Today’s Excerpt:

Who makes you laugh the most? What is their style of humor?

Explore these different types of humor and notice what you think is funny:

Slapstick uses big and exaggerated physical movements to communicate humor. Example: Charlie Chaplin scene from Modern Times (2-min video).

Puns are jokes that play with the different meanings of words. Can you think of any puns?

Examples:

• Want to hear a joke about paper? Nevermind it’s tearable.
• What do you call a belt with a watch on it? A waist of time.
• How do you organize an outer space party? You planet.
• What did daddy spider say to baby spider? You spend too much time on the web.
• What cheese can never be yours? Nacho cheese.
• Did you hear about the crime in the parking garage? It was wrong on so many levels.

Irony is when what you say is the opposite of what you actually mean or when the outcome of a situation is the opposite of what is expected.

Here are some examples, courtesy of LiteraryDevices.net:

Verbal Irony

• Telling a quiet group, “Don’t everybody speak all at once.”
• Walking into an empty theater and saying, “It’s too crowded in here!”
• Stating during a thunderstorm, “Beautiful weather we’re having.”
• A comedian telling an unresponsive audience, “You all are a great crowd.”

Situational Irony

• A fire station that burns down.
• A T-shirt with a “Buy American” logo that is made in China.
• A marriage counselor divorcing their fourth spouse.
• Going on a blind date with someone who is visually impaired.

Deadpan or dry humor is when a person says or does something funny, but they don’t show any emotion in their voice or body. Example: A 15-year-old deadpans a performance as a magician in this 2-minute video:

Discuss:

• Which type of humor did you think was the funniest?
• Is your favorite type of humor the same or different from your friends and family?