# Your favorite dark comedies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223 "2008-03-30T00:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [March 31, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/61 "2008-03-31T20:33:09Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] That’s dark but I dunno if it qualifies as a comedy. [/QUOTE] That’s how you can be sure it’s a black comedy – when you’re not really sure it’s a comedy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/62 "2008-03-31T20:52:42Z")
American Psycho. Hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![Bacillus\_Cereus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Bacillus\_Cereus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bacillus_Cereus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/63 "2008-03-31T21:23:17Z")
Donnie Darko ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/64 "2008-03-31T21:58:38Z")
[QUOTE=Bacillus Cereus] Donnie Darko [/QUOTE] Say _what_? Sure it has some funny moment, but you consider that comedy? ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/65 "2008-03-31T22:59:24Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Ooh, and I forgot a really bizarre one-- _Liquid Sky_ [/QUOTE] _Liquid Sky_ was a _ **comedy** _? :eek: ---
**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:** [April 1, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/66 "2008-04-01T01:35:32Z")
[QUOTE=DLuxN8R-13] _Liquid Sky_ was a _ **comedy** _? :eek: [/QUOTE] Well, I thought so, but I admit I was at least stoned and maybe even tripping when I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/67 "2008-04-01T02:35:47Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] A very important part of dark comedy is that it have elitist appeal. It has to be the sort of thing a lot of people wouldn’t find it at all funny, or at the extreme, even palatable. [/QUOTE] Let’s see, **The Producers** features: –a sleazy has-been Broadway producer who’s reduced to literally prostituting himself to old ladies so he can fund his next flop; –a deeply disturbed and repressed accountant with a baby blanket fixation; –a scheme put together by the producer and the accountant to find the worst play imaginable, mount a production of said worst play with the most incompetent people in American theater, and then, when it flops, to run off to Brazil with the life savings of all the old women the producer he had to seduce to fund; and –a play that’s a musical celebration the one of the worse genocidal monsters in history (i.e., “Springtime for Hitler”) written by a deranged neo-Nazi. Nope, I don’t see anything that people could find unfunny and offensive there. As for other movies that might qualify, I suggest **A Fish Called Wanda** and **Fight Club**. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/68 "2008-04-01T02:36:33Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] Well, I thought so, but I admit I was at least stoned and maybe even tripping when I saw it. [/QUOTE] I’ve got to hand it to you, then, Boyo Jim: your sense of humor must be sicker and more brutal than even my own. And, man, that is no small thing; it may even be somewhat frightening. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/69 "2008-04-01T03:05:11Z")
Wow, nobody’s mentioned any of John Waters’ early work yet, from back before he started doing crowd-pleasers; classics of splatter/scat/schadenfreude like: **Pink Flamingos Female Trouble Desperate Living**, and **Polyester.** The humor in those four flicks goes from dark to cruel to downright savage and back again seamlessly. If you’re in the mood for something a little more restrained and subtle and British, \*\*Privates on Parade \*\*is pretty grim and funny, too. And why hasn’t anyone mentioned **The Ruling Class** yet, or\*\* Putney Swope\*\*? They may be somewhat dated by now, especially **Swope** , but the vicious edge and cynicism of their comedy is pretty timeless I think. The same probably goes for **A Bucket Of Blood** , too, but I love it – it’s got touches of realism like beatnik junkies, undercover narks and evil landladies, mixed into its wild tale of a near-retarded nobody who accidentally becomes an avant-garde snuff-sculpture superstar. Lastly, am I the only person in the world who realizes that **Re-Animator** is actually a comedy? How could it be anything else, with lines like: “Don’t expect it to tango.” and scenes like the one where the reanimated, decapitated professor gives his ladylove head – at arm’s length – while she lays blindfolded on a morgue gurney ? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/70 "2008-04-01T03:11:43Z")
Boyo Jimm has the answer. It is Catch 22. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/71 "2008-04-01T03:33:17Z")
