black Humor (also called dark humor)
Definition
Relies for its comic effect on morbidity, absurdity, and anarchy. It mixes humor with anger and bitterness. Usually connected to death. Gallows humor, American absurd novel, Yankee existentialism, the anti-novel, theatre of the absurd, and film noir. The line between fantasy and reality is non-existent, and readers of a novel, for example are unsure about the point at which realism fades into fantasy. "Pulp Fiction"
Term
Blackface comedy
Definition
Singers, dancers, and actors darkened their faces, dressed in exagerated clothing, and spoke with heavy accents was a primary form the 19th till well 20th centuries. Stereotypes that black are musical, intellectually weak but athletically strong, happy and childlike, sexually coarse, and incapable of speaking standard English. Terms such as Nigger, Sambo, Coon. Appearance exaggerated by costumes looking richer or poorer than in real life. Bright red lipstick to draw huge lips, while white circle were drawn around the eyes.
Term
Cartoons
Definition
They are drawings intended as caricature, satire, or humor. they differ from comic strips in that they contain only a single panel.
Term
Censorship
Definition
The examination of materials by someone in authority for the purpose of removing parts that are considered objectionable or harmful or for forbidding an artist, writer, photographer, or performer from making his or her work public. Protect children, movie rating PG-13 or 17. In order to avoid censorship, the use of code is employed by creators.
Term
Children's television
Definition
Television humor for children under age 12. Early morning and after school show are designed to teach children about the world around them. The humor is often used as a bribe not only to keep children watching, but also to turn them into consumers of sponser's products. Example: Sesame street, Telebubbies, Barney, Nickelodeon channel.
Term
Clowns
Definition
They are characters whose work is to make people laugh in circuses, vaudeville shows, and in many other settings. A Trickster, a jester, a fool with license to break taboos. 3 basic categories of clowns: Harlequin (elegant with symmetrical patterns and a black domino mask covering half of their face such as Pierrot), the Auguste (the Buffon with baggy clothes, oversized shoes, and a big red nose.), the character clown such as Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers. Clowns can be evil, rodeo clowns, question authority.
Term
Comic Strips
Definition
Open-ended dramatic narratives told through a series of drawnings about a recurring set of characters. Much of the action is shown through character dialogue printed in all-capital letters set in ballon outlines and occasionally supplemented by narrative text.
Term
Comic Zeitgeists
Definition

Jokes that reveal the spirit of a particular time. Zeit is the German word for "time" while Geist means "ghost" or "spirit." Example: What does an Ethiopian call his dog? Dinner. How many ......does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Facebook jokes, Angry Birds, etc..

Term
Dialect Humor
Definition
Language based on group differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, or grammar as used by speakers from different geographical areas. A basic appeal of dialect humor is that many readers, listeners, and viewers feel superior to those they perceive as speaking nonstandard English.
Term
Disabilities Humor
Definition
It comes into 2 types. One is created and shared by people with disabilities and the second is the mainstream culture created and shared about disabilities. Helps take away the uncomfortable sense of pity that many people hold toward the disabled.
Term
Drama
Definition
Meant to telling of stories through action and dialogue performed onstage as a play in a theatre. Because plays are filled with conflicts and emotions, the word drama is also used to describe situations that in real life involve interesting events or intense conflicts. Comedy is a type of drama meant more to interest and amuse audiences than to make think seriously about issues.
Term
Erotic Humor
Definition
Devoted to arousing sexual love or desire but also be scatological (propos grossiers, vulgar, excrement). Long story of censorship.
Term
Ethnic Humor
Definition
Related to the words ethnicos and nation. Classified according to common religious, national, tribal, racial, linguistic, or cultural origins or backgrounds. Example: What is the difference between America and Russia? In America, there is always a party to go to while in Russia, the party always finds you.
Term
Exaggeration
Definition
The enlarging of stories or things so that they are beyond belief or beyond normal expectations. Overstatement and hyperbole is a basic component of humor.
