Humor Research Conference History

Since 2011, the North East Texas Humor Research Conference has provided a vibrant forum for sharing and celebrating the latest scholarship in humor studies. What began as a regional gathering has steadily grown into a truly international event, attracting leading scholars, emerging researchers and attendees from around the world—reaching participants from 37 countries by 2025.

The materials on this page document the conference's evolution and highlight key contributions across the field of humor studies. To learn how to submit your research to our next annual conference, please visit the Humor Research Conference webpage.

2027: 17th Conference

The 17th annual HRC will take place March 26–27, 2027.

2026: 16th Conference

This conference will be held online only.

The 16th annual HRC took place March 6–8, 2026, as a live-broadcast online event, with pre-conference workshops and sessions on March 5. The conference was live, but this year we also added a pre-recorded submission option.

Dates

March 6-8, 2026

Venue

Online

Conference Organizers

Salvatore Attardo, Ph.D., East Texas A&M University

Christian Hempelmann, Ph.D., East Texas A&M University

Keynote Speakers

  • Dr. Herb Colston, University of Alberta, Canada
    • Similarities and Differences in Figurativity and Riffing: A Frame-Contrasts-Within-Frame-Layerings Account
  • Dr. Steven Gimbel, Gettysburg College, USA
    • Humor Ethics and Joke Capital: How to Win Friends and Insult People
  • Dr. Sharon Lockyer, Brunel University, United Kingdom
    • Standing Up for Tics and Tourette’s Syndrome in Live Comic Performance
  • Dr. Mirella Manfredi, University of Zurich, Switzerland
    • The Neuroscience of Humour: Insights into Diversity of Minds
  • Dr. Henri Olkoniemi, University of Oulu, Finland
    • Who Gets It? Individual Differences in Irony Comprehension Across the Lifespan

Media

Pre-Recorded Presentations

(Panel) Making Italian Humour Research Great Again

2025: 15th Conference

The 15th annual HRC took place as a live-broadcast online event from February 14–16, 2025, with pre-conference workshops and sessions held on February 13. This was the largest conference to date, both in terms of the number of presentations and attendees. Over the course of the event, we featured more than 50 presentations, along with three keynote speakers and three pre-conference workshops. The conference welcomed 172 attendees from 37 different countries, with 70% of participants attending for the first time.

Dates

Feb. 14-16, 2025

Venue

Online

Organization

ISHS-HRC is organized by the Applied Linguistics Laboratory at East Texas A&M University,
Department of Literature and Languages.

Conference Organizers

Students

Faculty Advisors

Keynote Speakers

Media

2024: 14th Conference

The 2024 Conference of the International Society for Humor Studies (ISHS 34) was hosted online by East Texas A&M University from April 19-21, 2024 concurrently with the 14th Humor Research Conference (HRC 14). There were nearly 200 in attendance, 17 poster presentations, 82 papers and panel presentations, and four plenaries.

Dates

April 18-21, 2024

Venue

Online

Organization

ISHS-HRC is organized by the Applied Linguistics Laboratory at East Texas A&M University,
Department of Literature and Languages.

Conference Organizers

Students

Faculty Advisors

Media

2023: 13th Conference

Dates

March 31 and April 1, 2023

Venue

Online

Conference Organizers

This conference was fully student organized.

Students

Faculty Advisors

Media

2022: 12th Conference

Dates

April 1-2, 2022

Venue

Online

Conference Organizers

This conference was fully student organized.

Students

Faculty Advisors

Media

2021: 11th Conference

Dates

Feb. 26-27, 2021

Venue

Online

Conference Organizers

This conference was fully student organized.

Students

Faculty Advisors

2020: 10th Conference

This conference marked our transition to online-only format.

Dates

March 20, 2020

Venue

Planned: David Talbot Hall of Languages, East Texas A&M University

Actual: Online-only

Conference Organizers

This conference was fully student organized.

Students

Faculty Advisors

2019: 9th Conference

Date

March 29, 2019

Venue

David Talbot Hall of Languages, East Texas A&M University

Conference Organizers

Olga Cochran: Stand-Up Comedy as a Teaching Tool in the College of Linguistics and Composition Classrooms

Sarvenaz Balali: Puns: Phonological Similarity in Terms of Syllabic Structure

Jennifer Golston: Fat Jokes as Empowerment to a Growing Majority

Suthichai Taupradist: L2 Student Perceptions of the Humorous Teacher versus Humorous Materials

George Curley: Humor and the Babylon Bee

Salvatore Attardo: The Comedian as Antagonist in the Age of Eristic Public Discourse

Abigail Diaz: The Evolution of Humor Caused by Technological Innovation

2018: 8th Conference

Theme: Multidisciplinary

Dates

Feb. 16-17, 2018

Venue

David Talbot Hall of Languages, East Texas A&M University

Conference Organizers

This conference is fully student organized.

Students

Faculty Advisors

Keynote Speaker

2017: 7th Conference

Theme: Multidisciplinary

Dates

March 9-11, 2017

Venue

Universities Center at Dallas

Conference Organizers

Keynote Speaker

2016: 6th Conference

Theme: Empirical Approaches to Humor

Dates

Feb. 19-21, 2016

Venue

East Texas A&M University

Conference Organizers

2015: 5th Conference

Selected peer-reviewed papers appeared in a special issue of E-JournALL (EuroAmerican Journal for Applied Linguistics and Languages), guest-edited by Salvatore Attardo, Ph.D.

Theme: Humor and Pedagogy

Dates

Feb. 20-22, 2015

Venue

Universities Center at Dallas

Conference Coordinators

Program Committee

Invited Speakers

2014: 4th Conference

Theme: Intercultural and Cross-Cultural Humor

Dates

Feb. 21-23, 2014

Venue

East Texas A&M University at Rockwall, Texas

Conference Coordinators

Program Committee

2013: 3rd Conference

Theme: Humor in the Professions, Psychology, Philology: Intercultural Perspectives

Dates

Feb. 22-24, 2013

Venue

Southern Methodist University, Umphrey Lee Center

Hosts

The Division of Communication Studies, SMU Meadows School of the Arts

The College of Humanities, Social Sciences & Arts, East Texas A&M University

Conference Coordinators

Program Committee

Keynote Speakers

  • Dr. Shaquille O’Neal and Dr. David M. Kopp
    • Q&A on Humor and Leadership

2011: 2nd Conference

Dates

Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2011

Venue

East Texas A&M University

Host

East Texas A&M University

Conference Coordinator

Colette Newman, East Texas A&M University

2011: Inaugural Conference

Dates

Jan. 28-30, 2011

Venue

Southern Methodist University

  • Umphrey Lee Center – Room 229

Host

SMU Meadows Schools of the Arts

Conference Coordinator

Owen Hanley Lynch, Ph. D., Southern Methodist University, Communication Studies

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