To Laugh, or Not to Laugh? A Brief Overview of Victorian-Era Humor

What with popular attribution of the phrase “We are not amused” to Queen Victoria and the widespread belief that Victorians were obsessed with etiquette and death, it’s easy to get the impression that many people during this period lacked a sense of humor. However, I will explain why I’ve found the opposite to be the case, and provide examples of Victorian humor. ***** References Nicholson, Bob. “Actually, we are amused – how the Victorians helped to shape Britain’s unique sense of humour.” https://theconversation.com/actually-we-are-amused-how-the-victorians-helped-to-shape-britains-unique-sense-of-humour-82714 Punch 1841-1992. https://archive.org/details/pub_punch Rowe, Kaz. “The Endless Horror of TikTok’s Historical Misinformation.” https://youtu.be/l4NflBAcsJ4 Russ, Arthur. “19th Century British and American Humour.” https://discover.hubpages.com/education/victorian-humour The Book of humour, wit, and wisdom : a manual of table-talk. https://archive.org/details/bookofhumourwitw00londiala/page/n5/mode/2up Vasey, George. The philosophy of laughter and smiling. https://archive.org/details/philosophyoflaug00vase/page/27/mode/2up Victorian London Random Joke Generator. http://www.victorianlondon.org/joke/random.htm Vintage Everyday. “18th-19th Century Jokes Most People Today Might Not ‘Get.’” https://www.vintag.es/2017/07/18th-19th-century-jokes-most-people.html Wikipedia. “Phrenology.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology Wilson, Andy. “Queen bombshell: Did Queen Victoria really say 'we are not amused'?” https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1287776/Queen-Victoria-did-Queen-Victoria-say-we-are-not-amused And, if you haven’t yet listened to my previous episode on Punch Magazine, you can check it out here! https://open.spotify.com/episode/5w0dB0O3oniDXuhattiwkJ?si=idK_dDvcSquSpiInUag7JQ ***** Email: [email protected] Twitter: twitter.com/victorianvarie1 Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/marisadf13 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thevictorianvarietyshow I’d greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to rate & review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Goodpods, Spotify, Podchaser, Audible, or wherever you listen, as that will help this podcast reach more listeners!