History YMMV / DarwinAwards

* HilariousInHindsight: The story about the man who lost his reproductive capacity due to an attempt to shag a porcupine is much funnier to those who've read the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series and are familiar with a certain song from it, first printed before the Darwin Award story. ''The hedgehog can never be buggered at all.''

* CrossesTheLineTwice: If it were a simple death, then these people would be tragedies. Because they are complicated and/or stupid deaths, some of which were the result of the victim's cruel actions or abuse of others, they are black comedies.

* DudeNotFunny: To some people. The nominees are uniformly feckless idiots who all but engineered their own demises, or near-deaths in the case of those deemed "Survivor at Risk"; however, some people do not take kindly to a website [[SpeakIllOfTheDead making light of death]] (no matter how brain-oozingly stupid the deaths in question are).
** Some have had their "award" retroactively removed due to this. The boy that drowned after he tied himself to his bike (therefore making sure he wouldn't lose it) before jumping off a pier was removed due to the fact; he was a minor, and had no experience with the sea prior.
** Some of the incidents are clearly driven not by stupidity, but extreme poverty. In one such case, the "winners" were members of a village killed while trying to dismantle an unexploded bomb, as the only source of income in that war-ravaged region was selling the scrap metal from discarded weapons.

* SignatureScene: The famous JATO story (about a guy who supposedly strapped a jet engine to his car, with predictable results), which is without a doubt the most famous Darwin Award of all time. Even after it was proven to be an urban myth, it's still beloved and the JATO guy is considered by some to be an unofficial mascot for the Awards.

* DudeNotFunny: To some people. The nominees are uniformly feckless idiots who all but engineered their own demises, or near-deaths in the case of those deemed "Survivor at Risk"; however, some people do not take kindly to a website making light of death (no matter how brain-oozingly stupid the deaths in question are).

* DontTryThisAtHome: If everyone else went jumping off a cliff, would you go, too?

* ''Unfortunate Implications'': crosses into this territory a bit, especially if the victim is a woman or a teenager which is why they don't nominate children or people with mental disorders. There have still been complaints from relatives of many of the deceased.

* SignatureScene: The famous JATO story (about a guy who supposedly strapped a jet engine to his car, with predictable results), which is without a doubt the most famous Darwin Award of all time. Even after it was proven to be an urban myth, it's still beloved and the JATO guy is considered by some to be an unofficial mascot for the Awards.

* DudeNotFunny: Naturally, everyone's black comedy threshold can vary and so there are people who will see these deaths as tragic.

* SignatureScene: The famous JATO story (about a guy who supposedly strapped a jet engine to his car, with predictable results), which is without a doubt the most famous Darwin Award of all time. Even after it was proven to be an urban myth, it's still beloved and the JATO guy is considered by some to be an unofficial mascot for the Awards.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: If it were a simple death, then these people would be tragedies. Because they are complicated and/or stupid deaths, they are black comedies.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: To some people, although of course DudeNotFunny comes into play in some cases.

* [[SignatureScene Signature Nomination]]: The famous JATO story (about a guy who supposedly strapped a jet engine to his car, with predictable results), which is without a doubt the most famous Darwin Award of all time. Even after it was proven to be an urban myth, it's still beloved and the JATO guy is considered by some to be an unofficial mascot for the Awards.

* DudeNotFunny: To some people. The nominees are uniformly feckless idiots who all but engineered their own demises, or near-deaths in the case of those deemed "Survivor at Risk"; however, some people do not take kindly to a website making light of death (no matter how brain-oozingly stupid the deaths in question are).
** Some have had their "award" retroactively removed due to this. The boy that drowned after he tied himself to his bike (therefore making sure he wouldn't lose it) before jumping off a pier was removed due to the fact; he was a minor, and had no experience with the sea prior.
** Some of the incidents are clearly driven not by stupidity, but extreme poverty. In one such case, the "winners" were members of a village killed while trying to dismantle an unexploded bomb, as the only source of income in that war-ravaged region was selling the scrap metal from discarded weapons.

** Some of the incidents are clearly driven not by stupidity, but extreme poverty. In one such case, the "winners" were members of a village killed while trying to dismantle an unexploded bomb, as the only source of income in that war-ravaged region was selling the scrap metal from discarded weapons.

** Some have had their "award" retroactively removed due to this. The boy that drowned after he tied himself to his bike (therefore making sure he wouldn't lose it) before jumping off a pier was removed due to the fact; he was a minor, and had no experience with the sea prior.

* DudeNotFunny: To some people. The nominees are uniformly feckless idiots who all but engineered their own demises; however, some people do not take kindly to a website making light of death (no matter how brain-oozingly stupid the deaths in question are).

* DudeNotFunny: To some people. The nominees are uniformly feckless idiots who all but engineered their own demises; however, some people do not take kindly to a website making light of death (no matter how brain-oozingly stupid the deaths in question are).

* DudeNotFunny: To some people. The nominees are uniformly feckless idiots who all but engineered their own demises; however, some people do not take kindly to a website making light of death (no matter how brain-oozingly stupid the deaths in question are).
** Then again, if the people died pretty much brought said deaths upon themselves, [[GoodIsDumb they're utterly too much of goody-fuckin'-two-shoes wasting their breath about those lemmings.]] We all know [[DeadpanSnarker how those of us]] [[TakeThat ''should'' think of such numbnuts,]] don't we?

** Then again, if the people died pretty much brought said deaths upon themselves,[[GoodIsDumb they're utterly too much of goody-fuckin'-two-shoes that...]] Well, we all know [[DeadpanSnarker how those of us]] [[TakeThat think of such numbnuts.]]

* DudeNotFunny: To some people. The nominees are uniformly feckless idiots who all but engineered their own demises; however, some people do not take kindly to a website making light of death (no matter how brain-oozingly stupid the deaths in question are).