: Re: How can I write humor as character trait? I have a character that likes to make humor, puns and jokes. Humor should work here as a character trait; something really peculiar to this particular

@Welton431

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Comic relief characters are actually more of a tool to use when the writer(s) need to break tension, sadness, or emotion from certain moments. What makes a character a comic relief is that their humour is focused on such events. So, if you want the character's humour to feel natural:

Make it part of his normal self:
Dont't just have him crack jokes and puns on such strong moments; he has to react and respond with humour almost everytime specially on situations that don't affect itself directly.
Make his participations more than just making jokes: the character has important things to do for the plot; adds something important to the story; is useful to the rest of the characters; it just does all of that while making jokes and puns. If the humour is only part of what the character does and not its main focus, it will feel more natural.
Be sure that the reader knows that the character's humour isn't always funny for everyone -- including the character itself: Just as you said, not everyone likes the same things. But not only that: a person like your character knows that their jokes are not always funny, even sometimes for themself; but still makes jokes because it's their thing. Just describe how sometimes the other characters roll their eyes with the jokes; show how the character sometimes makes a pun without waiting for reaction because it's not fun for themself. This will help to make the humour inherent to the character and not to the moment.
Give the trait a backstory: A trait is a natural part of a character if there's a reason to it. You say you have a grim cyberpunk environment; sometimes humour is a defense mechanism to a traumatic experience, so use that in favor of the character. You can even setup a moment when some character (the MC perhaps?) is getting tired of the jokes and puns, and someone else who knows this particular character from long ago can explain why is it like that, when did that trait appeared, what experiences made the character what it is now. This also helps the readers to connect momre with the character, specially if they're also getting tired of the jokes and puns.

The point is to make the humour of the character only one of the reasons the character exists; with that it will be more than just a comic relief used to break tension.

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