Lutheran Humor

As I mourn the loss of Strange Herring and continue to mourn the loss of Luther at the Movies, I’ve been thinking about Lutheran humor. I do think there is a distinct Lutheran comic tradition. Consider the just-alluded to blogger Anthony Sacramone, Gary Larsen of the “Far Side” cartoons (also on hiatus! Lutheran humorists lack perseverance!), Dr. Seuss, Lyle Lovett, Martin Luther (the only profound theologian I know of who in the midst of a searching Biblical discourse can make a reader laugh out loud), and. . . who else?

I have noticed also in the Lutheran blogosphere, with friends at church, and amidst pastoral gatherings a certain manic humor that I don’t find elsewhere. How would you characterize it? It has a dark edge, a recognition of human sinfulness and the bondage of the will. Also a satirical flavor that must come from seeing human pretensions and, like God, holding them in derision. It is kind of absurdist too. And there is a freedom about it that can only come from the freedom of the Gospel.

Have any of the rest of you picked up on this? Is there also a Calvinist sense of humor, or a Baptist, charismatic, Catholic, or other Christian tradition’s sense of humor? (That there is a Jewish sense of humor has been much studied. Is there a Muslim sense of humor? A Buddhist sense of humor? Or are some religious traditions just too serious?)