How Comedy, Laughter, and Humor Can Improve Your Life

According to the founding editor of The Onion, there are 11 categories of comedy:

1. Irony- Intended meaning is opposite of literal meaning
2. Character- Comedic character acting on personality traits
3. Reference- Common experiences that audiences can relate to
4. Shock- Surprising jokes typically involving sex, drugs, gross-out humor, swearing
5. Parody- Mimic a familiar character, trope or cliche in an unfamiliar way
6. Hyperbole- Exaggeration to absurd extremes
7. Wordplay- Puns, rhymes, double entendres, etc.
8. Analogy- Comparing two disparate things
9. Madcap- Crazy, wacky, silly, nonsensical
10. Meta Humor- Jokes about jokes, or about the idea of comedy
11. Misplaced Focus- Attention is focused on the wrong thing