Black comedy, also known as black humour or dark comedy, is a sub-genre of comedy and satire where topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo (such as death, rape, or domestic violence) are treated in a satirical or humorous manner.

Synonyms include dark humour and morbid humour. Although very similar, it is not to be confused with gallows humour and off-color humour.

Humour

Black comedy should be contrasted with obscenity, though the two are interrelated. In obscene humour, much of the humorous element comes from shock and revulsion; black comedy usually includes an element of irony, or even fatalism. This particular brand of humour can be exemplified by a scene in the play Waiting for Godot: a man takes off his belt to hang himself, and his trousers fall down.

Writers such as Patrick Hamilton, Terry Southern, Joseph Heller, Niall Griffiths, William Gaddis, Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, Harlan Ellison, Eric Nicol and Daniel Handler have written and published novels, stories and plays where profound or horrific events were portrayed in a comic manner.

Genre

In America, black comedy as a literary genre came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. An anthology edited by Bruce Jay Friedman, titled Black Humour, assembles many examples of the genre. Current writers and directors employing the art of black humour in their work include author Chuck Palahniuk, director Todd Solondz, cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez, and writer/essayist David Foster Wallace.

According to John Truby, when black comedy is used as a basis for a story's plotline, it involves a society in an unhealthy state and a main character wanting something which, for whatever reason, is not a thing that will be beneficial to himself or society. The audience should usually be able to see this for themselves, and often a supporting character within the story also sees the insanity of the situation. The main character rarely ever learns a lesson or undergoes any significant change from the ordeal, but sometimes a relatively sane course of action is offered to them. One such example of this sane course of action being taken is in the comic series Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, which ends with the title character voluntarily leaving town and checking himself into a mental institution.

Black comedy in films

Major "King" Kong riding a nuclear bomb to oblivion, from the film Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Another example comes from the end of the film A Boy and his Dog. Vic and his love interest Quilla June return to the surface from the underground city of Topeka to find Vic's talking dog Blood, nearly starved to death, and out of reach of the food he needs to survive. Quilla June professes her love for Vic, and encourages him to leave Blood behind. The film then cuts to sunrise in a campfire at the same location, as shreds of Quilla Jane's dress are seen strewn about. The two discuss the satisfying meat they have eaten, and Blood remarks, "Well, I'd say she certainly had marvelous judgment, if not particularly good taste."

An iconic scene late in the movie Fargo is another well known example. Gaear Grimsrud is caught attempting to dispose of the body of his partner Carl, and in so doing creating a conspicuous bloody mess in the snow. He is oblivious to the onlooking Officer Gunderson, who points to her badge to indicate her intention over the noise of the wood chipper. The startled Grimsrud takes off and flees futilely into an empty field of snow, before falling on his face.

See also

• Anthology of Black Humour
• Crude humour
• Gallows humour
• British humour
• Macabre
• Problem plays
• Black Comedy, a play by Peter Shaffer
• Charles B. Griffith
• List of movie genres
• Shock value

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