Term
Gay and Lesbian Humor
Definition
Bring drama. Violation of norms (who is the man?) Nurturing versus power. Today, issue is better known. Releases tension by satisfying curiosity and showing that the subject is open to discussion. People who believe homosexuality is a sin are on the lookout for "normalization."
Term
Gender and Humor
Definition
Gender is related to humor in at least 3 ways. The most obvious one is used by one gender to put down the other. A second type is more conflicts between the sexes. The third related to area is the difference between males and females creation, performance, and appreciation of humor. Sexist humor, stereotypes, underlying power tension, simple/complex, universal.
Term
Gothic Humor
Definition
Laugh at makes us uncomfortable. (Frankenstein, Dracula, Batman, Skeletons, black cats, bats, ghosts, coffins, tombstones, monsters, haunted houses. Hallowen celebration is an illustration of how the sacred the feared can evolve into amusement and fun.
Term
Health and Healing
Definition
The idea that humor is good for one's health. Laughing and acting silly can work as a tool for healing. Humor can make you feel better. Humor has curative powers. It is the best medicine possible. Example: Movie Patch Adams with Robin Williams.
Term
Hispanic Humor
Definition
Immigration, stereotypes, accents, spanglish, dress, family drama, passion alive, groups, cars, guilt, etc.. Example of humor: why Hispanics wear shoes with pointed toes? So they can step on the bugs in the corner.  
Term
Hoaxes and Practical Jokes
Definition
Identify tricking or duping others into thinking that something false or preposterous is true. Hoax differs in connotation from such words as fraud, scheme, and conspiracy in that hoaxes are usually conducted for amusement and fun rather than for financial gain. For others, hoaxes are practical jokes such as putting a ballon over a pipe or covering toilet with plastic wrap, or covering pizzas with cockroaches. A modern hoax with frontier roots is the 1500 jackalopes (rabbit with antlers) April's Fish fool Day is celebrated in many countries and practical jokes are made.
Term
Surprise Theory
Definition
Veatch (1998) mentioned that there are 3 conditions 1- Violation "subjective morale violation" something has gone wrong-expectation 2- Normal or the way it should be 3- V+N are present in our mind at the same time. Jokes are funny depending on the commitment of people. Example: Jokes about religion is none, weak, or strong if religious or not.
Term
Incongruity Theory
Definition
A joke travels through the mind such as 1- pattern 2- disruption 3- resolution.  Trigger duality: can be interpreted in 2 ways (cognition, biological) it trigger laugher. Example: Sexy sax man careless whisper prank.
Term
Relief Theory
Definition
All laugher is a result of a release of excess energy, release of tension, hydraulic increase, nervous excitation always begets muscular motion. Biological effects are: a good laugh or cry has good health effects, it relaxes the body, boots the immune system, releases endorphins, protect the heart. Emotions are relax recharge, humor helps shift perspective, spontaneous, less defensiveness, release inhibitions, express self, buil relationship.
Term
Jewish Humor
Definition
Stereotypes such as rich/cheap, curly hair, big nose, history of marginalization, retaliation, issue awareness. Anti-Semitic jokes. Jews were attracted to careers in the theatre, popular music, and vaudeville because the world of entertainment was also marginalized. Ridicule is a big part of the Jewish humor. Wordplay is a big part of the Jewish humor because for generations Jews have been multilingual, speaking Yiddish at home, Hebrew at the synagogue. Example of such as Woody Allen or Mel Brooks Jewish humor
Term
Impersonation
Definition
A comedy technique in which a performer pretends to be a celebrity, a politician, another performer, or other such well-known personality. US President are so often in the publc eye, they make a perfect target for impressionists.
Term
Joke Pattern
Definition
Joke pattern that become popular are based on simple and clear-cut formulas that inspire listeners to create their own variations. These patterns or formulas come in and out of fashion just as do fads in clothings, slang terms, music, and other icons of popular culture. Example: Knock-knock jokes, change a lightbulb, chicken crossroad, acronyms such as B.S = Bull shit, M.S = More of the same, Ph.D = Piled higher and deeper, 10SNE1 = Tennis, Anyone?
