Pandemic Humor: Inventory of the Humor Scripts Produced during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

Humor is no cure for COVID-19, does feed the hungry, nor can pay the bills of the jobless. Many do not approve of humor out of crisis, yet millions of people have come up with COVID-19 related humor scripts on social medial platforms if only to soften grief, lighten mood, and distract people from the struggle in accepting the new normal. Humor is also used as coping mechanism for the bad scenario experienced by many. Everybody tends to laugh at those they love and hate, and many times they joke about the good and bad fortunes of people. The present quantitative-qualitative study documents and categorizes the 214 humor scripts (equal distribution of Tagalog and English humor scripts) that were produced and circulated in social media platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The collected humor scripts were coded according to humor types (i.e., aggressive, national/ethnic, positive, self-deprecating, sexual, sexist), humor targets, humor subjects and humor structure (i.e., conversational, narrative, one-liner, question and answer, verse/lyrical). Humor targets and subjects exclusive to Tagalog and English humor scripts were also discussed.

Keywords: humor, type, target, subject, structure, COVID-19

JEL Classification: I19