A Humor Typology to Identify Humor Styles Used in Sitcoms
Humor 2016; 29(4): 583–603 Jennifer Juckel*, Steven Bellman and Duane Varan A humor typology to identify humor styles used in sitcoms DOI 10.1515/humor-2016-0047 Abstract: The sitcom genre is one of the most enduringly popular, yet we still know surprising little about their specific elements. This study aimed to develop a typology of humor techniques that best describe the components comprising the sitcom genre. New original techniques were added to applicable techniques from previous schemes to propose a sitcom-specific humor typology. This typol- ogy was tested with another coder for inter-coder reliability, and it was revealed the typology is theoretically sound, practically easy, and reliable. The typology was then used to code four well-known US sitcoms, with the finding that the techniques used aligned with the two most prominent theories of humor – superiority and incongruity. Keywords: humor styles, sitcoms, humor theory, psychology of humor, humor typology 1 Introduction The sitcom genre is phenomenally successful at attracting broad audiences to television networks. In the mid-1950s, the number one hit was the CBS sitcom, I Love Lucy (Brooks and Marsh 2007). When the popularity of Westerns dimin- ished in the 1950s, sitcoms began to dominate ratings in only a matter of seasons (Hamamoto 1989). Since then, the sitcom has become the widest reach- ing comedy form, with remarkable popularity and longevity (Mills 2005). In fact, it is the only genre to make the Top 10 highest rating programs every year since 1949 (Campbell et al. 2004). Surprisingly, however, research carried out on sitcoms specifically is scant.
[Show full text]