Humor is a complex phenomenon that shapes, challenges, and enriches communication across diverse contexts. As a key variable in understanding social dynamics, power relations, identity, and connection, humor provides fertile ground for advancing theoretical, methodological, and applied communication research. This special issue of Review of Communication seeks to explore humor in all its complexity, welcoming contributions that examine humor through various communication contexts (e.g., mediated, interpersonal, organizational, instructional, health) and methodological approaches (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, critical, rhetorical).
We invite original research and comprehensive reviews that align with the journal’s aim to bridge divides, clarify concepts, or contribute to major disciplinary issues. Submissions should demonstrate scholarly rigor while addressing humor’s implications for communication theory, research, practice, or pedagogy.
Potential topics for submission include, but are not limited to:
- Theory development
- Measurement development
- Reviews of literature that overcome siloing across disciplines
- Context-based studies of humor
