After Todd's "Epiphany", the most serious and frightening moment in the show so far, where we watch a man snap and turn evil right in front of our eyes, the first line of dialogue after the applause dies down gets a huge laugh just for being so nonchalant about what we've just seen:
Mrs. Lovett: That's all very well, but what are we going to do about the Italian?
"A Little Priest", where Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett engage in an extended sequence of wordplay and Incredibly Lame Puns regarding the various "flavors" to be obtained from different kinds of people. Morbid? Of course. Funny? Very much so.
"With or without his privates?" (Beat.) "With is extra." In the recording for the Michael Cerevis version, he sounds like he actually groans and rolls his eyes at that one.
Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford would lose it at that line, with Ashford literally rolling around on the floor in a circle and Groban seemingly getting his laughter under control - only to burst out laughing again after repeating "Privates!" and moving his arms in a grand sweeping gesture. The orchestra would stop playing, too, leaving Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett feeling very much like two friends hanging out by themselves who know they just made an extremely stupid joke and there's no one else around to hear it, with each's laughter only making the other one laugh more.
In the ''Live in Concert", Hearn and Lupone actually lose their composure and crack up causing the show to stop for a few seconds so they can compose themselves.
"Locksmith?"
Hearn's portrayal especially looks hilariously perplexed by his inability to find a rhyme for that one. Doubly so when he looks at Lupone as if to say "What the HELL do you expect me to say in response to THAT?!"
This little gem "But fortunately, it's also clear, that everybody goes down well with beer!"
"...Or, we have some shepherd's pie peppered with actual shepherd on top!"
"Then again there's sweep/If you want it cheap/And you like it dark!" could easily be a reference to chimney-sweeps covered in soot, but may be a case of Deliberate Values Dissonance combined with Genius Bonus when you consider that this takes place in mid-1800's England.note Note that slavery was abolished in Britain in 1833, only 13 years before the beginning of the play, and freed slaves tended to have trouble getting work, or get stuck in base, poor-paying jobs like sweeping. It certainly wouldn't be amiss in a song already littered with Double Entendre.
This:
Mrs. Lovett: This is a bit stringy, but then of course, it's fiddle player. Sweeney: No, no, this isn't fiddle player — it's piccolo player. Mrs. Lovett: How can you tell? Sweeney: It's piping hot! Mrs. Lovett:[visibly fighting a grin] ...Then blow on it first! [They both cackle like hyenas.]
The fiddler line is made even funnier in the Live in Concert edition when Patti Lupone (Mrs. Lovett) looks over George Hearn's (Sweeney Todd) shoulder and shouts "Fiddle player!" right at someone in the strings section.
The start of the song can be especially funny, as Mrs. Lovett tries desperately to get Todd to understand what she's hinting at. Lots of productions play up the comedy of Todd saying "Ha!" as he finally comprehends, and Mrs. Lovett's exhausted "Good, you got it," for all it's worth.
This number is so funny, most productions have it so Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are utterly cracking up the whole time. Not even the nihilistic Serial Killer and his Yandere partner-in-crime are immune to corpsing.
When the Original London Production had its Closing Night, this song was one that Denis Quilley and Sheila Hancock went to town having gags with the lyrics which was lovingly preserved on a Soundboard Recording.
During "God, That's Good!" there's a hilarious role reversal; for once Sweeney is clamouring for Mrs. Lovett's attention because he wants to show off his brand new barber chair, and work out the signals they'll give each other when he has a new corpse to send to the cellar, while she clearly isn't interested and wants to get back to her customers. Once she's departed, Sweeney beatifically declares that he has another 'friend', aka the chair.
Mrs. Lovett obviously loves the fact that Mrs. Mooney is losing all her money, and is gossiping about it.
Incidentally, dearie, You know Mrs. Mooney. Sales have been so dreary Toby! Poor thing is penniless.
Patti Lupone has a great moment in the Live in Concert edition. Just as Todd wants to test the chair's...delivery system...Lovett is torn between the customers screaming for "More pies!" and Todd's insistent "Psst"s culminating in Lovett shouting "WAIT!" before going over to her place. Lupone really plays up Lovett's exasperation, rolling her eyes and stomping into position.
