How to do The End of the World as we Know it, as a Black Comedy?

And I don't mean the fall of civilization, I mean a Class 3+ technicolor apocalypse.

But I'm having trouble coming up with a proper scenario. I want something horrible, but in the way everyone might look back on and laugh about...if they weren't all dead, anyway.

Now, one thing I'm fairly certain of is that I want to heavily play with the Cosy Catastrophe. Namely, that the end is known well in advance, but the population seems oddly fine about it. At least, initially, though I imagine Hilarity Ensues as characters start to consider exactly how they're going to go, or the ramifications of the whole situation.

But I'm not sure the format. Should I chronicle one group of main characters? Should there be vignettes that cycle through a number of characters until the end? Does the end, in fact, not come all at once, and each vignette chronicles a character before their fate?

One other thing I'm considering is setting. A contemporary setting seems like the obvious choice, but I almost wonder how things might fare in a Medieval European Fantasy setting, or even a Sword and Sandal setting.

Anyway, to summarize, I need a reasonably funny apocalyptic scenario, a suggestion on the format, and a suggestion for the setting.

edited 25th Sep '10 1:42:46 PM by TheGunheart

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy already did it.

You might want to watch The Bed Sitting Room, if you haven’t already seen it, for one example. It did so by being as absurd as possible, yet remained rather horrific throughout (just because what the characters were going through was so nightmarish).

I was thinking something more like The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion, to be honest.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is good, but the thing is, the story's main perspective character leaves Earth before it's destroyed. And unless I'm reading it wrong, The Bed-Sitting Room is set After the End.

Dr Strangelove is also probably close to what I have in mind, though I want the perspective to be civilian "average Joe" level rather than on a military level.

Do you want a pitched idea, or a work that has already done it?

Pitched idea. It also doesn't have to be even remotely plausible, but I do want to avoid zombies or monster invasions.

Armageddon with Black Astronauts?

Nah. For my plan, there would be no astronauts. It's supposed to be from the perspective of someone who has absolutely no chance of averting or escaping the apocalypse.

Actually you could use astronauts as comic relief/ breaks from the action. you could always use a Dark Energy bomb that overwhelms the effects of gravity and makes the entire earth "repel itself" into oblivion. Or you could use Genetically modified swarms of carnivorous Roborovski hamsters.

The whole world falls under a curse that forces everyone to stand on their hands and run around upside down. Then people die from a screwed up blood circulation or something. Also include lots of Narm.

edited 28th Sep '10 9:22:39 PM by PsychoFreaX

Dr. Strangelove

edited 28th Sep '10 9:17:54 PM by Lockhart

Death by Apathy? Everyone comes to rely on robots for everything, but eventually they start to break down, and people aren't smart enough to fix them.

Hmm, that might not be terribly comedic.

One easy route would be just to make everyone in the world an idiot. Then your possibilities are almost endless.

A reality TV show that everyone watches, about how the world's going to end! Now that would be funny. Everyone's just like, "Hey, did you see the latest episode of Survivor: Earth?" "Yeah, I hear there's only another 4 episodes left in this season." "That's too bad, I hope they bring it back for another season."

Actually, come to think about it, the only way for all people to be accepting of something like this would either be for them to be idiots/caricatures, or just not having very many of them.

edited 29th Sep '10 8:36:41 PM by deathjavu