Two corpora on ethnic jokes in the Netherlands amid high school students in 1995 and 2012, reveal three major categories with divergent dynamics. The two first ones, jokes on national groups and regional minorities, and sick ethnic jokes, are in decay. The third category, jokes on ethnic minorities, is eminent in both years, and the most significant 2012 category. These jokes show “delay” in societal change reflection and notable disparity. They allude to prominent Dutch ethnic stereotypes and Dutch ethnic hierarchy and ethnic relation shifts over time. Two criteria appear required to assess the gravity–or absence thereof- of ethnic humor: the connection between jokes and real enmity and exclusion; and a joke cycle's cruelty.