Vivian Sobchack notes that the film's humor and irony relies on the assumption of the audience's historical (self-) consciousness.

Self-deprecating humor relies on the observation of something supposedly negative about the person delivering the commentary.

Their adventures were mostly surreal and the humour relied heavily upon Glashan's imaginative watercolour artwork.

The visual humour of many of these silent films relied on slapstick and burlesque.

The series' humor relied heavily on sight gags, wordplay, and allusiveness.

Also, the humour in the piece relies in many instances on parodies of operatic conventions that may be unfamiliar to some audiences.

The humor relies heavily on the oral and anal stages.

Sharp-edged humor relies on topical reference points.

The humor relies on jokes about Thurgood's head landing in a toilet.

Similarly, his humour and often paradoxical view of the world relies on the contrast between exalted mysticism and common sense.