10+ Best Articles on Comedy
The most useful articles on comedy from around the web—beginners to advanced—curated by thought leaders and our community. We focus on timeless pieces and update the list whenever we discover new, must-read articles or videos—make sure to bookmark and revisit this page.
Top 5 Comedy Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved on comedy by Refind users in 2023 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
Edgar Wright - How to Do Visual Comedy
If you love visual comedy, you gotta love Edgar Wright, one of the few filmmakers who is consistently finding humor through framing, camera movement, editing...
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles on comedy—all under 10 minutes.
The Psychology of Cringe Comedy: Why We Love to Watch What Hurts Us
From ‘Da Ali G Show’ to viral TikTok videos, cringe comedy persists within pop culture. And oftentimes, the genre’s appeal is as much about the way we perceive ourselves than the comics we watch…
Julia Roberts: We Didn't Fully 'Appreciate' the Romantic-Comedy Boom in the 1990s
Julia Roberts is returning to the romantic-comedy genre for the first time in over 20 years with the upcoming “Ticket for Paradise,” and she hopes audiences will finally appreciate the …
Irene Goes Wild
The great but underrated Hollywood star Irene Dunne made her transition to screwball comedy by playing the scandal-courting author at the heart of Theodora Goes Wild.
Why do some people love cringe comedy while others can't stand it?
Why do will some people find cringe comedy hilarious, while others will see it as boring rubbish? The answer is your life experiences.
Comedy’s existential crisis
The Joe Rogan debate underscores comedy’s ongoing conversation about morality, cancel culture, and how to be funny.
«many comedians seem to be scrambling to figure out where they fall on the scale between “just jokes” and “glorified lecture.”»
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles on comedy.
Divine comedy: the standup double act who turned to the priesthood
The long read: Josh and Jack used to interrogate life via absurdist jokes and sketches. But the questions they had just kept getting bigger – and led them both to embark upon a profound transformation
Who’s Laughing Now?
Jon Stewart is comedy royalty. But the world has changed since he was at the height of his powers.
Ben Stiller Talks Severance, His Marriage, Children, Parents, and Reality Bites
He’s been pretty amazing your whole life. Then things started to crumble—his marriage, his work, his health. But now? With Severance, and all that the future holds? Everything is very much coming back…
The Structure of Stand-Up Comedy
The genius of Ali Wong’s Netflix special.
The 100 Jokes That Shaped Modern Comedy
From the Marx Brothers to The Simpsons, Richard Pryor to Amy Schumer: 100 bits, sketches, and one-liners that changed humor forever.
Publications
We monitor hundreds of publications, blogs, newsletters, and news sources in Comedy, including:
The Ringer
Sports. TV. Movies. Pop Culture. Music.
The Pudding
The Pudding is a digital publication that explains ideas debated in culture with visual essays. Email: sup@pudding.cool Support: http://patreon.com/thepudding
Big Think
Learn from the world’s biggest thinkers.
Esquire
Style, Storytelling, Culture, Attitude. Est. 1933.
Mental Floss
Home for all things curious, including surprising facts; answers to life's big questions; and untold stories from history, science, pop culture, and beyond.
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Every day Refind picks the most relevant links from around the web for you. Picking only a handful of links means focusing on what’s relevant and useful. We favor timeless pieces—links with long shelf-lives, articles that are still relevant one month, one year, or even ten years from now. These lists of the best resources on any topic are the result of years of careful curation.
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We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Which sources does Refind monitor on comedy?
We monitor hundreds of sources on comedy, including The Ringer, The Pudding, Big Think, Esquire, Mental Floss, and many more.
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