The comic songs cover a wide range of subject matter and a considerable span of time, from 1800 to 1901.

Early in the 1800s many humorous songs satirizing the relationship between the sexes were performed on the concert stage and became available in sheet music. One of the earliest was "Nobody Coming to Marry Me". Other songs along similar lines appeared in the 1820s and 1830s. Among the most popular were "The Old Maid" and "The Old Bachelor" Other topics for l9th century comic songs were: dialects, the rights of the ladies, drinking, costume, oil in Pennsylvania, Darwin's theory of evolution, politics, and nonsense lyrics such as "Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay".

Among the stage comedians of the 1850s and 1860s were the Florences who introduced such songs as "Bobbin' Around" and "The Colonel From Constantinople". By the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s Tony Pastor operated the most popular theatre in New York and introduced the most successful comedians of the day. Pastor himself sang many topical songs and acted in humorous sketches. One of his best known songs was "The Poor Girl Didn't Know".

There is a small number of British humorous songs, many of which have covers illustrated by Alfred Concanen, who could be compared in importance in England with Nathaniel Currier in the United States.