Hypothesized that the perceived characters of the protagonists in an aggressive joke would have a significant effect on its humor. Specifically, it was predicted that a good person's hostile act would be seen as less hostile and more humorous; it was also predicted that a victim who "deserved" the hostility he received would elicit more humor than an undeserving victim. Both hypotheses were tested by manipulating the perceived goodness or badness of the 2 protagonists in 4 experimentally written "squelch" jokes. 192 undergraduates rated the amount of hostility, the justifiability of the humorous hostility, and the humor of these jokes. Both hypotheses were confirmed. The findings confirm that social perception plays an important role in humor. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)