Gantar, Jure (2005) The Pleasure of Fools: Essays in the Ethics of Laughter, McGill-Queen’s Press, ISBN 077352892X
Ingvild Saelid Gilhus (1997) Laughing Gods, Weeping Virgins: Laughter in the History of Religion, Routledge, ISBN 0415161975
Rupert D. V. Glasgow (1995) Madness, Masks, and Laughter: An Essay on Comedy, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, ISBN 0838635598
J. C. Gregory (1999) The Nature of Laughter, Routledge, ISBN 0415211298
Charles R. Gruner
Understanding Laughter: The workings of Wit and Humor, Chicago: Nelson Hall
(1999) The Game of Humor: A Comprehensive Theory of Why We Laugh, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0765806592
Carl Hill (1993) The Soul of Wit: Joke Theory from Grimm to Freud, U of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0803223692
Jan Hokenson (2006) The Idea of Comedy: History, Theory, Critique, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, ISBN 0838640966
Holland, N. (1982) Laughing: A psychology of humor, Cornell University Press
M. Conrad Hyers (1996) The Spirituality of Comedy: Comic Heroism in a Tragic World, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 1560002182
Koller, M.R. (1988) Humor and society: Explorations in the sociology of humor, Houston: Cap and Gown
Robert L. Latta (1999) The Basic Humor Process: A Cognitive-Shift Theory and the Case against Incongruity, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 3110161036 (Humor Research no. 5)
James Mendrinos (2004) The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Comedy Writing, Alpha Books, ISBN 1592572316
John Morreall
(1983) Taking Laughter Seriously , SUNY Press, ISBN 0873956427
(1999) Comedy, Tragedy, and Religion, SUNY Press, ISBN 0791442055
Dianna C. Niebylski (2004) Humoring resistance: laughter and the excessive body in contemporary Latin American women’s fiction, SUNY Press, ISBN 0791461238
Neal R. Norrick (1993) Conversational Joking, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253341116
Elliott Oring
(1992) Jokes and Their Relations, University Press of Kentucky, ISBN 0813117747
(2003) Engaging Humor, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0252027868
Jerry Palmer (1994) Taking Humour Seriously, Routledge, ISBN 0415102669
Robert R. Provine (2000) Laughter. A Scientific Investigation. Viking.
Leon Rappoport (2005) Punchlines: The Case for Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Humor, Praeger/Greenwood, ISBN 0275987647
Raskin, V. (1985). Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Pub. Co.
Mary Ann Rishel (2002) Writing Humor: Creativity and the Comic Mind, Wayne State University Press, ISBN 0814329608
Graeme D. Ritchie (2004) The Linguistic Analysis of Jokes, Routledge, ISBN 0415309832
Roukes, Nicholas (2003) Artful Jesters: Innovators of Visual Wit and Humor, Ten Speed Press,ISBN 1580082661
Allan J. Ryan (1999) The Trickster Shift: Humour and Irony in Contemporary Native Art, UBC Press, ISBN 0774807040
Alison Ross (1998) The Language of Humour, Routledge, ISBN 0415169127
Willibald Ruch (1998) The Sense of Humor: Explorations of a Personality Characteristic, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 3110162075
Barry Sanders (1995) Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History, Beacon Press, ISBN 0807062057
Scott Cutler Shershow (1986) Laughing Matters: The Paradox of Comedy, Univ of Massachusetts Press, ISBN 0870235095
Paul Simpson (2003) On the Discourse of Satire: Towards a Stylistic Model of Satirical Humor, John Benjamins Publishing Company, ISBN 9027233330
Dean L. Yarwood (2004) When Congress Makes a Joke: Congressional Humor Then and Now, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0742530434
Applications of humor
Ronald A. Berk
(2002) Humor as an Instructional Defibrillator: Evidence-Based Techniques in teaching and assessment, Stylus Publishing, LLC, ISBN 1579220630
(2003) Professors Are from Mars, Students Are from Snickers: How to Write and , Stylus Publishing, LLC, ISBN 1579220703
Elcha Shain Buckman (1994) The Handbook of Humor: Clinical Applications in Psychotherapy, Krieger Publishing Company, ISBN 089464369X
Louis R. Franzina (2002) Kids Who Laugh: How to Develop Your Child’s Sense of Humor, Square One Publishers, ISBN 0757000088
Amelia J. Klein (2003) Humor in Children’s Lives: A Guidebook for Practitioners, Praeger/Greenwood,ISBN 0897898923
Karen J. Kolberg, Diana Loomans (2002) The Laughing Classroom: Everyone’s Guide to Teaching with Humor and Play, H J Kramer, ISBN 0915811995
Herbert M. Lefcourt (2001) Humor: The Psychology of Living Buoyantly, Springer, ISBN 0306464071
Lefcourt, H. M., & Martin, R. A. (1986). Humor and life stress: Antidote to adversity . New York: Springer/Verlag.
