Argentine humour is exemplified by a number of humorous television programmes, film productions, comic strips and other types of media. Everyday humour includes jokes related to recurrent themes, such as xenophobic jokes at the expense of Galicians (

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

) called ''chistes de gallegos'' (where they are commonly portrayed as simpletons), often obscene sex-related jokes (''chistes verdes'', literally "green jokes", a term equivalent to the English-language "blue humour"), jokes about the English, the Americans, blonde women, dark humour (called ''humor negro''), word and pronunciation games, jokes about Argentines themselves, etc.

Television shows

There are and have been many humorous Argentine television shows, of many genres and themes. Many artists focus on political humour. Shows include '' Cha Cha Cha'', ''Todo por dos pesos'', '' Caiga Quien Caiga'' commonly referred to as ''CQC'', ''El Show de Videomatch'', etc. Notable television comedians include Juan Verdaguer, Tato Bores,

Alberto Olmedo Alberto Olmedo (24 August 1933 – 5 March 1988) was an Argentine comedian and actor, popularly regarded as one of the most important comedians in the history of his country, for his outstanding work in television, cinema and theater. Olmedo w ...

, Jorge Porcel, Antonio Gasalla, Jorge Guinzburg, Alfredo Casero, Juan Carlos Mareco, Gianni Lunadei, Guillermo Francella, and most recently, Diego Capusotto. Many of these and others have also appeared in numerous comedy roles in Argentine cinema, notably Olmedo, Porcel, Francella, Niní Marshall, Luis Sandrini, and

Javier Portales Javier Portales, born Miguel Ángel Álvarez (21 April 1937 in Tancacha, Córdoba, Argentina – 14 October 2003 in Buenos Aires), was an Argentine actor who worked in television, film and theater. Biography Portales started to work early i ...

. Between the 1960s and the late 1980s, there was an important influence of Uruguayan humorists. Ricardo Espalter, Enrique Almada, Raimundo Soto, Eduardo D'Angelo, Julio Frade, Berugo Carámbula, Henny Trayles and Gabriela Acher were active in many television programs, such as Jaujarana, Hupumorpo, Comicolor, Híperhumor.

Comic strips and comic books

Quino's '' Mafalda'' is one of the internationally best-known Argentine comic strips and comic-book series. Its humour is related to local and international politics. Caricaturist Andrés Cascioli edited and created cover art for one of the nation's longest-running satirical publications,

Humor Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids i ...

, which ran from 1978 to 1999, and frequently met with censorship. Maitena is another successful comic-book writer, dealing with women and family values. Fontanarrosa was another famous Argentine cartoonist, known for his comic strip ''Inodoro Pereyra'' featuring a

gaucho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the southern part of Bolivia, and the south of Chilean Patago ...

. ''See:'' Gaturro, Macanudo, Yo, Matías

Literary humour

Humour can be found in the works of some of Argentina's best-known writers. For example,

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

was known for his dry, sometimes dark, humour. He begins his story "The Dread Redeemer Lazarus Morrell" by describing

Bartolomé de las Casas Bartolomé de las Casas, Dominican Order, OP ( ; ); 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a Spanish clergyman, writer, and activist best known for his work as an historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman, then became ...

as having taken pity on the natives suffering and dying in the mines of the

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

, thereby leading the Spanish government to relieve their suffering by importing African slaves to suffer and die in the mines of the Antilles. His one-paragraph short story "On Accuracy in Science", probably inspired by a remark of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

's, imagines a map drawn at 1:1 scale, so that it covers the entire country that it illustrates. Borges and another of the country's leading writers, Adolfo Bioy Casares, created the pseudonymous H. Bustos Domecq, under whose name they wrote, among other things, comic detective fiction.

Theatre and Stand-up comedy

Numerous comedy theatre actors earned renown among Argentine audiences over the years, including Florencio Parravicini, José Marrone, Pepe Biondi, Niní Marshall, Juan Carlos Altavista, Antonio Gasalla, and others. Well-known Argentine stand-up comics include Enrique Pinti and Luis Landriscina.

Musical comedy

Established in 1967, Les Luthiers is the nation's best-known musical troupe, and are known for inventing many of their instruments. Midachi, a musical comedy trio established in 1983, was also popular both on stage and on television.

Sex comedies

Argentine sex comedy films have been popular since the 1960s.

References

{{Authority control