Big Game, Bigger Laughs: The Ads That Understood Humor This Year

• by Danielle Montana , February 11, 2026

The Super Bowl remains advertising’s biggest comedy stage: where nostalgia, celebrities, satire and sheer absurdity battle it out for cultural relevance and brand love. To cut through the noise, Peppercomm’s Laughing Matters Council weighed in on the ads that delivered genuine laughs, smart structure and memorable storytelling.

From nostalgic nods to perfectly timed punchlines, our experts share what stood out, and what fell flat, after the final whistle:

 Luvell Anderson, Professor, Head at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

“Good Will Dunkin’’ tapped into ‘90s nostalgia and Dunkin’s domination of the Northeast. This chuckle-worthy send-up had me hankering for a Boston creme.

Similarly, Raisin Bran’s cheeky wordplay with Will Shatner provided lots of scatalogical fun: “Will Shat? Every darn day!”

Malcolm Frierson, Assistant Professor at Riverside City College

I’m among men with hair on their faces and other places, and the “Manscaped” commercial moved me to create a goodbye ritual for my heartbroken hairs after future shaves and trims. Novartis indeed relaxed my tight end with its hilarious and important message regarding finger-free prostate screenings. Finally, I gotta say I went to bed laughing at the Pringles “perfect man” driving a convertible with his hair (chips) flying away in the wind.

Clayton Fletcher, Peppercomm’s Chief Comedy Officer and Co-Author of The ROI of LOL

Emma Stone struck a chord with performing artists and business owners alike in her commercial for SquareSpace. In the ad, she is mortified to discover that her domain name, emmastone.com, is already taken. Reprising her role in “Bugonia,” Emma throws an unhinged fit over the horrifying news. This one really hit home for me because one day almost 20 years ago, I tried to create a Twitter account using my full name and it was already taken. On that day, I responded similarly as Ms. Stone and @claytoncomic was born.

David Horning, Chief Experience Officer at Water Cooler Comedy and Secret Society Comedy’s Executive Producer

AI was a big topic of conversation coming into 2026’s ads, and no one did it better than Anthropic’s Claude ads -- by calling out industry leader OpenAI’s adoption of ads IN ADS. Chef’s kiss on the meta jokes (no Zuckerberg) in these. In a year filled with grandiose, cameo-packed attempts at connection (cough Bud Light cough), these stood out for their simplicity and well-structured, tongue-in-cheek writing. Asking an unblinking manifestation of ChatGPT “How do I connect better with my mom?” to be met with two earnest answers followed by an ad to “find connection with other older women on Golden Encounters,” was perfect joke structure with an unexpected, yet logical punchline. Well played, Claude. (This ad recap was NOT written using AI).

 Liz Joynt Sandberg, Head of Comedy Arts, Assistant Professor at DePaul University

It’s rare to see satire at the Super Bowl (at least on purpose!), but Wegovy shot for it (no pun intended) this year. In a smart and thoughtful way, Wegovy shared whimsical examples of other things we might want to take a pill to help. These included things like parallel parking, and rescuing kittens with super-long paws. Their final example? How great it would be if we could take a pill to get rid of the judgment users face in adding GLP 1s to their weight loss routine. By showing us things that it would be ridiculous to judge someone for wanting to take a pill to help with (and making us laugh in the process), Wegovy responded to a common criticism by getting us to see that it’s a little ridiculous to judge its users as well. 

Whether through nostalgia, satire or expertly crafted joke structure, this year’s most effective Super Bowl ads reminded us that humor isn’t just entertainment -- it’s strategy. When brands respect the audience’s intelligence and understand comedic timing, the payoff goes far beyond a laugh. And as these insights show, the best jokes don’t just land in the moment -- they stick for a while.