History BlackComedy / WesternAnimation

** A close contender for that title would be Series/HannahMontana being murdered like Lennon, and her friends from the show [[OfCorpseHesAlive struggling to maintain the illusion of her being two different people with her corpse]], ''Film/WeekendAtBernies''-style, only for her body to become more horrifically mutilated. The sketch ends with a cut to Music/MileyCyrus crying hysterically in an office, as a Disney executive warns her "And THAT is how we'll end the show if you ever get knocked-up like that ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'' whore!!!".

** They also like doing this to kids shows a lot to give them darker jokes for a "Right In the Childhood" kind of blow. An example is the skit with Dora climbing a mountain and leaves Swiper to die in the cold (She hands him a gun to kill himself with, but purposely left it unloaded just to torment him further), Diego is dropped to his death from a mountain, she eats a small band of insects that started playing for her, and we even see the Grim Reaper come to claim Swiper as Swiper says "Reaper no Reaping" over and over.

* The episode "Mr. Grumpypants" of ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}!'' has [[ImplacableMan Jailbot]] following Jacknife into a hospital and accidentally killing some sick kids; later on, various inmates of the prison are reverted into infants by magical means, which is a probably rare instance of seeing toddlers cutting each other to pieces. Also, the driving force of the episode is the Warden's hatred of children and desire to murder the little girl who Jailbot accidentally brought to Superjail. However, the inmates treat her with dignity, and when she finally succumbs to cancer, this is treated as a [[TearJerker very sad moment]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'', awful things are always happening to the neighbour, Carl. He has 'died' many times on the show, including; his arms being ripped off, his skin being torn off (and then shot with robot lasers), being blasted with laser guided socks by robotic turkeys, and and being sucked into a turbine powered toilet (with only his head left intact) after which he was revived in various ways. His penis has also been surgically removed, he's been raped by dogs, was hypnotised and then forced to shove and entire broomstick into his body by way of his anus, and other various assaults. One of the main characters, Shake, has also attempted suicide many times (succeeding a few times, and once by accident), including; putting a hose on the exhaust pipe of Carl's car and feeding it into the interior with the windows rolled up, hanging himself (which was thwarted by Frylock, but then doing it right in Carl's pool with piranhas, sleeping pills, and another hose attached to Carl's car exhaust), cutting himself in half with a katana (the accidental one), and finally, attempting to shoot himself in the head, only to be patched up by the Marines so he could report for duty.
** Standards and Practices: Acceptable!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/HulkVs Wolverine'' direct-to-DVD animated movie, after a shot showing a bunch of fetuses-in-tubes at Weapon X HQ, the following exchange takes place:

* ''WesternAnimation/MonkeyDust'' focused on the darker side of life in Britain today, with sketches involving serial killers, terrorists, and paedo-hunting mobs; playing [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist all kinds of bizarre, horrible or disgusting behaviour]] for dark and disturbing laughs. Fans of the show suspect that the real reason it was cancelled after the second series was that some of the sketches were deemed to be [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents too similar to recent events]]. It was revived for a third series, but the [[DiedDuringProduction producer died soon afterward.]]
** Perhaps the best of the lot was Ivan Dobsky, a man constantly committing murders so he can stay ''in'' prison, which he finds a lot nicer than the modern world.
** Others consider the Paedofinder General skits in which a man resembling a 16th-century [[TheWitchHunter witch hunter]] roams Britain accusing people of being "paedophiles" and executing them for trivial reasons, to be the best.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' toys around with this from time to time (aside from the straight {{Gorn}}), particularly with the "Dethkomedy" episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' does this on occasion in the post-season 4 episodes.

** A brilliant example is the beginning of the episode ''Plankton's Pet'', where Plankton attempted to steal a krabby patty with a baby-like robot. Mr. Krabs tackled the thief, horrifying the customers and employees until he reveals the truth. However, when he puts the baby's head back on and kicks it out of the Krusty Krab, he is beaten by some women for his abuse.
** A pre-season 4 example is ''Nasty Patty'', where [=SpongeBob=] and Mr Krabs [[MistakenForMurderer think they have killed a health inspector]] and try to hide the body.

