Humor and meme Telegram channels

A good laugh: what these channels share

Humour channels post memes, cartoons, short videos, remixes, jokes of the day, sketches, news parodies and absurd everyday stories. Some are run by comedians and illustrators sharing their own work, others by curators who dig up the best finds online, and others by communities built around a job, a hobby or a local area. They are there for a break between meetings, for sending a laugh to friends and family, and sometimes for taking a sharp, funny look at the news.

Picking the right kind of funny

Humour is a matter of taste, but some things can be judged objectively. A channel that makes its own content, or credits the artists behind the cartoons and clips it reposts, deserves your loyalty more than one that crops out signatures. Also keep an eye on:

• the pace, since thirty memes an hour quickly bury the good stuff;
• how much advertising and sponsored content sits between the jokes;
• the tone in the comments, which can slide from banter to bullying;
• consistency: a funny channel that suddenly starts pushing dodgy promotions may have changed hands.

When the joke is covering for something else

Meme channels often build large audiences, and that draws opportunists. A popular channel can be sold and turned overnight into a vehicle for scams, fake investment schemes or ads for suspicious apps. "Fun quizzes" asking you to log in with your account or hand over your phone number are another way of harvesting personal data. And humour is sometimes just wrapping paper for hateful content, mockery of real private people or photos taken without consent. At that point it is no longer comedy but harassment, and it may well be against the law.

A simple habit protects you: before forwarding a funny video of a stranger, ask yourself whether that person would be happy to see it spread. If the answer is no, let it go. Laughing with people is the point; laughing at someone who never agreed to be filmed is not.

Our criteria for Humor & Memes

We accept original comedy, cartoons, memes and parody, including dark or satirical humour. We turn down content that targets people for their ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, humiliating videos of identifiable private individuals, sexually explicit jokes and channels acting as a front for scams. Parodies must be recognisable as parodies.

Frequently asked questions

Can a meme channel repost other people's work?

We favour channels that credit their sources. An occasional, credited repost is common practice; systematically lifting one creator's work is not.

Are satirical news channels accepted?

Yes, as long as the satire is obvious and does not pass itself off as real news that people might share in good faith.

A listed channel has changed what it posts. What should I do?

Report it to us from its listing page. We will review it again and remove it if it no longer meets our criteria.