Mrs. Mooney also turns up in "The Worst Pies in London," with Mrs. Lovett grousing about her rival's more prosperous business — noting that the missing neighborhood cats probably have something to do with it.
Mrs. Lovett: Wouldn't do in my shop, Just the thought of it's enough to make you sick— And I'm telling you, them pussycats is quick!"
The song is an opportunity for whoever's playing Mrs. Lovett to go totally overboard: being utterly upfront about how disgusting the pies are, bashing the dough in between lyrics and playing off Sweeney who (depending on the actor) can either be The Comically Serious or completely bemused by what's happening.
This little bit right after Anthony and Johanna escape the asylum in "City on Fire":
Will we be married on Sunday? That's what you promised, Married on Sunday... That was last August...
Most of the lines in "Kiss Me" and its reprise. Especially:
Johanna singing nervously about how she hears something, it's a click! The judge is back, and he's at the gate, except she realizes, Wait, we don't have a gate.
Anthony meanwhile is trying to cut through Johanna’s panicked pattering, repeating exasperatedly that he has a plan, and when she talks about the noise at the gate, says “It’s not a gate. There’s no gate. You don’t have a gate.”
''Sir, I did love you/even as I saw you/even as it doesn't matter that I still don't know your name!"
During the Johanna reprise, a man comes in for a shave and sits down. Sweeney is about to begin his... er... shall we say method, when the customer's wife and daughter come in behind the man. The look on Sweeney's face is priceless.
In the Live in Concert version, Hearn glares into the audience, looking hilariously done with the whole thing, and then decides to shave the man normally, clearly thinking "Fine, just this once..."
The contest between Pirelli and Todd in the Hearn/Lansbury version. Pirelli is being all flair and pomp, not even aware of the man's pain as he shaves him. Meanwhile, Todd just mixes the lather, sharpens the blade, and gets on with it. Pirelli's expressions and gestures are pretty funny, but the man he's shaving's expression at the line "Talent given to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! By GOOOOOOOOOOD!" is priceless.
The productions that include "Johanna (Mea Culpa)" have the actress playing Johanna react in horror when she learns that Turpin intends to marry her. In the 2014 concert version? Erin Mackey just has a perfect "Ew, ew, ew, ew EW!" reaction.
Turpin: Come, walk with me, for I have news for you. In order to shield her from the evils of this world, I have decided to marry Johanna next Monday. Beadle: Ah, sir, happy news indeed! Turpin: Strange... when I offered myself to her, she showed a certain reluctance.
And then it cuts to the beginning of "Kiss Me", where Johanna is clearly in distress:
He means to marry me Monday! What should I do? I'd rather die!
Near the end of the show, when Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney are in the cellar trying to find a traumatized Toby:
In the 2005 revival, right before "Ladies In Their Sensitivities," Judge Turpin says that if Johanna greets him more fondly upon his return from court, he may "give her a small gift." The Beadle can't suppress a small chuckle, before quickly turning serious when Turpin shoots him a look.
Emma Thompson in the 2014 Lincoln Center production gives Patti LuPone a run for her money as funniest Mrs. Lovett, capped off by her "By the Sea", when she twerks in Todd's general direction when she sings "unless we've got better to do-ooh".
In the live filming, Hearn grins rather gleefully when revealing to Mrs. Lovett that Pirelli is in the trunk. It comes off as more adorable than frightening or unhinged, which is strange given the circumstances.
"Pretty Women" is a tension-filled moment, but depending on the production, it also plays up the joke that Sweeney likes to take up his sweet time murdering the judge.
In some productions, if the trick razor doesn't go off on a customer during the murdering montage in the final reprise of "Joanna," Todd and the customer just exchange a look before Todd sends the poor bastard down the chute anyway, hoping he'll just die on the way down.
The 1982 version has Mrs. Lovett react with shock when she learns Todd murdered Pirelli... until Todd explains Pirelli tried to blackmail him.
Mrs. Lovett: Well, that's a different matter. What a relief, dear! For a moment I thought you'd lost your marbles.
The 2014 Lincoln Center production begins with all the actors at music stands with highly decorated flower vases as if this was just a concert reading of the musical. But after the first two verses of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", the actors begin destroying all the fancy decorations on stage as if to say, "Yeah, we're not doing this shit." See the Awesome page for more details.
