# Suicide-Comedy in past decades. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386 "2012-09-21T12:15:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/21 "2012-09-21T22:20:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m always amazed at the continued popularity of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. How much protest would there be if a band released a pro-teen-suicide song nowadays? (I realize the band now claims the song isn’t about suicide but I see that as just part of what I’m talking about. No group can admit to advocating suicide nowadays.) Smashing Pumpkins’ “Today” is from the POV of a teen whose about to try to kill himself. Loudon Wainwright III wrote “Suicide is Painless” for the movie MASH, althogh that wasn’t specifically about teenagers. When they made it into a TV show, they stripped out the lyrics and used it for the opening theme. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/22 "2012-09-21T22:28:50Z")
Let’s not forget Pearl Jam’s Jeremy, which is hardly pro suicide, but about it none the less. Also, if you want a more modern suicide comedy, how about some [WKUK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOY7bOkM7nU). ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/23 "2012-09-21T22:37:16Z")
On the TV series **Friends** , Chandler sometimes made the gesture of putting his finger to his temple as if it were a gun and then “pulling the trigger” and using his other hand to suggest brains blowing out the other side. That bothered me. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/24 "2012-09-22T00:20:28Z")
**Airplane!** has several gags about people committing suicide rather than hear Robert Hayes’s flashback stories. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/25 "2012-09-22T01:16:09Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Loudon Wainwright III wrote “Suicide is Painless” for the movie MASH, althogh that wasn’t specifically about teenagers. When they made it into a TV show, they stripped out the lyrics and used it for the opening theme. Loudon Wainwright didn’t write that song. It was written by Mike Altman and Johnny Mandel. I agree it was a pro-suicide song. But as you noted, the lyrics were removed when the song was used on television. (But Altman still got royalties from the show even though his contribution was the lyrics. Mike Altman ended up making over ten times more money from _MASH_ than his father Robert did for directing the movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/26 "2012-09-22T02:37:48Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Blink182 had “Adam’s Song.” Not _advocating_ suicide as such, but sung from the perspective of one. Specifically, that song was an answer to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (as well as to Cobain’s subsequent suicide). ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/27 "2012-09-22T12:04:46Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Bear in mind that cartoons from before about 1960 were not explicitly intended for children, but were bumpers for movies. Saturday morning didn’t equal kiddie cartoons until around 1968, and a good chunk of it then was old Warner Brothers stuff with dicey content Yes, it shows. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/28 "2012-09-22T12:42:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m always amazed at the continued popularity of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. How much protest would there be if a band released a pro-teen-suicide song nowadays? (I realize the band now claims the song isn’t about suicide but I see that as just part of what I’m talking about. No group can admit to advocating suicide nowadays.) Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” can certainly be taken as being about suicide, although that’s not the only way to interpret it. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/29 "2012-09-22T13:53:21Z")
The funniest suicides (plural!) for comedy are in _Groundhog Day_. They just won’t stick, so he has to do it again and again. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/30 "2012-09-22T16:51:35Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > On the TV series **Friends** , Chandler sometimes made the gesture of putting his finger to his temple as if it were a gun and then “pulling the trigger” and using his other hand to suggest brains blowing out the other side. > > That bothered me. I do that, sometimes, when I’m having a particularly bad day at work. It honestly never occurred to me that someone might be disturbed by it. I’ll try to stop. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/31 "2012-09-22T17:05:34Z")
Etgar Keret wrote a short story that the movie [Wristcutters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477139/) was based on. > [@](#): > > A film set in a strange afterlife way station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide. A poignant comedy I’d recommend highly. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/32 "2012-09-22T17:23:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Loudon Wainwright didn’t write that song. It was written by Mike Altman and Johnny Mandel. > > I agree it was a pro-suicide song. But as you noted, the lyrics were removed when the song was used on television. (But Altman still got royalties from the show even though his contribution was the lyrics. Mike Altman ended up making over ten times more money from _MASH_ than his father Robert did for directing the movie.) And, as an interesting aside, he was 14 years old when he wrote those lyrics. Not really apropos, but I thought it was interesting when I found out. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/33 "2012-09-22T17:45:27Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > On the TV series **Friends** , Chandler sometimes made the gesture of putting his finger to his temple as if it were a gun and then “pulling the trigger” and using his other hand to suggest brains blowing out the other side. > > That bothered me. Once, while listening to Dingbat, Archie Bunker pantomimed loading a revolver, put it to his head, and slumped over in his easy chair. ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/34 "2012-09-22T19:50:18Z")
What, nobody else here remembers [Nothing to Lose](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGUw0und0HM)? It may not be pro-suicide, but it certainly was very frank about it and without a hint of censoring. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/35 "2012-09-22T20:12:23Z")
The title song for _M_A_S_H\* tied into the act where the Painless Pole “killed” himself. The shot of him with the rest of the cast in the “Lord’s Supper” pose is hilarious. That was 1970 when the movie came out. I read the book long ago but I don’t know if that was in it or not. _Catch-22_ was another novel-to-movie that came out at the same time with dark humor including suicide references. Looking at the [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/keyword/suicide/?genre=comedy&sort=release_date) keyword “suicide” and comedy shows quite a few listings, but I sort of have my doubts about some of them really being all that related. E.g., Abbott and Costello’s _Lost in Alaska_ (1952) starts with them rescuing a suicidal (keyword for that one) miner. Does _Kind Hearts and Coronets_ (1949) count? Lots of murder, can’t recall the suicide reference. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/36 "2012-09-22T21:23:26Z")
Elton John did the very uptempo “[I Think I’m Gonna Kill Myself](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82wU5NfRfr4)” (tap dancing by “Legs” Larry Smith of the Bonzo Dog Band). There’s also Harry Nilsson’s ["I’d Rather Be Dead](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV-oYe4xLkU)" of about the same time. Unclear if it’s about suicide or dying of natural causes. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/37 "2012-09-22T22:24:12Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > I do that, sometimes, when I’m having a particularly bad day at work. It honestly never occurred to me that someone might be disturbed by it. I’ll try to stop. Thanks from those of us who are troubled by that gesture. In my case, it has to do with the death of a close family member by gunshot suicide. I was not present for the event in question, but am still bothered by seeing such scenes on TV/in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/38 "2012-09-22T23:01:53Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Does _Kind Hearts and Coronets_ (1949) count? Lots of murder, can’t recall the suicide reference. You recall how the protagonist was in prison awaiting execution? The murder he was tried and convicted for wasn’t even a murder, it was a suicide and he was wrongly charged with it. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/39 "2012-09-23T02:55:46Z")
Tying a rope to a rock and yourself and jumping in the water has been done many times in comedies. Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, and Homer Simpson have all tried it without success. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386/40 "2012-09-23T04:27:30Z")
“Goodbye cruel world!” is a stock line for comedic suicides, and I suspect you could trace it back to Vaudeville. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-comedy-in-past-decades/635386.md?page=3)