[QUOTE=susan\_foster] Heathers [/QUOTE] In a similar vein, I’d like to suggest [Jawbreaker](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155776/). Not quite as good, but definitely worth a view. How about a horror comedy? Try [Slither](http://www.slithermovie.net/deeplink.php?selectedFeature=media&subFeature=trailer) . Good stuff! And another suggestion? [9 Dead Gay Guys](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0336910/). It’s very british, very dark, pretty funny (in my opinion), and very un PC. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/72 "2008-04-01T03:44:04Z")
I’ll third **The Last Supper** and add [Eulogy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0349416/). I’d also add [Nowhere](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119809/), but I have a feeling that a lot of people would disagree even though comedy is one of the descriptors at Imdb. It’s funnier than Doom Generation, anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/73 "2008-04-01T03:59:12Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Well, actually… Having the dog appear, alive, after Turner’s character discussed her paté pretty much qualifies to me as “soft” and it looks like the appearance (really barely more than a momentary reaction shot) was forced in, since the dog does literally _nothing_ else, even when Devito and the maid try to break into the house. I believe the commentary at the time was that the dog being actually dead made Turner’s character too unsympathetic, but being unsympathetic is exactly how dark comedy audiences are supposed to be, I thought. [/QUOTE] Making her less unsympathetic isn’t necessarily the same making her sympathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/74 "2008-04-01T13:07:14Z")
[QUOTE=Eyebrows 0f Doom] There are definitely many moments of intentional dark comedy in **Sweeney Todd**. “The Worst Pies in London,” “A Little Priest,” “God That’s Good” & the Act II “Johanna” reprise come to mind. [/QUOTE] Yeaaaaah, but I thought the noise the bodies made when they hit the floor was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/75 "2008-04-01T13:33:16Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] That’s how you can be sure it’s a black comedy – when you’re not really sure it’s a comedy. 😛 [/QUOTE] Is _Hamlet_ a black comedy? ---
**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:** [April 1, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/76 "2008-04-01T13:47:55Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] Let’s see, **The Producers** features: –a sleazy has-been Broadway producer who’s reduced to literally prostituting himself to old ladies so he can fund his next flop; –a deeply disturbed and repressed accountant with a baby blanket fixation; –a scheme put together by the producer and the accountant to find the worst play imaginable, mount a production of said worst play with the most incompetent people in American theater, and then, when it flops, to run off to Brazil with the life savings of all the old women the producer he had to seduce to fund; and –a play that’s a musical celebration the one of the worse genocidal monsters in history (i.e., “Springtime for Hitler”) written by a deranged neo-Nazi. Nope, I don’t see anything that people could find unfunny and offensive there. [/QUOTE] But. Is there anyone out there who’s reasonably intelligent and openminded who Just Wouldn’t Get It? Or wouldn’t recognize it as broad and shticky? _No._ That’s the test. It has to be deadpan and underplayed enough that if you don’t Get It, all you see is a kind of sarcasm - limp or depressing or just pointless. ---
**Author:** ![chocolatefrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/41988e/32.png) [@chocolatefrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chocolatefrog)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/77 "2008-04-01T15:03:26Z")
I’ve always suspected that Kafka’s _The Metamorphosis_ was black comedy. Man (albeit in bug form) is cruelly tortured to death by the people who claim to love him, and is ironically more humane than the parasitic people in his family. ---
**Author:** ![AlmondJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@AlmondJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlmondJoy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/78 "2008-04-01T15:37:49Z")
The Cable Guy (i think that movie is under rated) In Bruges Raising Arizona ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/79 "2008-04-01T17:31:32Z")
**Waking Ned Devine**. You are screaming in laughter at something truly horrible at the climax of the movie, and you don’t feel bad about it at all. That’s about as black as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223/80 "2008-04-01T17:49:29Z")
Catch 22. It doesn’t get more surreal or Grimmer than that novel. I actually like the movie too. Arkan was the perfect Yossarian. Had MASH not been released just before it that movie may have done so much better [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-dark-comedies/443223.md?page=5)