As far as humor and silliness goes, it is often a hit or miss in metal. Often it's over-the-top and ridiculous (not that they're completely bad; they can still be enjoyed, but the songwriting can be subpar), but I've also seen a good share of professional and well-done humor.

One example of non-cheesy humor I can think of is Edguy. I've usually praised Tobi for his mastermind of Avantasia, but he also did a great job with Edguy. He was able to pull off goofy lyrics and still make it sound so genuine. Here is an example:




So what are your thoughts? What are some other examples of non-cheesy humor in metal can you think of?

Peter Steele was genuinely extremely funny. His lyrics in Carnivore were silly, but his delivery made them work. In Type O Negative, the humour was often more subdued, but present nonetheless.

A few Demilich songs are kinda of funny. Inherited Bowel Levitation - Reduced Without Any Effort is one.

Reverend Bizarre had some weird humour in some of their songs. Just listen to tracks like Fucking Wizard or The Wrath of the War Elephants.

Sentenced had "Excuse Me While I Kill Myself" which is basically a parody of their own often over-the-top lyrical themes. Or at least, that's how I've always interpreted it.

Pungent Stench had a great, macabre sense of humor and always worked it well into their gore-soaked lyrics. "Blood Pus and Gastric Juice" is the most famous one but I always loved "Brainpan Blues" because it's basically Dr. Seuss as a serial killer.

I loved Sexcrement's perverse John Waters and trash culture aesthetic.

One fine example is Macabre, songs like "Jeffrey Dahmer blues" or "Jeffrey Dahmer and the chocolate factory" are perfect samples of what the OP is asking, in fact, "Dahmer" album in full is filled with dark and twisted humor.

Antti's stage banter and song introductions are hilarious, too. On a similar note, Undergang's gory lyrics are quite humorous, specially as of late. Although they can definitely qualify as "cheesy", depending on your definition of it.

I think Carcass for sure qualifies here. They seem like the definition of tongue-in-cheek. I think Impaled did well in inheriting their sense of humor as well, something a lot of the Carcass influenced bands didn't pick up on.

What about Aborted's songs about shit?

This. There was a lot of winking and nudging, even in Type O’s bleakest songs.

Pete understood the meaning of irony - an art lost on many Americans. That’s why most didn’t get the joke.

Pete had quick wit, made funnier by his deadpan deliveries.

Type O Negative isn't cheesy (at least not the early stuff).

S.O.D. strikes me as a very edgy, satirical band which mostly revolves around humour.

Also some others that I think are humour-based but not really gimmicky or cheesy like the pirate metal / viking metal bands: Footprints In The Custard, Car Door Dick Smash, The Meat Shits, and some weird Russian goregrind band I added to The Archives called Memoblastoma.

Man, I haven't thought of Sexcrement in years!

Cephalic Carnage deserves some love. There's a lot of humor in their stuff, particularly aimed at the metal scene. "Black Metal Sabbath" is a takedown of black metal elitism (and the rampant substance abuse within), and "Dying Will Be the Death of Me" is so pitch perfect a mockery of 00s metalcore that it hurts.

Whether metal or not, Faith No More always have at least one song on each album that is very tongue in cheek while sounding very serious.
Zombie Eaters off of The Real Thing, the song is told from the perspective of a baby that knows it can do whatever it wants and will be cared for.

Kindergarten off of Angeldust, it's got it's humor to it but is also sad, in that it's about someone who peaked in life before grade school.
Same album, RV, about being a lazy trailer trash bum.

There are more on the latter albums, can't think of at the moment but it's something they always like to do, put a little snarky song or two on their albums.

Skyclad lyrics: the thread. Martin's wordplay is the kind of shit that makes you go "shit, I wish I could've come up with that".

Patton was deeply cynical and had that biting sarcastic humor. Good call.