The extent to which an individual will personally find something humorous obviously depends on a host of absolute and relative variables, including, but not limited to geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, and context.
The strongest of these influences, during the 20th century at least, has been the influx of Jewish comedians and their corresponding Jewish humor, including some of the most influential: The Three Stooges, The Marx Brothers, Lenny Bruce, Rodney Dangerfield, Jackie Mason, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, and Lewis Black are a few examples.
During the eighties and nineties, Eddie Murphy and Bill Cosby were two of the most popular American comedians exported around the globe.
The earliest example of deliberate, skillful and sustained comedy and satire in American literature is 1637's "New English Canaan" by Thomas Morton of Merrymount, who devoted chapters and poems to his wry observations of Native people and English Puritan colonists alike, including a witty comparison of their cultural values that produced surprising and disturbing answers.
A second example is Benjamin Church's "Entertaining Passages from King Philip's War" (1680s editions, Richard Slotkin, ed.
By the 1830s, regional humor became popular across the US, with examples like Augustus Baldwin Longstreet's Georgia Scenes (1835) from the South[3] and Seba Smith's Major Jack Downing series (1830-1850s) from New England.
[4] Smith was influenced by earlier works by John Neal exhibiting Maine and New England accents and cultural references.
In more recent times popular writers of American humor include P. J. O'Rourke, Louis (L) Harding, Erma Bombeck, and Dave Barry.
Humorous print cartoonists of note include Charles Schulz, Berkeley Breathed, Gary Larson, Walt Kelly, Johnny Hart, Bill Watterson, and others.
What's Opera, Doc?, Duck Amuck, and One Froggy Evening garnered enough critical appeal to be inducted into the National Film Registry.
Warner Brothers' cartoons often dealt with themes beyond US culture or society, but did involve a great deal of commentary on American life.
On television, noteworthy American animated series include The Flintstones, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, Beavis and Butt-head, King of the Hill, Robot Chicken, Ren and Stimpy, SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park, American Dad!, Rick & Morty, and BoJack Horseman.
Originally a form of farce in which females in male roles mocked the politics and culture of the day, burlesque was condemned by opinion makers for its sexuality and outspokenness.
Former vaudeville performers who were successful in film, radio and television include Buster Keaton, Marx Brothers, Edgar Bergen, Three Stooges, and Abbott & Costello.
Freberg began in 1950 to produce records of his comedy routines, which involved parodies of popular tunes and spoofs of modern entertainment personalities and on political topics.
In more recent times the medium fell out of favor as a source of humor, with Garrison Keillor being perhaps a rare modern example.
Stand-up comedian Marc Maron garnered a considerable following in 2009–10 with his free WTF with Marc Maron podcast, in which he conducts humorous interviews with a range of major and minor figures in the world of comedy, from lesser lights such as the now-deceased Patrice O'Neal, to a more famous crowd, including Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler, and Judd Apatow.
Maron himself prefaces each episode with a brief summary of his own life and attempts to overcome his neuroses, and despite the potential for seriousness, these challenges are generally presented in a comedic, if not exasperated light.
In America, prominent clown-style actors of the silent era include Charlie Chaplin (although he was born in England), Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.
In the 1980s Christopher Guest, Carl Reiner, and the Coen brothers emerged as significant directors or writers in American film comedy.
In the modern era, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen, and Will Ferrell have been popular proponents of American film comedy.
Both of these programs were based on the country bumpkin – the Clampetts bringing their hillbilly ways to Beverly Hills, and Griffith as a slow talking sheriff in a small rural town.
The 2000s has seen a further erosion in the sitcom, with Friends being the only one to be the top watched show in any year of this decade, thus far, and the cancellation of the Emmy winning Arrested Development.
The Office was originally a British sitcom that has been successfully remade for an American audience using the same title (and in the case of the pilot episode, the same script).
The original concept was for a comedy-variety show featuring young comedians, live musical performances, and short films.
The first cast members were The Second City alumni Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner and National Lampoon Lemmings alumnus Chevy Chase (whose trademark became his usual falls and opening spiel that ushered in the show's opening), Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Garrett Morris.
Despite the original cast being majority African American, the show is most remembered for introducing the Caucasian Jim Carrey and Puerto Rican Jennifer Lopez to a wider audience.
Among the best known comedians from the 1950s to the 1980s to work in this fashion are Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, and Sam Kinison.
The Richard Pryor Show ended after four episodes due in part to controversy, although poor ratings was a strong factor.
Ray Romano is capable or even willing to work "blue," as demonstrated on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist DVD commentary tracks, but has tended to avoid doing so out of deference to his current audience.