Observational comedy is a style of humor based on making remarks about commonplace aspects of everyday life.

In the United States, the style was popularized by comedians such as Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Robert Klein, Richard Pryor, Jay Leno and David Letterman in the 1970s, continued by Bill Hicks, Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano, and Mitch Hedberg in the 1990s, and is currently practiced by comedians such as Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle, Dylan Moran, George Lopez, Russell Peters, Rex Navarrete, Demetri Martin, Arj Barker, Patton Oswalt, Brian Regan, Chris Rock, Nick Swardson, Dane Cook, Daniel Tosh, Jim Gaffigan, Carlos Mencia, Carl Barron, Craig Ferguson, Buddy Lewis and Garrison Keillor.

It is also very popular in Britain, with comics such as Victoria Wood, Billy Connolly, Eddie Izzard, Jack Dee, Peter Kay, Jimmy Carr, Jo Brand, Jason Manford, Michael McIntyre, Lee Mack, Lee Evans, Russell Howard, Dara Ó Briain and Frankie Boyle.

The humor, based on the premise of "It's funny because it's true,"^[1] consists of observations made about sometimes very minor and superficial aspects of Western culture: from airline peanuts to the Jared Diet to the lines at Walgreens. Jokes often begin with the phrase, "Did you ever notice?..." or "What's the deal with...?", and may end with ...'What's that about?'.

[edit] Quotes

"Sex, that's meaningless, I can understand that, but dinner; that's heavy. That's like an hour." — Jerry Seinfeld

"I saw a guy at a party wearing a leather jacket and I thought, 'That is cool.' But then I saw another guy wearing a leather vest and I thought, 'That is not cool'. Then I figured it out: 'Cool' is all about leather sleeves." — Demetri Martin.

[edit] References

1. ^ Scientific American - It's Funny Because It's True, 13 Oct 2009

[edit] External links

• Making Sense of Humour in the Workplace
• BBC H2G2 Article on Observational Comedy Acts
• Observational Humor from the Workplace: Life in the Cubicle

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