** “Ghost Host” plays all sorts of insane NightmareFuel for laughs. One standout scene has the Flying Dutchman petting Gary and promising him that he’s not gonna hurt him… [[EatTheDog and then eating him immediately afterward]]. [=SpongeBob=], who sees the whole thing, is utterly horrified. Thankfully, it was just a trick and the real Gary shows up safe and sound only seconds later.
* The later episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' occasionally use this type of comedy. A couple of examples include a pregnant Brandine smoking a cigar and chugging a jug of moonshine and proudly patting her belly saying "That stopped the kicking" and another features Chief Wiggum in a flashback playing with a baby Ralph and dropping him on his head.
** One well-known example from an earlier episode occurs in "Homer's Enemy", [[spoiler: where Frank Grimes accidentally electrocutes himself. What makes this episode particularly difficult to swallow is that Grimes has had bad luck all his life and even during his funeral Homer falls asleep, causing everybody to laugh as the coffin is lowered in the ground.]]

** Examples of this trope existed within episodes as early as season four, like the episode "Marge Gets A Job". On her first walkthrough of the Nuclear Power Plant, she notices some nameless employees each exhibiting some signs of work-related depression, each worse than the last to the point that one employee looks like he is ready to go on a shooting rampage. Marge, making quick note of this, suggests some quick ideas to liven things up, such as a day where the employees wear festive (read: loud Hawaiian) shirts, and Tom Jones music plays in the background to lighten the mood. Mr. Burns immediately takes to this, and the next day, we see all of Marge's suggestions lumped into one, including a depressing rendition of "What's New, Pussycat?" playing scratchily in the background as the same employees are now dangerously depressed, and the one man grimacing menacingly while patting his gun.

** Black comedy occurs in the episode "Hereafter" of all places, justified in that it deals with [[ImmortalityImmorality Vandal Savage]] and a Superman who was shot into the future. In the Season 2 episode "Hereafter", Savage recounts how he killed the entire Justice League and destroyed the solar system, at which point a depowered Superman beats him into the ground and raises up a rock.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' revolves around the two protagonists delivering pizzas. Two anthropomorphic pizzas answer the door, considering the pizza to be their new baby. Gumball accidentally [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120919162343/theamazingworldofgumball/images/e/ee/Job10.png drops the pizza as the father]] is paying him.
** A later episode revolves around one of the recurring characters who [[TheyKilledKennyAgain meets a gruesome demise in nearly every appearance]] with the two protagonists trying to figure out how he's able to [[BackFromTheDead return]]. To do this they kill him in a montage of different fatalities, only to come back from each one. (It turns out that [[ItMakesSenseInContext his parents clone him]].)
** There are also a number of jokes revolving around AnimateInanimateObject characters being maimed in ways that befit what they are, such as in "The Coach", when a flashback shows that Jamie has in the past ate bits of Sarah (an ice cream cone) and Banana Joe, tore off Teri (a girl made of paper)'s leg, then chewed it up and spit it at her, and fed Anton (a piece of toast) to a group of ducks.

** “The Copycats” has the Wattersons attempt to get rid of their knockoffs[[note]]Who, for the record, are from a real show called ''Miracle Star'', which unashamedly copies ''Gumball''[[/note]] by attempting all sorts of dangerous stunts in hopes that their ripoffs will kill themselves trying to copy them; Gumball replaces his alarm clock with a time bomb, Darwin blindfolds himself while choosing between milk and a biohazard, Nicole drives as recklessly as possible, and Richard outright chains himself up for a bath and disposes of the key. He also donates a kidney, only to find out that his copycat is the one who received it.
*** Even darker was the ending, where the Wattersons drive a truck with a leaky tank leaving a trail lit by fire after none of what they did above worked. While the Wattersons manage to stop before falling off the freeway thanks to Anais, the copycats don’t have an equivalent to Anais and the results aren’t pretty.

