One of the traditional Turkish theater's dramatic performing skills, known as "theatrical village plays," is currently being neglected and forgotten. The theatrical village plays, a mix of Central Asian and Anatolian cultural influences, have multiple purposes within the societies where they originate. The primary function of these dramatic plays in rural life is to provide entertainment, largely due to the inclusion of humorous aspects. In this study, which aims to examine humor through examples selected from village theatrical plays that reflect prominent aspects of Turkish folk humor, humor theories frequently employed in humor studies and the method of analysis have been preferred. The study is based on the Superiority Theory of humor, and the humorous elements in village performances were analyzed using the method of textual analysis within the framework of this theory. The Superiority Theory attributes humor to the pleasure derived from the superiority of one individual over another in a weaker position. According to this theory, people laugh when they feel superior to others. It was observed that humor fitting this theory, which focuses on a rather primal emotion, is frequently used in village performances. In the village theatrical performances analyzed in this study, humor is generated by belittling certain characters, the superiority of the knowledgeable over others, pitiful or deceived characters, imitations of those with physical or mental deficiencies, and various penalty games (particularly during the “bride procession” scenes), all of which portray one party as inferior to the other players and/or audience, allowing the audience to feel superior. It was found that the frequent use of farce elements in village performances is no coincidence, and that the pleasure derived from the sense of superiority that makes the audience laugh is influenced by the fact that the source of these plays is rooted in ritual origins and carries traces from the early stages of society.

Humor, theatrical village plays, traditional Turkish theater, superiority theory of humor.