Off-color jokes were used in
Ancient Greek comedy, including the humor of
Aristophanes. His work parodied some of the great tragedians of his time, especially
Euripides, using
τὸ φορτικόν/
ἡ κωμῳδία φορτική (variously translated as "
low comedy", "vulgar
farce", "disgusting, obscene farces") that received great popularity among his contemporaries.
William Shakespeare, the 16th-century playwright and poet, is well known for his ribald humor. Almost every one of his plays contains suggestive jokes and
innuendo.
Jonathan Swift, an Irish satirist in the 17th century, used scatological humor in some of his pieces, including his famous essay
A Modest Proposal and his rather crude poem "
The Lady's Dressing Room", in which the speaker comments on the goings-on in a 17th-century woman's room, including her business in her chamber pot. Dirty jokes were once considered
subversive and underground, and rarely heard in public. Comedian
Lenny Bruce was tried, convicted, and jailed for
obscenity after a stand-up performance that included off-color humor in New York City in 1964. Comedian and actor
Redd Foxx was well known in nightclubs in the 1960s and 1970s for his raunchy
stand-up act, but toned it down for the television shows
Sanford and Son and
The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour, stating in the first monologue of the latter show that the only similarity between the show and his nightclub act was that "I'm smoking". American society has become increasingly tolerant of off-color humor since that time. Such forms of humor have become widely distributed and more socially acceptable, in part due to the mainstream success in the 1970s and 1980s of comedians like
Peter Cook and
Dudley Moore's
alter-egos
Derek and Clive,
Dolemite, and
Andrew Dice Clay.
George Carlin and
Richard Pryor have used it as an effective tool for social commentary. In the 1990s and modern era, comedians such as
Bill Hicks,
Doug Stanhope, and
Dave Chappelle have used shocking content to draw attention to their criticism of social issues, especially
censorship and the socioeconomic divide.
Dave Attell and
Louis C.K. are noted for their absurdist off-color humor. The cartoon
Beavis and Butt-head was especially off-color in its early episodes, which included numerous depictions of animal cruelty. The highly praised television show
South Park also popularized the use of offensive humor, for which the show has become infamous.
The Aristocrats is perhaps the most famous dirty joke in the US and is certainly one of the best-known and most oft-repeated among comedians themselves.
Tom Green has used shock humor in
The Tom Green Show and the film
Freddy Got Fingered, using outrageous stunts and jokes to draw an audience in. In
British humor, the genre of "
sick jokes" is often used to shock by poking fun at
taboo or as a reaction against
political correctness. Examples include the website
B3ta and its accompanying book
The Bumper B3ta Book of Sick Jokes, the humor wiki
Sickipedia and the adult comic
Viz. ==Veg and non-veg jokes==