Welcome to the home of Studies in American Humor, the journal of the American Humor Studies Association.

Founded by the American Humor Studies Association in 1974 and published continuously since 1982, StAH specializes in humanistic research on humor in America (loosely defined) because the universal human capacity for humor is always expressed within the specific contexts of time, place, and audience that research methods in the humanities strive to address. Such methods now extend well beyond the literary and film analyses that once formed the core of American humor scholarship to a wide range of critical, biographical, historical, theoretical, archival, ethnographic, and digital studies of humor in performance and public life as well as in print and other media. StAH’s expanded editorial board of specialists marks that growth. On behalf of the editorial board, we invite scholars across the humanities to submit their best work on topics in American humor and join us in advancing knowledge in the field. From  “Nervous Laughter: American Humor Studies in Dispiriting Times” by Former Editor Lawrence Howe.

Contact: stah@press.psu.edu

***Upcoming Special Issue:

Call for Papers Studies in American Humor Special Issue, 2027: “Periodicals, Period: Humor and Nineteenth-Century American Newspapers and Magazines.”

Studies in American Humor, the journal of the American Humor Studies Association, invites submissions of scholarly papers for a special issue of the journal to appear in fall 2027, edited by Wesley Scott McMasters and Todd Nathan Thompson. The topic of this special issue is “Periodicals, Period: Humor and Nineteenth-Century American Newspapers and Magazines.” This special issue will be an extension of a well-received panel on this topic (co-sponsored by the American Humor Studies Association and the Research Society for American Periodicals) at the 2025 American Literature Association conference.

On August 28, 1879, the Kenosha [WI] Telegraph ran a poem titled “The Editor and the Poet’s Ghost,” which parodied Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (1845) while teasing both overworked newspaper editors and poor-devil authors. After the ghost reveals his reason for haunting the editor–i.e. he wants him to print some of his poems, of which he has “a score”–the editor responds, ““Ghost!” I cried, “O scorn your pleading; I am now no poetry needing, / Better be your exit speeding.’” This is just one of dozens of parodies of “The Raven” that circulated in newspapers and magazines in the nineteenth century. Such works offer unique insight into nineteenth-century editorial practices as they overlap with literary and print cultures, laying bare connections within networks of authors, editors, and readers, but also illustrating patterns of reception, recognition, and reuse as well as the ways in which these patterns recursively inform further editorial practices and production. Additionally, “The Editor and the Poet’s Ghost” dramatizes the close, symbiotic relationship between three key elements of early American culture: literature, humor, and the periodical press.

This special issue will feature essays that consider the interstices of humor, periodicals and editorial practices, and cultural production in the American press over the long nineteenth century. Topics may include but are not limited to the following: approaches by and to particular literary humorists writing for periodicals, literary parody and satire in periodicals, reprints of jokes and humorous bon mots, comic depictions in periodicals of American authors and the literary scene, “insider” humor about the press and editorial work, editors’ roles, influence and exchange across periodicals and editors, the use of comic or satiric rhetoric to make political points and/or cultural critique in the pages of newspapers and magazines, etc.

If interested, send a 300-word proposal and a brief bio to Wesley McMasters (WMcMasters@cn.edu) and Todd Thompson (Todd.Thompson@iup.edu) by January 1, 2026. The deadline for final submissions of essays developed from accepted proposals will be September 1, 2026. The scheduled release date of the issue is fall 2027. Final manuscripts should be in the range of 5000 to 8000 words. For more submission and style guidelines, see https://studiesinamericanhumor.org/submissions-2/submissions/. Any questions can be forwarded to the editorial team at stah@press.psu.edu or to guest editors.

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Individuals can subscribe to Studies in American Humor by joining the American Humor Studies Association.  Institutions and libraries should subscribe via the Penn State University Press.

Previous Editor Statement:  Judith Yaross Lee, Enter Laughing.

See the Table of Contents for all issues here.