Comedy and Demographics

From mediaartiststudio

One of the cardinal rules of marketing is appeal to the group of people that can make you the most money. Everyone can laugh, but is even humor segregated to reach only certain groups? Whats funny to one group, and what makes it funny? Are certain traits of comedy simply riding on the backbone of stereotypes that we look down upon when used in drama or action genres? I believe that comedy; just like anything else that is used as a tool to make money, is targeted toward people all the time, and that experience will make something funnier to a group who can most relate to it. For example; if a black comedian makes a joke referencing being discriminated against in a store, someone who is white and perhaps upper class might not find it as humorous, or get the full extent of the joke. A child watching a cartoon might find a character passing gas funny, while their parents would find it to be lowbrow.

Defining demographic and ones target audience for humor is a very important thing to consider before creating something mainstream (such as film, comedies specifically). Your audience is what you want to pull in. Although not to say people outside of said group cannot find it funny, strangely enough, people sometimes fall into these areas without even noticing it.