Term
Language Play
Definition
Includes any use of language that is creative and unusual and has a purpose beyond the communiaction of basic information. Example: Antithesis occurs when opposite concepts are connected so as to make a surprising kind of sense. Faulty Parallelism such as I like camping, traveling, going to the movies, and long walks on the beach with an attractive to highly attractive woman who is employed. Oxymoron such as the meaning of contradictory terms (icy-hot,cool-fire,soft-brick)
Term
Language Play (2nd part)
Definition
Personification is an unusually common process such as when infants respond to their toys as if they were human. Synecdoche is a specific kind of metonymy in which a part of something is used to represent the whole thing, as when referring to the movies as the big screen or to television as the tube. Irony is a speech incidents in whic the intended meaning of the words is contrary to their literal interpretation or to the expected meaning. Example: Not to change the subject, but... it is inconsistent with what is being said.
Term
Late Night Talk Shows
Definition
The shows start at 10pm or 11pm. Children are assumed to be in bed which means that censors are less likely to object to "adult" topics and risque language. If serious problems are discussed, they are joked about. Example: The tonight show with Jay Leno, Dave Letterman (different anchors throughout the years)
Term
Laugher and Smiles
Definition
Some humor scholars do not agree that smiling and laughing are the same. Smiles are more likely to express feelings or satisfaction or good will while laugher comes from surprise or a recognition of incongruity. People frequently smile when they are reading or when having private thoughts. We may laugh in sympathy, from anxiety or relief, from anger or affection, and from joy or frustration.
Term
Legal Humor
Definition
Consists of jokes targeting lawyers as well as jokes that lawyers tell about themselves, their clients, and frutrations connected with their profession. It might also includes anecdotes, reminiscences, humorous laws, and events, and discussions about the place of humor in law schools and courtrooms. People hate lawyers because they don't understand their language or the judicial system.  
Term
Magazines
Definition
"A warehouse or storage place." The common meaning today is a periodical containing miscellaneous pieces such as articles, short stories, advertisments, poem, photos, cartoons, and illustrations. Ex: MAD, The New Yorker. Starting a new magazine is more challenging than keeping an old one because there is a tremendous competition for the rack space in stores, not to mention advertising dollars and money from subscribers and newstand customers. Magazines have to offer more than jokes because jokes are plentiful on the internet and the comedy channel. Nurses look for hospital humor, psychologists for humor they can use with their patients, etc..
Term
Metaphors
Definition
They are analogies that connect two objects in the minds of communicators by ascribing to the second object one or more qualities of the first object. Metaphors give people a way to talk about the unknown through references to the known. Adults create metaphors for both serious and humorous purposes.  example: "When you walk through the cow pasture of facts, you are bound to step in some truth." 
Term
Mimes
Definition
They take their name from the word pantomine. Its general meaning is communication through gestures, as when performers use their bodies, faces, and hands instead of their voices, and in formal mime, imaginary, rather than real, props. 
Term
Movies
Definition
In the first decade of the 20th century, producers and inventors used such terms as stereoscopy, kinetoscopes, motion photography, and motion pictures, but the American public embraced the less technical term of movies. Movies developed in the modern between 1930 and the present to include color, sound, and enhanced photography. 
Term
Museums
Definition
A museum is an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest and value. Art museums occasionally put together shows of humorous art; concert halls may prepare displays of unusual or comical instruments for patrons to look at during intermissions. 
Term
Music
Definition
Humor can be part of virtually any kind of music. Mothers amuse their babies by singing funny nursery rhymes and playing musical games. Movies that served as a transition between musicals and music videos include "the Beatles Yellow Submarine," "Grease."
