punching up
Making jokes better
Punching up means directing criticism, humor, or aggression toward those with more power or status than oneself.
The phrase comes from comedy, where jokes aimed at the powerful are considered more ethical than those targeting the vulnerable.
Satirizing billionaires is punching up; mocking the homeless is punching down.
The term also describes revising a script to make it funnier or sharper: They hired a comedy writer to punch up the dialogue.
- improvingBecoming more capable
- betteringMaking something more good
- script doctorScreenplay revision specialist
- parodySatirical imitation
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
activism · subversion · social commentary · lampooning · late night comedy · underdog · hierarchy · oppression · speak truth to power · wit · equity · systemic change · empowerment · marginalization · caricature · privilege · irony · taking aim
punching uppunching down
Mocking those beneath you
bullying · cruelty · bootlicking · sucking up · sycophancy