* A mainstay of the humor in ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', with frequent subjects including trauma, sociopathy, alcoholism, and death. The show does an extremely good job of balancing the humor and the darkness, to where you can find a grim situation funny and yet still sympathize with the very realistically human reaction characters usually have to it (e.g. Rick pantsing Morty in front of two girls he was trying to impress and pushing him down the stairs is played for comedy, but [[MoodWhiplash Morty's humiliated crying afterwards is not]]).

* Even the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts dabbled in this from time to time.

* For such a cheery, uplifting show, ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' can give ''very'' dark humor at times.

--->'''Bill Cipher:''' Deer teeth, for you kid! [[EvilLaugh HA HA HA HA HA!]]\\

** He also invokes this type of humor in both his [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/315yoy/im_bill_cipher_i_know_lots_of_things_ask_me/ AMA]] and in [[AllThereInTheManual Dipper and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Non-Stop Fun.]] Some highlights include his enjoyment of bending people's fingers backwards until they break, [[ItMakesSenseInContext wanting to disassemble Time Baby's molecules in order to salt his margaritas]], and several other things that would probably never be allowed on the actual show.
*** The first thing Bill links to is a video of a ''real rabbit decomposing''.

** The series' constant down-to-earth depiction of everyday misery, clinical depression, consumerism in an increasingly spiritual empty world and use of philosophical KafkaKomedy can get like this when coupled with the normal absurdism of Hollywoo.
** The series finale of ''Horsin' Around'' apparently has [[spoiler: [=BoJack=]'s character dying of a broken heart due to his three adopted orphans not appreciating him enough, who are in turn handed over to the child protective services]].

** Most, if not all, of [=BoJack=]'s flashbacks to his AbusiveParents:

'''Beatrice Horseman:''' [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood You're the birthday boy]].

** Any mention of Sarah Lynn's family life (especially her StageMom with CastingCouch tendencies and her...ahem, [[PaedoHunt stepfather]]) is bound to loaded with GallowsHumor, [[spoiler:[[PlayedForDrama at least until the end.]]]]

** Then, there's what happened during the dinner party for Mr. Peanutbutter's governor campaign in season 4. [[spoiler:Poor Creator/ZachBraff. [[BlackComedyCannibalism May his meat have pleased those starving.]]]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WelcomeToHell'': The entire short film is a BuddyPicture about an [[{{Keet}} intensely friendly]] [[OurDemonsAreDifferent murderer-turned-demon]] whose job it is to drive an apathetic high-schooler to suicide, under the orders of [[MysteriousEmployer Mephistopheles]]. And he's absolutely terrible at his job.
* Most of the humor in the otherwise very gloomy WesternAnimation/WorldOfTomorrow is this. It's especially common in young Emily's blithe reactions to horrible news, like the pretty shiny stars that are actually dead bodies being burned up in space through failed time travel.

** The first sketch consists of Screamin' Meemie portraying an incompetent doctor named Dr. Ghastly, who ends up performing surgery on a patient that he isn't sure whether they've even been anesthetized and makes the assumption that the patient's problem is that they have an ugly thing inside their head, which turns out to be the patient's brain. At one point, Aargh remarks that Dr. Ghastly kills him, which results in Slobulus adding that Dr. Ghastly kills most of his patients.