Term
Musical Comedians
Definition
Comedians and music are related in two major ways. First, comedians use music as raw material to be manipulated in ways that will make audiences laugh. They do this by coaxing funny sounds from musical (and nonmusical) instruments, creating novelty songs, changing and parodying the words of standard songs, and making fun of the sacred customs of serious musicians and those who appreciate serious music. A second, less obvious connection has not been proven but is strongly suspected: musically oriented comedians, even when not performing music, often are better comedians because their musical talents have helped them develop a stage presence and timing. 
Term
Paradoxes
Definition
Are statements that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd, but in some sense are nevertheless true. Because paradoxes highlight breakdowns in our expectation of a logical universe, they are source of both delight and consternation. Example: People who can't get a job until they have experience and have a job in a catch-22.  Paradoxes are more than wordplay. They are explorations of philosophy, logic, and social criticism. Ex: When i grow up i want to be a little boy.
Term
Parody
Definition
A parody is a conscious imitation of someone else's creative work, usually literary but sometimes musical or artistic. What caricature is to art, parody is to literature. Through exaggeration, it makes fun of the style of the original and calls it content into question. Parodies are created for fun and amusement as well as for persuasion. Example: "Be all that you can be. Join the Army." is change into "Be all you can be. Work for Peace."
Term
Poetry
Definition
Meaning of using words to create an intense or emotionally concentrated experience. Poetry can be divided into three major types. Narrative poetry relates a story; lyric poetry is more subjective and emotional as in sonnets and elegies; and dramatic poetry is written like a play, in which the poet presents an idea or a sentiment through showing, rather than telling, using such techniques as dramatic monologues and striking metaphors and symbols. 
Term
Political Correctness
Definition
It is the practice of operating under the belief that language and practices that could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated. To be politically correct, one must be constantly sensitive to the feelings of others. To be a comedian, one frequently has to ignore them." 
Term
Politics and Humor
Definition
Humor used in politics includes that which politicians create and use, as well as that which is produced by professional comedians, essayists, authors, scriptwriters, cartoonists, and the general public about politicians and political situations. It is aimed to entertain, but also attract attention to individuals and to issues, influence public opinion, disarm political foes and critics, communicate information in ways that straight language does not, relieve stress, and build a sense of community among like-minded individuals. Ex: Capitalism: If you have two cows, you sell one and buy a bull. Communism: If you have two cows, you give them to the government and the government gives you some milk. 
Term
Pop-up Books
Definition
They have movable parts, so that one picture can evolve into another and three-dimensional items can suddenly appear from between flat pages. The majority of pop-up books are designed for children's or adults amusements. 
Term
Postmodernism
Definition
It is a term created almost playfully in 1949 to describe the wave of artistic creativity that followed what in art and architecture had been labeled modern. The postmodern movement was in mant ways a reaction against the theory and practice of modern art or literature. example: reading vs channel surfing. writing essays vs making lists. Related to postmodernism are the noun deconstruction and the verb deconstructing. 
Term
Puns
Definition
Comes from the Italian word puntiglio meaning "fine point," is the humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound. They bring pleasure and surprise because the mind is forced to travel along at least two differentr routes when interpreting the same word or phrase. Example with the magazine "Time" marketing message: Time flies, Time marches on, Time to get the facts, It's Time, etc.. "A good pun is like a good steak..a rare medium well done."
Term
Puppets and Puppeteers
Definition
Puppets are similar to dolls except that they are used for theatrical purposes and are moved mechanically by the puppeteer, who tries to make it look like the puppet is in control. The comedian hides behind the puppet and use it as his alter ego to express social satire and dissatisfaction. There are 4 kinds of puppets: hand, shadow, string (or marionette), and the dummies used by ventriloquists. Examples: Punch and Judy, Pinocchio, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, etc,..
Term
Radio
Definition
Radio humor developed through music, vaudeville acts, variety shows, skits, sitcoms, talk shows, quiz shows, and the work of commentators whose acts ranged from reading the Sunday "funnies" to discussing the news of the day. Radio was the first medium to make it possible for the entire country to know and relate simultaneously to the same comedians, characters, and stories. 
