What with popular attribution of the phrase “We are not amused” to Queen Victoria and the widespread belief that Victorians were obsessed with etiquette and death, it’s easy to get the impression that many people during this period lacked a sense of humor. However, I will explain why I’ve found the opposite to be the case, and provide examples of Victorian humor.

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References

Nicholson, Bob. “Actually, we are amused – how the Victorians helped to shape Britain’s unique sense of humour.” https://theconversation.com/actually-we-are-amused-how-the-victorians-helped-to-shape-britains-unique-sense-of-humour-82714

Punch 1841-1992. https://archive.org/details/pub_punch

Rowe, Kaz. “The Endless Horror of TikTok’s Historical Misinformation.” https://youtu.be/l4NflBAcsJ4

Russ, Arthur. “19th Century British and American Humour.” https://discover.hubpages.com/education/victorian-humour

The Book of humour, wit, and wisdom : a manual of table-talk. https://archive.org/details/bookofhumourwitw00londiala/page/n5/mode/2up

Vasey, George. The philosophy of laughter and smiling. https://archive.org/details/philosophyoflaug00vase/page/27/mode/2up

Victorian London Random Joke Generator. http://www.victorianlondon.org/joke/random.htm

Vintage Everyday. “18th-19th Century Jokes Most People Today Might Not ‘Get.’” https://www.vintag.es/2017/07/18th-19th-century-jokes-most-people.html

Wikipedia. “Phrenology.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology

Wilson, Andy. “Queen bombshell: Did Queen Victoria really say 'we are not amused'?” https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1287776/Queen-Victoria-did-Queen-Victoria-say-we-are-not-amused

And, if you haven’t yet listened to my previous episode on Punch Magazine, you can check it out here! https://open.spotify.com/episode/5w0dB0O3oniDXuhattiwkJ?si=idK_dDvcSquSpiInUag7JQ

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