* Because the tone of the show had changed after the events of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', the third season of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' is lacking in the traditional comedy and edges more into Black Comedy, sometimes going into full blown GallowsHumor. For example, a comedy episode in Season 2 has local GrumpyBear Gears get turned into an ExtremeDoormat by the Decepticons, driving the latter crazy the entire time thanks to his ServileSnarker attitude. A comedy episode in Season 3 has the Decepticons attempting to cure Galvatron's insanity, playing the full gamut of psychiatric cures for comedy (including ''lobotomization'')--culminating in Galvatron destroying the medical planet and leaving its doctors at the mercy of their insane patients. Yikes.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Toonsylvania}}'', being a horror comedy cartoon, had its fair share of morbid jokes. Most examples were prevalent in the ''Night of the Living Fred'' segments, such as the Deadman family constantly falling apart due to being zombies, Fred Deadman dragging around his deceased pet dog Frisky and acting as if his pet was still alive, Dedgar Deadman implying that he and his family died from getting hit by a car and the episode "Bang!" ending with the entire neighborhood getting blown to Kingdom Come because Dedgar activated a bomb kept in his FBI agent neighbor's basement under the belief that he was being a good neighbor by helping him fix broken equipment.
* ''WesternAnimation/SolarOpposites'': Similar to Creator/JustinRoiland's other sci-fi comedy show ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', a lot of the humor is very dark and morbid. The first three episodes alone include Yumyulack and Jesse pouring soda over a school bully's exposed brain to erase her memories of them shrinking and kidnapping her, a mock ad bumper that depicts the Shlorpians decorating a snowman with eyeballs and severed arms, Yumyulack saving Korvo's life by murdering who he later learns were actors Korvo hired to pretend to assassinate him and Jesse's attempts to convince Yumyulack that he can befriend the humans who are {{Jerkass}}es resulting in the two finding themselves at a bar full of Neo-Nazis who all end up gruesomely slaughtered.
* ''WesternAnimation/WhatItsLikeBeingAlone'': One critic described the show as having ''Addams Family'' values, and if the character descriptions and premise didn't tip you off on that, this quote might give you a good idea of what they were aiming for.

* ''Quiet Please!'' (1989) (not to be confused with the WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry [[WesternAnimation/QuietPlease cartoon]]), which was featured in the Spike and Mike animation festival, features just about every tasteless jokes possible, including a literal dead baby being urinated on and a priest getting his head blown off. The cartoon is extremely NSFW, as you can imagine.
** The sequel, ''Sittin' Pretty'', isn't any better. The same man and baby returns, with the baby being killed, chopped up, and baked into a meat loaf because the man was hungry.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' has done the occasional morbid joke.
** "That's Life" has Timmy's wish for everything in his mother's garden to be full of life causing his deceased pet gerbil Eddie (shown in a flashback to have starved to death because of Timmy's father's negligence) to come back as a zombie that tries to kill Timmy's parents in retribution. In addition, when Timmy's mother cries that everything she touches dies, Timmy's dad tries to get their neighbors the Dinklebergs to touch his wife's hands.
** "Knighty Knight" has a bit where King Arthur is reduced to a skeleton after trying to attack a dragon. Following an awkward pause, Timmy says "Uh, guys" to his godparents and Cosmo and Wanda proceed to use their magic to bring Arthur's charred remains back to life.

--->'''Gumball (to the copycats):''' Are you guys good?!\\

%%* ''WesternAnimation/SolarOpposites'': [[Creator/JustinRoiland The man who made]] ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' pulls no punches here.

* In mid-season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra '', there’s a two-part WholeEpisodeFlashback to the life of the first Avatar, [[PunnyName Wan]]. When Wan learns firebending, he goes off to find another settlement and happens upon the ancestors of the Air Nomads. The first thing they do is run for it. This a reference to the fact that about 10,000 years after Wan’s time the Fire Nation wipes out all but [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender airbender]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MonkeyDust'' focused on the darker side of life in Britain today, with sketches involving serial killers, terrorists, and paedo-hunting mobs; playing [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist all kinds of bizarre, horrible or disgusting behaviour]] for dark and disturbing laughs. Fans of the show suspect that the real reason it was cancelled after the second series was that some of the sketches were deemed to be [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents too similar to recent events]]. It was revived for a third series, but the [[AuthorExistenceFailure producer died soon afterward.]]

** The episode "Princess Monster Wife" is about The Ice King stealing body parts of other princesses to create his own princess. His own [[RealityEnsues fully aware princess]]. She's so horrifying that Finn and Jake faint at the sight of her, and [[TheWoobie she knows]] that she's an unnatural and suffers horrible emotional trauma by merely existing and knowing she's an abomination, while the Ice King only tries to comfort her with some of his only displays of kindness in the whole series only for Finn and Jake to screw it up by not understanding the situation or that she's fully aware. And it's somehow as hilarious as it is [[TearJerker/AdventureTime heartwrenching]], partially thanks to [[ArtStyleDissonance the simplistic and childish art style that the show deploys.]]

