American humor

American humor is the conventions and common threads that tie together humor in the United States.

Unlike British humour, American humor has historically tended a little more towards slapstick. There is less emphasis on understatement, and so the humor tends to be a little more open; rather than satirizing the social system through exaggeration, American humor prefers more observational techniques. Further the United States, unlike Britain or most of Europe or even Japan, does not have any history of a nobility. This is actually of some significance due to British or European humor involving inherited class systems. Humor involving class systems in America does not focus on the monarchy or nobility but making fun of stereotypes based on race and social standing are common in American humor as well.

Furthermore, the United States has many diverse groups from which to draw on for humorous material. 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, Rodney Dangerfield, Woody Allen, Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Stewart, and Lewis Black, just to name a few. Also significant is African American humor as it has some differences from Black British humor and a higher percentage of people in the United States are of African descent.