What is Dry Humor?
Dry humor, also known as deadpan humor, is a style of performing comedy without any drama or exaggeration. It is very straightforward and simply calm. This is very different from the usual humor or comedy shows that you see every day, where they make use of several facial expressions, exaggeration, varied tone, and so on. However, this is not the case with dry humor.
Also referred to as highbrow comedy, dry humor is an art that requires considerable talent and restraint to perform effectively. The performers make use of every day words, current affairs, and popular topics to make it easily understandable to the audience, which makes them connect with the content of the joke. This makes it more appealing.
IN dry humor, the performers put more emphasis on the usage of words, and formation of sentences than the words that attract attention. In some cases, the delivery of the joke would be a bit sarcastic or a bit exaggerated. However, there usually is no change in the tone or emphasis, which people perceive to be funnier. They also make use of irony or simile to compare things or people in a funny manner. The word choice here makes the show.
Dry humor is named so, as the humor is presented in a very ‘dry’ way. IF you are stil not clear about what is dry humor, here is its definition from wordreference.com:
humorously sarcastic or mocking; “dry humor”; “an ironic remark often conveys an intended meaning obliquely”; “an ironic novel”; “an ironical smile”; “with a wry Scottish wit”
If you want to adopt this style or want to learn dry humor, you will have to start playing with words, using lot of pun, simile, metaphor, and so on. You can use similar words to give different messages or use opposite words to give one message. However, irrespective of what topic you choose, it will attract both positive and negative response, as it is not a general way to showcase humor.
The reception of this humor largely depends on the audience you are presenting to. If the audience doesn’t like this genre, your attempts would certainly be criticized. However, if you deliver it to the right set of audience, you humor would be loved because it is distinct and long-lasting impact.