# Do sensitive people like dark humour more than less sensitive people? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987 "2020-09-07T02:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaverocK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@MaverocK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaverocK)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/1 "2020-09-07T02:21:51Z")
I have a love and hate relationship with dark humor (or “black comedy”). It sometimes free me from my worries and anxiety. But it also sometimes give me a strange anxiety because I realize that people can take pleasure from tragic or painful events or facts. My experience tells me sensitive people like dark humour more. What do you think about it? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/2 "2020-09-07T02:35:36Z")
I think sensitive people like humor more in general. ‘Dark’ humor is really just ‘darker’ humor anyway. It’s a defense mechanism for sensitive people. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/3 "2020-09-07T04:17:57Z")
Humor can be a taunting of the weird, the misfits, the folks who are “funny”. Humor can be a recognition of the ridiculous shit we all have to cope with on a daily basis that is seldom spoken of. Humor can be a way to snag the experiences we actually have that are so so far from what our culture says they were supposed to be—often because of our weird social circumstances—and juxtapose our realities against what life is supposed to be like for a shocking contrast. The latter is considered “dark”. It’s funnier. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/4 "2020-09-07T06:20:51Z")
I think I am a counterexample from the OP’s thesis. I am a big fan of dark humor, and I am generally a pretty insensitive person. But I have no opinion on what the normal correlation is between dark humor and sensitivity; I only know myself. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/5 "2020-09-07T07:17:33Z")
An interesting hypothesis. For myself I know that I’m very sensitive and concerned about upsetting people or treating them unfairly, it bothers me greatly. I do love dark humour though, Chris Morris “blue jam” or “American Psycho” levels of dark humour. Why? I don’t know though I suppose it could act as a safe outlet for the cruelty and darkness that we all have lurking somewhere. I can have it vicariously acted out through the medium of a clearly fictitious and harmless scenario. ---
**Author:** ![WitnessMe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/witnessme/32/4597_2.png) [@WitnessMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WitnessMe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/6 "2020-09-07T14:39:54Z")
[![](https://i.redd.it/p3l73emxhlc11.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/p3l73emxhlc11.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/7 "2020-09-07T18:04:24Z")
I generally don’t like dark humor, because it usually has a victim. “Yeah, doc, but I came in to have my _leg_ amputated…” How can I laugh at tragedy? ---
**Author:** ![WitnessMe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/witnessme/32/4597_2.png) [@WitnessMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WitnessMe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/8 "2020-09-07T18:26:38Z")
What was the setup for this joke, it sounds funny. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/9 "2020-09-07T19:16:29Z")
Well, the doctors cut off his masculine member, see… (Or, if you wanna be surreal, his head…) ---
**Author:** ![WitnessMe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/witnessme/32/4597_2.png) [@WitnessMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WitnessMe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/10 "2020-09-07T19:17:09Z")
Yeah I deduced that I just wanted to hear the full joke. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/11 "2020-09-07T21:20:28Z")
Don’t you have to define “sensitive people” before you can address the question? It seems to me that different people are sensitive about different things. People who aren’t bothered by something often complain that those who are bothered by it are ‘too sensitive’; but the people who aren’t bothered by that thing may be extremely bothered by something else. People who are bothered by something may complain that those who aren’t are ‘being insensitive’; but the people who are bothered by that thing may be entirely ignoring something that bothers the ones they’re calling insensitive. Dark humor may be a defense against something that the person laughing at the humor is very upset by. Or it may be something that the person laughing at it thinks is funny because they’re not upset by it at all. ---
**Author:** ![MaverocK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@MaverocK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaverocK)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2020, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sensitive-people-like-dark-humour-more-than-less-sensitive-people/919987/12 "2020-09-14T05:10:33Z")
I don’t have to define what “sensitive people” means. I think the definition of the word sensitive is pretty straightforward. In case you are unsure, you can look it up in the dictionary to refresh what kind of an image it creates in your mind.