Descent and styles
Wit can be observed throughout history of all mankind. In fact, we may trace several parallel lines wit and satire (especially satire). The oldest examples are to be found in the comedies by Aristophanes. The period of the Roman Empire demonstrates us the wit poems and epigrams by Martial. At the same time, we may find examples of witticism even in the New Testament of the Bible. In the course of the 20th century, wit (in the same way as all mass media) became a printed sector. Actually, all art styles were put on the serial production. Numerous jokes, witty expressions, quips and repartees that were produced by separate writers, authors and thinkers before, started to be printed in massive volume. There are numerous examples of wit in the 20th century, including Tom Lehrer, live performances such as Capitol Steps, and live performer Mark Russel. There is a great deal of literary classical subgenres, including Gulliver's Travels and Animal Farm. Some more examples contain the Onion, ArnoldSpeaks.com, and the Happening Happy Hippy Party.
So, analyzing throughout the history of the main European countries at least, we find numerous instances in most of them. Of course, the origin dates back to the Ancient Times. With more coming centuries, wit in the domain of general humour was developing more and more, becoming more and more sophisticated.
In Africa and Asia, for example, modern main origins and styles date back to the humorous traditions of India, China and Saudi Arabia.