** He also invokes this type of humor in both his [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/315yoy/im_bill_cipher_i_know_lots_of_things_ask_me/ AMA]] and in [[AllThereInTheManual Dipper and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Non-Stop Fun.]] Some highlights include his enjoyment of bending people's fingers backwards until they break, [[ItMakesSenseInContext wanting to disassemble Time Baby's molecules in order to salt his margaritas]], and several other things that [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar the radar]] would probably never allow on the actual show.

* ''Quiet Please!'' (1989) (not to be confused with the Creator/TexAvery [[WesternAnimation/QuietPlease cartoon]]-- which could also qualify for this trope), which was featured in the Spike and Mike animation festival, features just about every tasteless jokes possible, including a literal dead baby being urinated on and a priest getting his head blown off. The cartoon is extremely NSFW, as you can imagine.

* ''Quiet Please!'' (1989), which was featured in the Spike and Mike animation festival, features just about every tasteless jokes possible, including a literal dead baby being urinated on and a priest getting his head blown off. The cartoon is extremely NSFW, as you can imagine.

* ''WesternAnimation/SolarOpposites'': [[Creator/JustinRoiland The man who made]] ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' pulls no punches here.

** One of the tamer examples: In one episode Jake is imprisoned by a Demon who weakens him by stealing Jake's blood and supplies him with various things he might need, albeit [[ForTheEvulz surrounded by a force-field that is rigged to vaporize him]]. He has a rather [[ButForMeItWasTuesday careless]] attitude towards the whole situation and takes a seat on what he believes to be a rock. It turns out to be a member of turtle-like species that apparently spends the first twelve years of its lifetime sleeping. it eventually approaches the supplies and cheerfully exclaims "I just woke up today!" before being obliterated by a quick and powerful zap. Jake picks up the shell and decides to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain pretend its sleeping.]]. The show in general is getting much DarkerAndEdgier.

* ''Quiet Please!'' (1989), which was featured in the Spike and Mike animation festival, features just about every tasteless jokes possible, including a literal dead baby being urinated on. The cartoon is extremely NSFW, as you can imagine.

* ''WesternAnimation/MonkeyDust'' focused on the darker side of life in Britain today, with sketches involving serial killers, terrorists, and paedo-hunting mobs; playing [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist all kinds of bizarre, horrible or disgusting behaviour]] for dark and disturbing laughs. Fans of the show suspect that the real reason it was cancelled after the second series was that some of the sketches were deemed to have come TooSoon. It was revived for a third series, but the [[AuthorExistenceFailure producer died soon afterward.]]

*** Ending 3: The father kills the mother, and when the Tooth Fairy intervenes, kills her as well. The police arrive and you can see blinking blue and red lights through the girl's windows. The cops tell the father to drop the weapon, but he refuses, and supposedly gets shot to the ground, arrested, and taken away in a police car. The lights from the car go away, indicating the cops didn't know about the girl upstairs, leaving the child alone in a house with a dead tooth fairy and her dead mother while her father is carted off to jail. [[MoodWhiplash ...Until he and the Tooth Fairy come back in [[RefugeInAudacity with a marching band, a hula girl, and a businessman who gives a large check to the kid over the aformentioned darkest sketch award.]]

*** Ending 3: The father kills the mother, and when the Tooth Fairy intervenes, kills her as well. The police arrive and you can see blinking blue and red lights through the girl's windows. The cops tell the father to drop the weapon, but he refuses, and supposedly gets shot to the ground, arrested, and taken away in a police car. The lights from the car go away, indicating the cops didn't know about the girl upstairs, leaving the child alone in a house with a dead tooth fairy and her dead mother while her father is carted off to jail. [[RefugeInAudacity ...Until he and the Tooth Fairy come back in with a marching band, a hula girl, and a businessman who gives a large check to the kid over the aformentioned darkest sketch award.]]

** The Goofy short "How to Be a Detective" opens with a guy getting thrown off a bridge, followed by a pan over silhouettes in an apartment building, each of which is displaying a scene of comically over-the-top violence. Later, there's a gag where Goofy is kicked out of the city morgue after falling down an elevator shaft, and is told, "Beat it, and don't come back 'til you're ready!"