What exactly is banter these days?  I know the official definition is a ‘playful or friendly exchange of teasing remarks’.  Not exactly like what you see in one of the above examples, but I keep seeing examples of banter that ignores the playful or friendly part.  Since comedy/humor is subjective, this is going to be a tough topic to write about.  I know what I believe might not be shared by others, so I’m going to try my best to keep it within the mechanic of banter and what I always thought it was.

Keep in mind that I grew up with The Marx Brothers, who excelled at cutting remarks and comedic banter.  That tends to be my baseline, which was expanded by me reading older Spider-Man comics where he flung insults.  Now, the superhero stuff tends to be labeled as banter even if there’s no back and forth.  I…