Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
While Arthur Fleck's life is certainly a tragedy, it turns out that there's a little comedy, even if it may be mostly Black Comedy.
- The trailer features Arthur getting harassed by the three Wall Street guys in a subway train, and they end up punching him so hard he just tumbles to the cold floor of the train car. Immediately after that, the trailer cuts to "THIS FALL".
- Arthur messes around with the gun Randall gave him but accidentally shoots the wall, causing him to leap the other way and tell his mother he’s watching a war movie. Made even more hilarious by the fact that he's pretending to suavely dance with someone before doing it.Arthur: "Hi, what's your name?" "Arthur." "Hey Arthur, you're a really good dancer." "I know. You know who's not? Him!" *BANG!*
(Arthur flails to the ground and immediately turns up the TV volume) - Arthur's reaction when he drops the gun in the children's hospital, particularly the way it's shot. He desperately stoops to grab it, but his floppy clown shoes knock it away from him. When he does finally pick it up, he hides it in his coat and nervously makes a pantomime shushing gesture at the kids, who are all staring at him in horror.
- One of the little girls makes gun fingers at him.
- Earlier than that, he's there to cheer up the kids by performing "If You're Happy And You Know It," and in particular the part that ends up becoming the turning point of the scene is the second verse, "If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet!" This would be utterly adorable, except that one of the kids is in a wheelchair, and yet they still try to stomp their feet as much as they can despite this.
- This bit of dialogue when Sophie (presumably) confronts Arthur for following her earlier.Sophie: I thought that was you. I was hoping you'd come in and rob the place.
Arthur: ... I have a gun, I can come by tomorrow! - The scene where Arthur gets harassed by the three Wayne Enterprises yuppies plays out horrifically in the film proper, and Arthur ends up shooting the first two dead, wounding the third one. As Arthur pursues the third man, one can get some darkly comic laughs out of the fact that the guy's trying and failing to limp away, because it seems he got shot in one of his buttcheeks.
- "What kind of clown carries a fucking gun?!"
- Doubling as a Moment of Awesome, Arthur gets fired, understandably, for the "gun" incident. The next day, he goes to collect his belongings. His final act before leaving? "I forgot to punch out!" He then proceeds to literally punch the clock off the wall, laughing as he does it, and on his way out, he stops and notices the "Don't forget to smile!" sign above the stairs, pulls out a permanent marker and blacks out "forget to" in one final act of defiance.
- When the detectives arrive outside the hospital to question Arthur, he attempts a dramatic exit, flicking his cigarette away as he tells them that he has no time for this and has to take care of his sick mother. He attempts to boldly walk inside, but he ends up walking into a glass automatic exit door. He tries to signal the door to open despite the detective telling him it's only for exits, and the door finally opens when someone from the inside leaves, after which Arthur enters and walks away with as much dignity as he can muster.
- When Arthur tells his mother about his standup gig at Pogo's, she innocently asks him, "Don't you have to be funny to be a comedian?"
- Two of the bits from the stand-up comics that are performing before Arthur:Comic: Women approach sex the way they approach buying a new car. "Is it big enough? Is it safe? Will it kill me?" Men are different. We see it more like parking a car. "Oh, there's a spot. And there's another one. Oh, you have to pay? Nevermind. Ooh, handicapped...hope nobody sees."
- An earlier bit by the real comedian Gary Gulman (full bit here
) jokes about how he and his wife like to roleplay as a college professor and a slutty student. In the joke he mentions that he can't use his actual surname because this college won't hire Jews.
- An earlier bit by the real comedian Gary Gulman (full bit here
- After word gets out about a killer clown prowling the streets, Arthur comes across a newspaper whose front page features the sensationalized image of a Monster Clown baring its teeth. His reaction is to mimic the clown's Nightmare Face.
- At one point, Arthur finds one of his mother's letters to Thomas Wayne and discovers he could be his father. He angrily confronts her and she says that she won't tell him what's going on until he stops being angry. He immediately forces himself to be calm and listen to her. Doubles as a heartwarming moment.
- After Arthur kills one of his former co-workers, he sits down and tells his other former co-worker, Gary, that he can leave, but he's unable to because Arthur has the door chained and Gary's too short to unchain it. Gary asks Arthur to unchain the door, to which Arthur sincerely apologizes before he does so and kisses Gary on the forehead letting him know that he's being spared because he was nice to him, and then Gary quickly leaves.
- And let us not forget the Jump Scare Arthur gives the poor little guy.
- Between his act of brutal murder and letting Gary out, Arthur calmly tells Gary to watch The Murray Franklin Show that night. He copies Gary's London accent when he says he can't believe he'll be "on the telly".
