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And we're just getting started.

Do you know what's funnier than a dead baby? A dead baby in a clown suit.

Dr. Young: "That's horrible. How can you joke about something like that?"
Riddler: "Easily, doctor... it's not my baby."

A series which largely depends on its controversy. Whether or not all the jokes are funny, they're designed to be as potentially offensive as possible. There is no such thing as Too Soon.

Although this can produce some edgy comedy and become popular enough to get around the censors, it creates a self-defeating situation. Once society has caught up with the edginess (sometimes due to the show's own popularity) the show must either keep upping the ante or retool itself lest it be considered wearing itself out. Doubly problematic is the fact that the people who would be most offended by it (i.e. Moral Guardians) don't watch it, and those who do watch aren't offended by it.

A common pitfall is that some creators confuse simply being offensive with being both offensive and funny. The creators may throw anything onto the screen they hope will offend the Moral Guardians whether it has any humor to it or not. They might do this to get publicity or they might do it because they honestly think offensiveness is by and of itself funny. Fans who become emotionally invested in the show might not be able to accept that others simply don't think it's very good, and might assume that anyone who complains has to be a stuffy, pinch-mouthed Moral Guardian.

This is typically seen as the realm of the Fox network for basic broadcast TV.

The Dead Baby Comedy could be considered a version of the Gross Out Show, except it can't be marketed to children. (However, it often appears as a Subverted Kids Show.)

Sensitive members of the audience may look at a show like this and say Dude Not Funny. However, the creators may take it as a good sign that their show is offending people, especially Moral Guardians.

The Dead Baby Comedy probably has its roots in the infamous The Aristocrats, but may be (quite literally) related to Jonathan Swift's satirical essay A Modest Proposal, making it Older Than Steam.

Refuge In Vulgarity is often the reason some of these work, and others don't. Toilet Humour may also be present.

Surprisingly different from Black Comedy, which is funny in a wry, serious way, and juxtaposes humor with tragedy rather than disgust. See also Sliding Scale Of Comedy And Horror.

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