Playful Transgression Theory of Humor and Laughter

Abstract The role of playfulness in humor theory has often been neglected. Humor theorists often connect a certain implicit playfulness, but most do not employ the rich theoretical tradition of the play discipline. If play is discussed, it is usually used to call humor innocuous or detached from normal life. The assumption that play is always safe or disconnected from larger life is not well-founded in play studies. In this way, humor theorists can make inaccurate or even dangerous conclusions about playful humor. Simultaneously, play theorists often view humor as an enactment of playfulness, while not robustly defining it. We provide new perspectives on the experience of playful humor, based on Masek and Stenros’s (2021) and Masek’s (2024) theory of playfulness as “engagement prioritizing.” In this interdisciplinary approach, we argue that humor is a form of transgressive playfulness. We define comedy as a subset in which rules are set up in such a way that transgression is systematic. The theory is described and compared to major humor theories, most notably Incongruity and Benign Violation Theory. This approach offers a closer collaboration between theories of humor and play and reframes several important humor questions.