Term
Regional Humor
Definition
Overlaps with country humor because the characteristics and the speaking patterns unique to a region of the country are more likely to show up in rural than in urban areas. Humor focusing on the values and traits of rural people appears across many genres, ranging from ancient fables. Country humor serves both to amuse and to relieve frustrations. Its relationship to the term "corny" for something old-fashioned, sentimental, and unsubtle, hints at the lack of sophistication in most country humor. Southern or western, dialects are filled with what are generally viewed as grammatical errors. Other.. Vermont humor, Californians humor, Montana.. Example: My wife ran off with my best friend, and I miss him. My daddy was a pistol, and i am a son of a gun. 
Term
Religious Humor
Definition
It is tied in some way to the service and worship of God or the supernatural. Religion is a common topic for humor because it is full of mystery and ambiguity. It allows people to transcend their everyday concerns and tempts them into such philosophical meanderings as trying to discover "How many angels can stand on the head of a pin?
Term
Riddles
Definition
The word riddle is from the same root as read, and since th 21th century has meant a mystifying, misleading, or puzzling question, something that needs interpreting. Example: What did the big firecracker say to the little firecracker? You are too little to pop! Where can you find roads without cars? On a map!
Term
Satire
Definition
Satires are humorous literary works artistic pieces, performances, or informal speech in which such human frailties as greed, self-indulgence, stupidity, and various kinds of abuses are held up to ridicule and contempt for the purpose of inspiring reform. Satirists do not usually aim their criticism at a particular person, but instead at groups of people or at institutions. Satire can be divided into two basic types: informal or indirect, as in stories, poems, plays, or novels; and explicit or formal, in which the satirist speaks directly to readers or listeners. 
Term
Scatology and Obscenity
Definition
Scatology came into English from the Greek scato meaning "feces" or "excrement" and logy meaning "the study of." Obscene came into English from Middle French to refer to anything repulsive, adhorrent, or taboo in polite society. Obscenity and scatology are often used as synonyms,although obscenity has a broader meaning and is often used in relation to sexual matters or to refer to any crass disregard for morals or ethical principles. Scatology refers to jokes about the bodily functions, excrement, and the parts of the body not usually talked about in "polite" company.  
Term
School Humor
Definition
Can be divided into two categories: that which is used in relation to intellectual development and that which is used for the emotional purposes of having fun and relieving tensions and frustrations. Teachers and students use both types. Teachers use humor as a technique for getting children's attention, communicating information in understandable and memorable ways, and helping students develop higher-order thinking skills, as well as for making light of stressful situations, whether their own or children's. Children challenge themselves and each other intellectually as they struggle to catch on the jokes and to create such wordplay as riddles and puns. 
Term
Screwball Comedies
Definition
They are full-length, zany, but romantic, movies produced in Hollywood during the Depression and on into the early 1940s. Directors and performers relied for humor on the kinds of sight gags, slapstick, extended violence, disguises and masquerades. They gave women viewers something to dream about. As a balance to appeal to male viewers, women were beautiful but often dumb or ditzy. 
Term
Scriptwriters
Definition
In the business of comedy scriptwriting, most professionals either work in groups, preparing television scripts for sustained monologues, skits, sitcoms, and variety shows, or they work for producers, writing and rewriting movie scripts. 
Term
Self-Disparagement
Definition
Self-disparagement or self-depreciating jokes often surprise and amuse listeners or readers and leave them feeling superior to the comedian or writer. Example: Quaker Oats: Breakfast of losers. Comedians often use self-deprecating jokes as a way of breaking the ice with an audience.
Term
Silent films
Definition
In 1890, inventors in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States completed to develop a machine that could project a series of pictures resembling movement in real life. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd are all-time great comedians of silent film. 
