# Surprisingly dark moments in comedies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2023, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639 "2023-02-11T23:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/61 "2023-02-15T16:32:12Z")
For whatever reason, amputations, especially for laughs, make me really uncomfortable. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/62 "2023-02-15T16:51:14Z")
There’s a story arc in Modern Family where this trashy family moves in next door to the Dunphys. The teenage son is trying to hit on the neighbor’s daughter, who is clearly out of his league. They have this little exchange where it looks like she might be warming up and then she says “go back home to your mommy, you little bitch”. Then they just show his stunned, hurt face and the scene ends. I must have seen this episode a half dozen times and it always takes me aback. Feels really harsh for a sitcom. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/63 "2023-02-15T16:52:30Z")
Lots of comedies promise mayhem. Some just decided to use the legal definition. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/64 "2023-02-15T20:09:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > For whatever reason, amputations, especially for laughs, make me really uncomfortable. You definitely should not watch _Monty Python and the Holy Grail,_ which also has an amputation scene that could qualify it for this thread. Also gratuitous and violent death scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/65 "2023-02-15T20:14:40Z")
I don’t want to speak for @Dewey_Finn, but I don’t think “cartoon violence” (which isn’t limited to actual cartoons; I think _Holy Grail_ counts) has the same effect. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/66 "2023-02-15T20:18:02Z")
It’s been _years_ (perhaps decades) since I saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail but as I remember, the amputation scene was cartoonish and comical and didn’t make me uncomfortable in the way other such scenes have. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/67 "2023-02-15T20:28:32Z")
_What We Do in the Shadows_ is very, very funny and very, very dark. Last season one episode was about a ‘Home Improvement’ show doing an episode about their home, and the first thing they do is murder one of the hosts. It’s played for laughs. Regular humans die in all kinds of ways on that show. In another episode there was a funny sequence where they kept manipulating the memory of someone until they killed him by accident. In other episodes they’ll have funny banter at the table, the main course being the corpse of a dead human. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/68 "2023-02-15T22:05:54Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Last season one episode was about a ‘Home Improvement’ show doing an episode about their home, and the first thing they do is murder one of the hosts. I love that show, but that was one death that kind of got to me. Then they hypnotize the other guy so he doesn’t know his brother’s dead. Dark even for WWDITS. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2023, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/69 "2023-02-15T22:27:13Z")
_Four Rooms_ has a dead hooker and an amputation played for laughs. _Fargo_ has several murders, and a corpse being fed into a wood-chipper. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/70 "2023-02-16T00:07:11Z")
There are a lot of fish-out-of-water comedies that use being on the run or the like to get to the situation. Then they get found in act three and the movie takes a hard turn to violence. _Sister Act_ and _Kindergarten Cop_ come to mind, i know they’re others. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/71 "2023-02-16T00:50:09Z")
My mother-in-law, who hates violence and gore in movies, loved the Black Knight scene. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/72 "2023-02-16T00:51:53Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Last season one episode was about a ‘Home Improvement’ show doing an episode about their home, and the first thing they do is murder one of the hosts. It’s played for laughs. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I love that show, but that was one death that kind of got to me. Then they hypnotize the other guy so he doesn’t know his brother’s dead. Dark even for WWDITS. Did you watch it all the way to the end? It turned out that Bran was really the vampire Simon the Devious all along. The only death that bugged me (just a bit) was at the wrestling match in Vegas. ---
**Author:** ![ZamboniAce1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f19dbf/32.png) [@ZamboniAce1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZamboniAce1000)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/73 "2023-02-16T01:18:44Z")
I always think an amputation as more a medical procedure, as opposed to having your limbs hacked off by an opponent, be it cartoonish or not. IMHO YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/74 "2023-02-16T01:28:26Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Did you watch it all the way to the end? It turned out that Bran was really the vampire Simon the Devious all along. Yeah, he was, but he was also fooling the other brother, the normal human who was still killed at the beginning of the show if I recall correctly. And didn’t Simon kill the brother he replaced? That would makemit even darker. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/75 "2023-02-16T15:57:40Z")
I kept hearing ‘oh, you must see Fargo, it is hilarious, it’s a real classic!’ … I did, and I thought it was repellant. I liked the mildly awkward comical bits, but frankly, I found it gross. (same for Pulp Fiction. Gross.) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/76 "2023-02-16T16:20:08Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Does this apply only to fingers or also to toes? If yes, better not watch The Big Lebowski. Funny, it’s been awhile since I watched it, but I do not remember a toe-losing scene in that movie. Musta blocked it out from my memory 🫤 > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It’s been _years_ (perhaps decades) since I saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail but as I remember, the amputation scene was cartoonish and comical and didn’t make me uncomfortable in the way other such scenes have. Yeah, same here- that scene was so silly and over-the-top, it was not in the least uncomfortable. > [@mbh](#): > > _Fargo_ has several murders, and a corpse being fed into a wood-chipper. I had no problem with anything in Fargo. If I expect a movie to be violent or a dark comedy with violence, it’s not a problem. It’s when an otherwise relatively light-hearted comedy scene (even in what could overall be considered a ‘dark’ comedy) takes a left turn and somebody who is not a ‘bad guy’ is permanently injured that I go WTF. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/77 "2023-02-16T16:26:56Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Funny, it’s been awhile since I watched it, but I do not remember a toe-losing scene in that movie. Musta blocked it out from my memory 🫤 It’s there, but they don’t show the deed, just the severed toe and later the foot with the wound where the toe was. That’s why we don’t know for most of the film who the toe belonged to. ETA: yes, like @Miller said, the toe belonged to the female German nihilist and not to Big Lebowskis’ “kidnapped” trophy wife. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2023, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/78 "2023-02-16T16:27:05Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Funny, it’s been awhile since I watched it, but I do not remember a toe-losing scene in that movie. Musta blocked it out from my memory One of the nihilists cuts off her little toe and mails it to the Big Lebowski, as “proof” that they’ve kidnapped his wife and are carving bits off of her until he pays the ransom. They don’t show the amputation, but the BL does hand the Dude the toe in an envelope, and later on you see one of the nihilists with a bandaged foot. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/79 "2023-02-16T16:35:45Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > It’s there, but they don’t show the deed, just the severed toe and later the foot with the wound where the toe was. That’s why we don’t know for most of the film who the toe belonged to. > [@Miller](#): > > One of the nihilists cuts off her little toe and mails it to the Big Lebowski, as “proof” that they’ve kidnapped his wife and are carving bits off of her until he pays the ransom. Oh yeah, I remember that now, of course. Thanks a lot for making me relive the trauma! 😱 Haha, that didn’t actually bother me. As mentioned, it’s only in certain scenes where it happens in scene, unexpectedly, to a sympathetic character; it just brings the comedy to a screeching halt. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639/80 "2023-02-16T18:01:54Z")
Maude tackled some controversial subjects. Most notably the two-parter in season one when she gets pregnant, and ultimately has an abortion. It’s quite emotional. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dNL-WtNXFRo/maxresdefault.jpg "Maude | Maude's Dilemma: Part 1 | Season 1 Episode 9 Full Episode | The Norman Lear Effect") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNL-WtNXFRo) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprisingly-dark-moments-in-comedies/979639.md?page=5)