A Narm is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive Melodrama, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, the drama is lost. The moment is often found funny by fans. It can be extremely subjective.

It is named for the famous scene

in the last season of Six Feet Under, where Nate suffers a brain embolism after sleeping with a woman. He unexpectedly grabs his right arm and repeats "Numb arm!", but it quickly becomes "N'arm! N'arm!" Despite being the climax of the show, fans and reviewers overwhelmingly found the scene funny rather than sad.

Not to be confused with the Funny Aneurysm Moment, in which something wasn't meant to be upsetting but is, thanks to unfortunate Reality Subtext.

Anything that falls under Wangst and Deus Angst Machina. has the risk of falling under Narm, as what is intended to be angsty and dramatic can instead come across as over-the-top ridiculous and absurd. In anime, Narms are often created through the use of badly used English, and Totally Radical is another rich source of Narm. Narm is not limited to pop culture; in Serious Literature it is called bathos

. When a romance is Narm, it is a George Lucas Love Story.

See also Nightmare Retardant and many cases of Snark Bait, as well as Fetish Retardant for erotica. Not to be confused with 'Nam, which is generally slightly less funny or Nightmare Fuel.

Also note that nearly half of these examples no one found funny. Some found them So Bad Its Good.

Contrast with Narm Charm, where somehow, the drama still works.

Examples: