Venting social anxiety

There’s a difference between experiencing cringe and finding it funny.

We laugh at moral or social violations which offer no real hurt and are not happening to us. Cringe humor has to relate to our everyday lives in some way.

When we laugh at cringe comedy, we reestablish ourselves on the right side of social norms or taboos. We know the rule and know when someone has broken them, and then we laugh to relieve our own sense of social anxiety.