Term
Sitcoms
Definition
Television sitcoms (situation comedies) are continuing stories about casts of characters who find themselves in jams and mild predicaments mostly of their own making. The characters try to solve the problem of the day, but their efforts usually make things worse. Just before the closing commercial, someone or something usually comes in from the outside and sets things right so that the show ends with the characters, the music, and the closing scene much as it was at the beginning. Example: I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days, Cheers, The Costby Show.
Term
Slang
Definition
Language at play. it is the metaphors, abbreviations, nicknames, euphemisms, and coinage that people use for purposes of relieving boredom, communicating effciently, being creative and original, protesting conformity and pomposity, identifying with occupational or social groups, sending insider messages, treating abstractions concretely, camouflaging scary and unpleasant matters. Teenagers are especially clever about creating slang because they use their own way of talking as a sign of their growing independance from parents and teachers. Examples: "Spanglish,"Woofer" means loser, SPI "special interest admit" means parents donated money to the school.
Term
Sports Language
Definition
Sports language often has a humorous side, whether in the chatter of broadcasters filling in time between plays, both real and satirical names for teams, sports-based metaphors, player nicknames, and the names chosen for racehorses. It is expected that humorous language would develpop around sports because it engender emotional reactions that are part of humor: surprise, incongruity, and competition between winners and losers. Examples: Denver Buncos (Broncos), New Orleans Aints (Saints) New York Mutts (Mets)
Term
Stage Names
Definition
Stage names are the pseudonyms that entertainers give themselves for purposes of professional identification. It is to be widely used and remembered, other people must be able to say it and spell it easily, and it must not suggest anything undesirable or silly. Example: Caryn Johnson to Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Stewart Konigsberg to Woody Allen. 
Term
Stand-Up Comedy
Definition
Developed as its own genre during the last half of the 20th century. It grew out of the traditions of burlesque and vaudeville, but differs in that it is limited to only the spoken or comedy part of such shows; it omits the music, the skits, and the variety acts. In comedy clubs, a typical format features three performers: someone who opens the show, warms up the audience, and serves as emcee; a middle performer; and then the headliner who closes the show. The headliner is paid the most, especially if he or she has a recognizable name that will draw people into the club. 
Term
Stereotyping 
Definition
The word stereotyping in the world of printing refers either to the technical process by which an image is created over and over again or to the plate from which prints are made. In literary contexts, stereotyping consits of the use of such stock characters as the blumbling clown, the pedantic teacher, the arrogant politician, the bad boy, and the dumb blond. Example: How do you recognize an Italian tank? It has five gears: four reverse and one forward, in case the enemy attacks from the rear. 
Term
Superiority and Hostility
Definition
Some humor scholars believe that for any joke or incident to be funny it must contain the tension that goes along with feelings of superiority and/or hostility. Plato said that people laugh at what is ridiculous in their friends. Aristotle defined comedy as "an imitation of people who are worse than the average." Rene Descartes outlined six human emotions: wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy, and sadeness. The joy comes from observing "some small evil in a person whom we consider to be deserving of it." 
Term
Television
Definition
In addition to the humor found in televised situation comedies such as late night talk shows, humor appears in new broadcasts. Because of cable television, viewers can tune in at almost any hour to see videos of comedy performances or reruns of favorite situation comedies or variety shows. Example: Advertisments are awarded prizes for best commercial including mini-drama, parodies, animation, etc.. 
Term
Understatement 
Definition
It is the representation of something as less than it is. It is the opposite of exaggeration and hyperbole. People are amused by them only when the downplaying is extreme enough to be surprising. Example: Abortion is hard on little babies. Death can be stunt your growth. 
Term
Vaudeville and Burlesque
Definition
Were the primary forms of American public entertainment during the 1800s up until about 1930, when they were largely replaced by radio and movies. In the classical sense, a burlesque is a form of literary or theatrical entertainment that amuses through distortion, exaggeration, and ridicule. 
Term
Wit
Definition
It is aggressive, often destructive and almost always directed at others. A characteristic of wit is its succinctness and quickness, as displayed in one-liners, nicknames, retorts, cartoons, and jokes, and riddles. 
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