- After over an hour of buildup, Arthur finally dons the iconic Joker makeup and suit. So what's the first thing he does as the Clown Prince of Crime? Dance his ass off on the stairs to the tune of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2". His aggressive pelvic thrust is quite a sight to behold.
- The two detectives that met Arthur earlier watch as he goes nuts on the stairs, exchanging looks as if to say "what the hell is he doing?".Detective Burke: (now suspicious about Arthur being responsible for the triple murder on the subway) Hey, Arthur! We need to talk!
Joker: (continues to pelvic thrust, then comes to his senses and books it) - After leading the detectives on a merry chase around the subway, he manages to trigger a riot which leads to a mob of people overpowering the detectives and beating the shit out of them. Horrific. How does Arthur react? He does a little jig in front of the downed detectives, with a massive grin on his face, before sauntering away without a care.
- The two detectives that met Arthur earlier watch as he goes nuts on the stairs, exchanging looks as if to say "what the hell is he doing?".
- Before the Joker takes the stage, we hear Murray telling his show's sex therapist that she would have a field day with their next guest.Dr. Sally: Does he have a sexual problem?
Murray: He has a lot of problems, Doctor. - The Joker's entire introduction on Murray's talk show. He devours the scenery before even taking a seat, pulling off some graceful dance moves befitting of a Broadway performer and eventually giving another guest, an elderly sex therapist, a big fat wet one on the lips. Her shocked, flustered reaction is priceless.
- This is also one of the scenes with many outtakes to it which only add to the hilarity. Joker goes from peeking his head out of the curtains; appearing from the corner of the entrance as opposed to the middle; getting lost in the curtains like a confused mammal; awkwardly walking out as if he has stage fright; and even just not coming through the curtains, instead making his entrance right behind Murray, between layers of the scenery!
- Also funny is Murray's reaction when he sees the kiss, right after he has warned Joker that he only allows "clean" material on his show. His look just screams, "What have I gotten myself into?"
- Immediately after Joker sits down:Joker: (dead silent, awestruck as the crowd laughs their ass off)
Murray: ...You okay?
(another Beat as the crowd keeps laughing)
Joker: Yeah... This is exactly how I imagined it!
Murray: Well, that makes one of us. - Later, Joker breaks out his trademark sinister cackle at the start of his interview, and it's so unnervingly uncomfortable that it's actually quite amusing.Murray: So could you tell us about this look? When we spoke earlier, you mentioned that this look is not a political statement, is that right?
Joker: That's right Murray, I'm not political. I'm just tryin' to make people laugh!
Murray: And how's that going for you?
(the audience begins to chuckle)
Joker: Ahahahahaha! Hahahahahaha...! - When it's not chilling, the total Black Comedy Joker brings to the table is still humorous:Joker: Knock knock.
Murray: Who's there?
Joker: It's the police, ma'am. Your son's been hit by a drunk driver. He's dead. (chuckles as everybody responds "Dude, Not Funny!", complete with Murray's background jazz band playing some Losing Horns) - And then, he shifts it over to Vantablack Comedy.Murray: Okay. So, that's it, you're crazy, that's your defense...for killing three young men?
Joker: Nah. They couldn't carry a tune to save their lives.note
(the crowd starts booing loudly at him)
Joker: (rolls his eyes, acting like it's no big deal) Oh, why is everybody so upset about these guys?
- This is also one of the scenes with many
- To emphasize Arthur's final transformation into the Joker, he has one huge Crosses the Line Twice moment: shooting Murray Franklin on live television. And then he stands up and shoots his body again just for the hell of it. And then aiming the gun as if he'll shoot him a third time, only to just set the gun down. Although "set" would be a misnomer considering he throws it and tries to do his usual dance. Emphasis on try as it implies that he didn't think it through after killing Murray. Then again, that is the Joker's shtick.
- And then after said scene happens, we go to a shot from a broadcasting center monitor. He attempts Murray's catchphrase, "That's life" before it abruptly cuts him off. As the camera zooms to show the horrific event being covered in the news, most of the monitors are showing a different news station talking about either the talk show, or a clown mask protest. What are the other monitors showing? The famous Energizer commercial with the drumming plush bunny, and an ad for the 1981 Ford Thunderbird.
- Another screen shows the full clip of Joker saying Murray's catchphrase, before laughing his ass off seconds before a security guard tackles him onto the floor.
- And what music starts playing as the camera is cut off? Spanish Flea.
- A more subtle moment from that scene: One of the news stations is replaying censored footage of Murray's murder... meaning they bleeped out Arthur's use of "fucking", while the murder remains uncensored. It's funnier when you realize that this is borderline Truth in Television. American censors are weirdly fine with violence while taking issue with swear words (and nudity).
- The scene of Arthur running from Arkham orderlies at the very end after killing his psychiatrist feels, appropriately, like something out of a classic slapstick comedy.
