The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of mirliton, one of a class of instruments which modifies its player's voice by way of a vibrating membrane of goldbeater's skin or material with similar characteristics.
A metal kazoo
Other examples of kazoos
Machines at the Kazoo Factory and Museum
Kazoo manufacturing steps
A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification.
Mirlitons, as the kazoo in the picture, are a special class of membranophone, and is the only class that does not consist of true drums
A timpani is a kind of kettle drum
A cuica is a kind of friction drum