“She’s a dirty comic. He’s an observational comedian. They just tell one-liners.” What are the different types of comedians and the different types of jokes?

A type of comedian has to do with their ethos or voice or general character that they personify, which is different from the types of jokes. Although some types of comedians gravitate to some types of jokes, they need to be understood separately to be dissected. Think of the different genres of music (jazz, country, hip hop) and the styles of music that they make (pop, upbeat, acoustic).
 

Types of comedian:

Observational

Observational comedians provide commentary to the day-to-day and are relatable. A part of being relatable is having a pulse on the shared culture and experience of society with the audience. It is hard to do observational humor about Canada in Korea, but there are more general shared experiences like airline food or universal experiences like hunger. Observational comics are usually analytical and point out the oddities of some shared practice that has gone unnoticed. They provide a commentary on society and offer a mirror on society to laugh at.

Anecdotical

Anecdotes or storytelling comedians have long form structures with multiple jokes sprinkled in. Contrasts this with shorter bits or even shorter one-liner focused comedians, storytellers are often also relatable, personal, and observe the world, but they do it through sharing their life experience instead of some abstract topic. They provide specific situations and imagery an try to put the audience in their shoes while sprinkling in jokes to make them laugh. The stories don’t necessarily have to be relatable as their unique life experience can make it all the more engaging. More often than not, the stories are based on truth but highly embellished.

Situational

Situational comedy is based on the setting and the absurd life circumstances we find in characters or even in ourselves. These are quirky scenarios that Hollywood writers often come up with for a laugh track. But we also find it in real life. Think about the most serious situations and straight-edged people being put in hilarious situations or saying out-of-character things.

Character

Character comedy leans hard into quirkiness or being weird. The relationship with the audience is more intimate and built on a rapport of being a certain character or having a certain quirk. This character can be rooted in reality, take a stage persona, or be completely somebody else. The relationship and rapport are broken when the comedian breaks character or there is some inconsistency in the ethos of the character.

Alternative

Alternative comedy is based on a reaction to what might be considered mainstream comedy. Sometimes it’s referred to as nerdy or highbrow comedy. It embraces awkwardness, eccentricity, or intellectual jokes. It’s like hipster comedy.

 These are not sharply demarcated categories and the comic types and joke types often blend into each other. But these are useful categories to analyze comedians and jokes, and to find a voice and construct jokes for yourself.