History SoYouWantTo / WriteABlackComedy

* Later episodes of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' tend to have too much emphasis on jerkiness and not enough of the comedy that made it great.

* Later episodes of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' have had too much emphasis on jerkiness and not enough of the comedy that made it great.

BlackComedy's main goal is not to try to make a dark subject look serious, but more so to show how anything can really be funny. Most jokes have their root based in something otherwise serious and this is more so taking that dark side UpToEleven.

* ComedicSociopathy-- This is can make a BlackComedy become depressing or impossible to take seriously. Again, Administrivia/TropesAreTools and what counts is moderation. It's okay to be mean-spirited every so often, but using too much is a make or break.

A common actors' saying is "Dying is easy: comedy is hard." And BlackComedy, which uses dark and serious matters and themes as its subject matter to invoke laughter is one of the hardest things to write well. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try though, anything can be made into a joke, despite what the [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad PC crowd]] may try and say, so give it a go. Even if you don't get it right first, keep it at. You didn't learn to walk in a day so how would you learn comedy, let alone this type, in a day?

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: As said above, if the show's darkness is too much, it might just leave the audience bored and disinterested. If you have too much cruelty and not enough comedy, it's a deal breaker.

* ''WesternAnimation/MrPickles'': A violation of Creator/SethMacFarlane's aforementioned quote, it crams all kinds of shocking themes and imagery in at once, leaving no room for the juxtaposition which gives said imagery weight. Unless you're a metalhead, you're either going to be left [[NauseaFuel disgusted]] or [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy bored]].

* ComedicSociopathy-- This is can make a BlackComedy become depressing or impossible to take seriously. Again, TropesAreTools and what counts is moderation. It's okay to be mean-spirited every so often, but using too much is a make or break.

* How far will you go? When it comes to black comedy how balanced will you keep the black with the comedy? Will you be mostly tame, neatly balanced, or extremely cruel? How many things can you joke about and how often? Decide on which controversial, depressing, or otherwise negative topics you want to cover: death, suicide, genocide, rape, drug addiction, abortion, bestiality, religion, disease, parental abandonment/abuse, and so forth. Just bear in mind what Creator/SethMacFarlane once said: "It all can't be in the same place." As in, you probably shouldn't joke about all of those things at once. TropesAreTools, however, and what really matters is how you use it. You can ''try'' to have all of those things in one episode, but for the most part it's best to try and spread it out.

* BlackComedy-- It's both a trope and a genre, so [[CaptainObvious yeah...]]