Humor Devices

Humor devices are used liberally by comedy writers to spice up their work.
You will probably be familiar with some of the word plays making their
hearers laugh. I hope though there are enough 'new' types here to add
variety to your laughter menu.
Pun: a play on words, in which a word of multiple meanings or a word of
similar sound but different meaning is used to create the joke.
Examples:
Heard about the fight down town? It was called a shopping maul.
An old teacher never dies. They simply lose their class.
Innuendo/Double Entendres: an indirect, often derogatory hint. The
speaker appears innocent and the innuendo is discovered in mind of the
listener. The most common of these are sexual innuendos.
Examples:
Mae West's,Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?
The use of the word it as in Comedians do it standing up.
Malapropism: either intentional or unintentional misuse of a word created
by using one of a similar sound for another.
Examples:
My sister has extra-century perception.
He was a man of great statue.
Mixed Metaphor: to mix common sayings to comic effect.
Example:
With friends like these, who needs enemas?
Parody: to copy or imitate for comic affect the style of something or
someone else. By its nature parody exaggerates and mocks the original. It
only works if the person or thing being copied is well known to the
audience.
Example:
The variations on The Ten Commandments.
I've seen 'Ten Commandments' for Cooks, Children, Wives, Husbands,
Shopkeepers...
Satire: to expose silliness, foolishness or stupidity through ridicule. Satire
attacks with the aim of alerting its audience and to make way for reform.
The form has its roots in antiquity and is seen today in many forms. The
television comedies 'The Simpsons' and 'South Park' use satire.

Irony: using language to imply the opposite of their literal meaning or a

situation where the outcome is the opposite from that intended or expected.
Irony and sarcasm are often used together- a sarcastic remark may also be
ironic.
However sarcasm generally implies a stronger or more cutting remark and
contains intent to ridicule unkindly.
Example of verbal irony:
What pleasant weather! said while walking through a hailstorm.
Example of situational irony:
The plumber whose taps at home leak or the teacher's child who plays
truant.
Example of sarcasm:
Mary is a thoroughly delightful woman with a delightful figure, a delightful
dress sense, a delightful brain and an equally delightful husband to match.
So much delight is entirely overwhelming and I must decline her invitation
to dinner.
Understatement: deliberate minimizing whatever is being spoken about.
The audience knows and that is what makes the humor.
Example:
George is well known for his small appetite. Dinner consists of a mere half
dozen pies, followed by a quart of ice cream.
Overstatement: deliberate maximizing of subject often with hyperbolic
exaggeration.
Examples:
She is the most beautiful woman in the entire universe.
I am so hungry I could eat a horse.
Statement of the Obvious: a technique funny because it is so obvious or
the expected norm.
Example:
Cars have wheels.
People have two feet, two arms
The sun is in the sky.
Absurdity: humor obviously lacking in reason. It is foolish or ridiculous and
often includes the use of nonsensical language. In absurdity, the
preposterous, incongruous, fantastical and whimsical are right at home.
Examples: the television shows, Monty Pythons Flying Circus, and The
Simpsons
Sound Devices

The following sound devices are used in language to heighten or intensify

the subject matter. Each adds a specific sound interest for the listener.

Use of alliteration: repetition of the beginning sounds of words.

Examples:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
She sells sea-shells on the sea shore.
My mother-in-law is the hag from hell.

Use of Onomatopoeia: to select words imitating their meaning when

spoken.
Examples: crash, bash, slam, bang, pop, sizzle, clang, zap, whoosh

Use of Rhyme: use of words having similar or the same end sounds.
Examples: cold, sold, bold, hold, mould, fold

Use of Assonance: to choose words for similarity of internal vowel

sounds.
Example: heed, steed, reel, meal, queen, sheen

Use of Consonance: to select words for similarity of internal

consonant sounds.
Example: flutter, stutter, mutter

Use of Repetition: to reinforce important elements. Repetition is a

common device used in oratory, story and joke telling.
Here is a famous original example from oratory that has been widely
borrowed and altered for comic effect:
"We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing
grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall
fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"
-Britains Prime Minister, Winston Churchill in his speech about
Dunkirk given in House of Commons June 4, 1940.

In the childrens story, The Three Little Pigs, the wolfs line Ill blow
your house down! is repeated throughout.