# REALLY black comedy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948 "2012-08-19T07:08:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/21 "2012-08-19T17:17:29Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > This might make me sound like a horrible person, but from the few episodes I have seen of _Breaking Bad_, there are lots of dark comedic moments. The two that most come to mind are > > When one of the methheads wakes up still alive in the trailer, and is limping and gasping down the street trying to escape Walter who is slowly rolling after him in his van. I don’t know why I found this funny, I think it was just the utter absurdity of that moment. Walter was definitely after him, but in such a resigned and stupified way, and since Walter seemed so mild-mannered, the methhead’s (justifiable) terror of him just seemed ridiculous. > > The other one is > > ‘‘So right now, what I need is for you to climb down out of my ass.’’ > > I haven’t been able to make it past the fourth or fifth episode of that show because it is just so horrifying, but I can’t deny it’s an excellent show with some very effective black humor. Both of those were very funny, especially When the gasping drug dealer attempts to run away, and runs straight into a tree To me, the most hilarious (in a blackly comedic way) scene in the first few episodes was When Jesse, unable to find the plastic bin Walt was demanding for disposal of the body of the dead meth dealer with acid, gets fed up and uses his upstairs bathtub instead - Walt berates him as to why this is a bad idea just as the ceiling falls in, melted through, with the dissolved body splashing on the floor right in front of them! I didn’t know whether to laugh or puke. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/22 "2012-08-19T18:00:36Z")
[The Ice Harvest](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400525/) ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/23 "2012-08-19T18:28:38Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Happiness film- In this film a pedophile father sodomizes his sons friend, when confronted he confesses to his son and when his son asks dejected why he has never molested him and his father says he would never do that, he jerks off thinking of his son instead. :eek: That was only one of the many traumatic yet hilarious moments of this movie. I remember vividly when I saw it. I was in college when it came out in 1998 and every weekend I just went to the theatre and caught whatever was playing with my girlfriend. One night we went to the arthouse theatre instead. Happiness was playing at 8, so we just bought tickets and saw it. We knew _nothing_ about it beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/24 "2012-08-19T18:44:49Z")
_[Harold and Maude.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067185/)_ ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/25 "2012-08-19T19:54:20Z")
An oldie – _The Hospital_ with George C. Scott. _Catch 22_ ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/26 "2012-08-19T20:15:39Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Happiness film- In this film a pedophile father sodomizes his sons friend, when confronted he confesses to his son and when his son asks dejected why he has never molested him and his father says he would never do that, he jerks off thinking of his son instead. :eek: Todd Solondz’s other films are like this. _Welcome to the Dollhouse_ makes light of a kid threatening to rape a girl, and _Storytelling_ kills off a family as a sort of Holocaust joke. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/27 "2012-08-19T20:33:49Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > If you haven’t seen [Man Bites Dog](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Bites_Dog_(film)) you don’t know diddly squat about how dark comedy can get. This is what I came in to say. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/28 "2012-08-19T20:52:36Z")
Yay, another black comedy lover. Visitor Q is pretty good. The opening scene is of a reporter visiting a prostitute for a news story. She seduces him into having sex with her, and he comes early. She starts making fun of him for being too quick in bed, after which you find out that she is the reporters daughter. The reporter then tells her ‘I don’t have any money, I’ll have to ask your mom to give it to you’. That was pretty funny. The comedy central roasts can be fairly black, at least sometimes. Worlds greatest dad is good, but it isn’t ‘too’ black. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/29 "2012-08-19T22:38:40Z")
I saw Killer Joe this weekend. I would class it as dark comedy rather than Southern Gothic. Me and the rest of the audience laughed a lot. If you see it with a date, don’t suggest getting take out friend chicken on the way home unless they have an equally morbid sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Curiosity\_Kills\_Her](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Curiosity\_Kills\_Her](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curiosity_Kills_Her)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/30 "2012-08-19T23:52:11Z")
I’m not sure how I managed to miss out on Happiness, but I decided to watch it today thanks to this thread. What a sick movie. I _loved_ it. I’m going to have to watch it again as I missed a few parts. I have a terrible headache and dozed off a couple/few times while watching. But I know the boy came! ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/31 "2012-08-19T23:54:25Z")
The first film that I heard described as a “black comedy” was _Fargo_, especially when Roger Ebert’s 1996 review uses the word comedy. [Ebert Fargo](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19960308/REVIEWS/603080302/1023) It’s still one of my favorite movies. ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/32 "2012-08-20T00:44:03Z")
Spanking the Monkey has some dark humor in it. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/33 "2012-08-20T01:22:57Z")
Seems like BC is defined best by I-know-it-when-I-see-it. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/34 "2012-08-20T01:24:34Z")
Anything by Tyler Perry. Oh wait. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/35 "2012-08-20T01:29:11Z")
One of my favorite black comedies is the Michael Caine film _[A Shock to the System](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100602/)_. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/36 "2012-08-20T01:36:24Z")
God Bless America ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/37 "2012-08-20T01:36:41Z")
[The Darwin Awards](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428446/) ---
**Author:** ![Chipacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Chipacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chipacabra)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/38 "2012-08-20T01:40:15Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > God Bless America Any of Bobcat Goldthwait’s films, really. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/39 "2012-08-20T01:40:34Z")
[Wonder Showzen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLwPXMedIaI) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948/40 "2012-08-20T01:44:39Z")
Most of what Jim Jarmusch does is black comedy. I especially like _Dead Man_ and _Ghost Dog_ was pretty good, though _Broken Flowers_ was a little too painful. _Natural Born Killers_ was almost, but the ending got gooped up too much. But how can you neglect _Brazil_? Was that merely greyish? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-black-comedy/631948.md?page=3)