Paul E. McGhee (1989) Humor and Children’s Development: A Guide to Practical Applications, Haworth Press, ISBN 0866566813
C. W. Metcalf, Roma Felible (1999) Lighten Up: Survival Skills for People Under Pressure, Basic Books, ISBN 0201622394
David M. Jacobson (2007) The 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Humorous People Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, ISBN 1602640378
History of comedy and humor
R. Howard Bloch (1986) The Scandal of the Fabliaux, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226059758
Pamela Allen Brown (2003) Better a Shrew Than a Sheep: Women, Drama, and the Culture of Jest in Early Modern England, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0801488362, a review
Chris Holcomb (2001) Mirth Making: The Rhetorical Discourse on Jesting in Early Modern England, U of South Carolina Press, ISBN 1570033978
Brian Joseph Levy (2000) The Comic Text: Patterns and Images in the Old French Fabliaux, Rodopi, ISBN 9042004290a review
Laurie O’Higgins (2003) Women and Humor in Classical Greece, Cambridge University Press,ISBN 052182253X
Lisa Renée Perfetti (2003) Women and Laughter in Medieval Comic Literature, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 0472113216
Manfred Pfister (2002)A History of English Laughter: Laughter from Beowulf to Beckett and Beyond, Rodopi, ISBN 9042012889
Robson, James (2006) Humour, Obscenity and Aristophanes, Gunter Narr Verlag, ISBN 3823362208
Mary Jane Stearns Schenck (1987) Fabliaux – Tales of Wit and Deception, John Benjamins Publishing Company, ISBN 9027217343
Michael West (2000) America’s Romantic Punsters and the Search for the Language of Nature, Ohio University Press, ISBN 0821413244
Alison Williams (2000) Tricksters and Pranksters: Roguery in French and German Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Rodopi, ISBN 9042015128a review
Ethnic humor
Christie Davies
(1990) Ethnic Humor Around the World: A Comparative Analysis, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253316553
(2002) The Mirth of Nations, Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0765800969
A social and historical study of jokes from the main English-speaking countries, which debates the existing theories of humor
Emil A. Draitser (1998) Taking Penguins to the Movies: Ethnic Humor in Russia, Wayne State University Press, ISBN 0814323278
(German) Karin Keding, Anika Struppert (2006) Ethno-comedy im deutschen Fernsehen: Inhaltsanalyse und Rezipientenbefragung zu “Was guckst du?!”, Frank & Timme GmbH, ISBN 3865960847
Stand-up comedy
Joanne R. Gilbert (2004) Performing Marginality: Humor, Gender, and Cultural Critique, Wayne State University Press, ISBN 0814328032
Hengen, Shannon Eileen (1998) Performing Gender and Comedy: Theories, Texts and Contexts, Routledge, ISBN 9056995405
Suzanne Lavin (2004) Women and Comedy in Solo Performance: Phyllis Diller, Lily Tomlin, and Roseanne, Routledge, ISBN 0415948584
John Limon (2000) Stand-Up Comedy in Theory, Or, Abjection in America, Duke University Press, ISBN 0822325462
Collections of scientific works on humor
J.H. Goldstein and P.E. McGhee (Eds), The Psychology of Humor: Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Issues, New York: Academic Press, 1972
A.J. Chapman and H.C. Foot, (Eds.),
Humor and Laughter: Theory, Research and Applications,
London: John Wiley and Sons, 1976
Transaction Publishers. 1996.
It’s a Funny Thing, Humour Oxford, England: Pergamon Press, 1977
J. Bremmer and H. Roodenburg, (Eds.), A Cultural History of Humor, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1997
McGhee, P.E., and Goldstein, J.H. (Eds), Handbook of Humor Research , New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983
“Humor and Society: Explorations in the Sociology of Humor.” Houston. 1988.
John Parkin (Ed.)(1999) French Humour: Papers Based on a Colloquium Held in the French Department of the University of Bristol, November 30 1996, Rodopi, ISBN 9042005866
Paton, G.E.C., Powell, C., Wagg, S. (Eds) The Social Faces of Humour: Practices and Issues, Aldershot, England: Arena
Joseph Polimeni, Jeffrey P. Reiss, The First Joke: Exploring the Evolutionary Origins of Humor, Evolutionary Psychology, 2006. 4: 347-366.
According to the authors, the article reviews the major cultural and evolutionary theories of humor, as well as some other topics potentially helpful for understanding the origins of humor.
Articles about laughter in animals
Simonet, P.R., Murphy, M., and Lance, A. (2001). Laughing dog: Vocalizations of domestic dogs during play encounters. Animal Behavior Society Conference. Corvallis, Oregon, 14-18 July 2001.
Panksepp, J., and Burgdorf, J. (2003). “Laughing” rats and the evolutionary antecedents of human joy? Physiology and Behavior, 79, 533-547.
I was wondering if you can teach me some studies about humor in theater. I would be very grateful as I am preparing a study about it and I need some documentation.
Thank you very much!
October 16th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
October 17th, 2009 at 2:18 am
Sure!
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I was wondering if you can teach me some studies about humor in theater. I would be very grateful as I am preparing a study about it and I need some documentation.
Thank you very much!
August 4th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I’ve recently started a blog, the information you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.