Dude Not Funny: Black Comedy

Ok, this is very much of a Your Mileage May Vary thing, but I think the picture for Black Comedy Is something of a Dude, Not Funny!. I mean, cooking a baby alive? I don't know you guys but that's way too much for me Cross the Line Twice. Does anyone agree with me or is it just an example of Cross the Line Twice?

There are several things black comedy is not: it is not Dead Baby Comedy

Yeah, I think the best thing would be to get some coherence with the page quote, which is brilliant, and find a picture of some character dealing with a tragic situation by cracking a joke about it. Failing that, a screenshot from a satirical news show.

Isn't that the main point of the trope? Make light of dark situations?

Anyway, I think a single panel from Cyanide and Happiness might work nicely [1]

Indeed. All one needs to do to find an image for this is to press Cyanide And Happiness' 'Random' button.

I'm happy with the current one.

This was chosen from Image Pickin' no more than two weeks ago...

Gallows Humor, Black Comedy, and Dead Baby Comedy all seem to have similar themes. What is the distinction between the three of them?

Black Comedy is when a comedy make light of serious subjects. Gallows Humor is when someone uses Black Comedy to make light of their impending doom. Dead Baby Comedy is a work (comics, film series, etc.) that relies on Black Comedy.

Why are they defined like that? Anywhere outside the wiki if you were talking about a Black Comedy you'd be talking about a work that laughed at serious matters. (Our definition of Dead Baby Comedy.) And Dead Baby Comedy would be jokes about dead babies.

Gallows Humor is a subtrope of Black Comedy. The name "Dead Baby Comedy" was, is, and will continue to be a source of confusion, though.

The last time this page landed in Image Pickin', Madrugada had at least TWO Far Side strips that had nothing to do with Dead Baby Comedy that were fine for demonstrating Black Comedy.

Ah, is the current image from The Far Side? It's Pot Holed to Dead Baby Comedy now, which doesn't really make sense.

^Definitely not from The Far Side.

^^The Far Side was created and produced by Gary Larson.

Whoever this "Collins" is who signed the current page image, this ain't The Far Side, but it's certainly a good copy of those strips' style.

edited 28th Feb '11 8:42:42 AM by SeanMurrayI

Ow. I'm not familiar with it, and it looks superficially similar, so.

We just picked this one, didn't we?

Didn't I just read, in the trope descriptions, that Black Comedy treats grim subjects seriously and derives humor from them? Whereas Dead Baby Comedy doesn't treat those subjects seriously.

As such, the picture is more appropriate for Dead Baby Comedy.

It's got a freaking dead baby in it. I'd say chances are high it's more suited to that article.

I always like John Callahan's sense of humor.

edited 11th Mar '11 2:31:26 PM by blackcat

Text is near illegible.

Crop out the text and put it in the caption.

I'm fine with the current one. Black comedy is supposed to be, well, dark. People will go "Dude, not funny" but some will laugh. It's just not for everyone.

Here's my favorite that I use as a litmus test to see if people like Black Comedy:

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandmother. Not kicking and screaming like the people in the back of her car!"

If anyone has a comic of that I'd vote for it. Otherwise the current one (which was added just a couple weeks ago!) is fine.

Dead Baby Comedy is about a series which depends on controversy, not about actual dead babies. The image is not from any series. I think the current page image for Dead Baby Comedy is not chosen merely because it makes fun of a dead baby, but because the series it comes from (Cyanide And Happiness) depends on controversial subjects.

It has got to be one of the most misleading trope names.

EDIT: I made a Trope Repair Shop discussion on it.

edited 11th Mar '11 9:07:51 PM by Catalogue

Here's another Callahan suggestion

He was so amazing, wasn't he?