Todd's reactions in "By the Sea" can be pretty funny, as he's usually ignoring the hell out of Lovett, just saying whatever so she doesn't realize he isn't really listening to her. "Anything you say..."
It gets even better in the 2023 Broadway revival, where Sweeney is absorbed in cleaning his pipe while Lovett is clambering all over him, even all but giving him a lap dance. At one point she startles him when she claps her arms and squawks loudly to imitate a seagull; a few minutes later when he realises she's about to do it again, he groans and cringes just before she does. Finally when she's fantasizing about having a seaside wedding, she pulls him off the sofa and on his knees beside her, clasping his hands between hers, while he gives her a 'wtf are you doing' look and fights to free himself. He manages to do so and returns to the sofa by the line "The moment I mutter "I dooo-ooo!"...causing Lovett to lean over to kiss him and instead kissing the empty air. They exchange 'hey, what gives?' looks before she resumes singing.
During "The Worst Pies in London," Mrs. Lovett serves Sweeney a pie while assuring him in song that it's absolutely disgusting. Everything Sweeney does during and immediately after the song is absolutely hilarious; first, he takes a bite, and it's immediately clear that Mrs. Lovett was right. Todd quickly (but quietly) spits the pie back out, immediately takes a drink Mrs. Lovett offers him to get rid of the taste, gags in nausea, and is then told that he'll need something stronger to remove the taste, all while maintaining his perfectly calm, gloomy, and pensive demeanor.
Adding to this is the fact that Mrs. Lovett is dealing with cockroaches crawling all over her workplace throughout the whole ordeal, showing that there is a very good reason the meat pies are so awful (a massive one even crawls out of the pie offered to Sweeney after he had already taken a bite!)
It's also revealed that she uses lard for the pie fillings.
While at market, Sweeney goes for his razor when he sees Beadle Bamford out of the corner of his eye. Mrs. Lovett quickly reminds him that this is not the place to commit a murder, and he puts his blade away, looking sheepishly at the ground like a punished child.
Signor Pirelli. Special note goes to the shaving competition against Sweeney. While Pirelli is callously nicking Toby while sharpening his razor, bragging about shaving kings and the Pope, and generally making a flamboyantly cocky show of a performance, Sweeney just quietly sharpens his razor, mixes his cream, and applies it to his client's face. Once he gets to the actual shaving, Sweeney completes it in all of five seconds off screen. This also doubles as an Awesome Moment for Sweeney.
After "Epiphany," Sweeney Todd is posed quite intensely on the floor, having finished his huge song number and fantasy music sequence. A perplexed Mrs. Lovett just stares at him with a deadpan expression before trying to get his attention as to what to do next. This is as close as the film gets to Lampshading its status as a musical.
The number itself represents Todd finally sinking into complete despair after losing hope of getting another chance at enacting his revenge, before he vows to kill any person he can set his blade on as his newfound motivation. Apart from the (intentionally) hamfisted delivery of his pathos and Mrs.Lovett's bemused reaction afterwards, this is depicted in complete tragedy. What THEN turns it into the pinnacle of jet-black comedy comes after Lovett suggests turning Todd's bodycount into a mutually beneficial enterprise, which is equal parts horrifying and outrageously funny (..at least until the final act kicks in).
Here's the full lyrical annotation of their business proposition in all its pun-laden glory, just in case anyone wishes to sing along to its jaunty musical.
"By The Sea". While the song itself isn't all that funny, watch it with the visuals, and it's pretty hysterical! It appears that Todd doesn't want to kiss Lovett, not even in a dream sequence...
And that moment just after "Johanna", when he gets told to keep away from her and beaten with a cane. He comes out of the Judge's house with blood all over his face, and what does he do? Start singing "Johanna" again. You'd never think of him as The Determinator, but after this scene, you'll probably change your mind.
Particularly amusing is how the Beadle calmly gives Anthony directions to where he was going all while literally throwing him out the door and beating him with a cane. The lines are delivered like the two just met on the street for a chat, and one isn't committing violent assault on the other.
turning Todd's bodycount into a mutually beneficial enterprise, which is equal parts horrifying and outrageously funny (..at least until the final act kicks in).