The Truth About Dark Humor

If you know me personally, you know that I'm sort of a ray of sunshine. Not trying to toot my own horn or anything; it's just the truth. I'm just a sweet little goofball, a silly goose if you will. But as I've grown up and become more realistically acquainted with the world I'm living in (this heavily ties into what I was trying to articulate in last week's post), I've acquired quite the strong taste for dark humor. If you understand dark humor the way most people do (incorrectly), it makes sense that my identity as a beam of light and my interest in dark humor could seem antithetical to each other, but that simply isn't the case. So, come along as we explore what dark humor isn't, what it is, and some examples of when it has been executed perfectly.

For the majority of my life, I was under the impression that dark humor was something that would never be for me. While my personality has definitely evolved over the years, my longtime aversion to dark humor also had to do with the fact that I fundamentally misunderstood what it was--as I think most people still do today. When we think of dark humor, most of us picture "comedians" who just bank on whatever they think will be most offensive or cause the most uproar. Dave Chappelle's recent tirades of transphobia, jokes about The Holocaust, racism, incest, or any other subjects that any reasonable person would consider too taboo to make light of are all prime examples of this flawed assumption of what dark humor is. Now, I obviously have several problems with this. Aside from these attempts at comedy being incredibly hurtful to already disadvantaged groups of people, they're also just . . . not funny. There's typically no punchline: just a blanket offensive statement presented under the guise of being a joke as a way for people to just say fucked up stuff and get away with it. It's boring at best, and dangerous at worst.

When dark humor is done correctly, however, it is one of the most intelligent forms of comedy and can often serve as social commentary in addition to just being goofy and entertaining. It all has to do with who is presenting the information, how it is being presented, and what the audience can take away from it. As a woman, I can make jokes about how horrible men are because in terms of the power distance between men and women in society, I would be punching up (and I would be spreading information that is rooted in empirical fact, but that's another story). On the flip side, if a man were to make jokes about how horrible he thinks women are, he would be punching down and in turn, just making himself look like an unfunny asshole. See the difference?

This isn't to say that people in positions of privilege aren't allowed to engage in dark humor; you just have to follow the rules. If you are unable to punch up because you're already at the top of the power pyramid (say you're a white, cis, straight, able-bodied, thin man), just punch at yourself--trust me, there's plenty of material there.

One of my favorite examples of dark humor done well is the classic animated TV show, American Dad!. While it may seem counterintuitive to my interests because the show centers around a republican man working for the CIA as its protagonist, it works because he is the butt of most of the jokes and ends each episode having learned at least something about how his hyper-conservative beliefs are not actually what is best for society or his family (only to of course forget everything he has learned and start back at square one for the next episode--but that's neither here nor there). Stan's daughter, Hayley, serves as a great juxtaposition to her dad as a rather left-leaning hippie, but certainly isn't perfect either. This is to emphasize how neither side of the aisle has all of the answers, but it still remains abundantly clear that Hayley is more connected to reality than her dad is. While Hayley and Stan represent the most extreme sides of the spectrum in terms of their family dynamic, the other family members serve important roles too. Francine (the mom) is a beautiful, sweet, goofball of a woman who should be deeply cherished, but is constantly underappreciated by her incompetent husband. Steve, their youngest child, is just a hornball dweeb 14 year old who has yet to establish any real moral values. While still being crucial to the show's greatness, all of these characters pale in comparison to the alien they are harboring in their attic, Roger. Roger is twisted, strange, unhinged, and an excellent reminder to viewers that gay men are capable of just as much evil as straight men are. Through the use of crass, offensive jokes, American Dad! serves as spectacular social commentary on both the breadth of our political spectrum as well as the ugly truth of the nuclear family that America has been sweeping under the rug for decades.

The Smith family; the main characters of American Dad!

Another phenomenal example of dark humor (and perhaps my favorite piece of media of all time) is the critically acclaimed sitcom, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.While American Dad! features main characters with an array of varying moral compasses, Sunny's whole schtick is that these are all horrible characters who constantly do horrible things. We are 15 seasons in and there has been no positive character development whatsoever--if anything, they have just become more insane and miserable as time has gone on. As fun as it has been watching this dysfunctional group of friends who are terrible to each other descend into absolute madness, the true beauty of this show comes from the way each episode functions as subtle rhetorical criticism. These characters genuinely represent the worst of humanity (each in very unique and thoughtful ways); but through their delusion-filled conversations and schemes, they manage to reveal compelling truths about society's most sensitive social issues. The gang at Paddy's Pub has covered just about everything at this point: from gun control and abortion to freedom of speech and "the bathroom problem" while still performing under the cloak of seeming completely morally void. "How does this work?" you may ask. Well, a typical Sunny episode goes as follows: one or more members of the gang has an issue (usually about something insanely trivial) and then goes to ridiculously extreme length to solve it. They inevitably fail at whatever sick objective they were trying to achieve, giving the audience a clear indication that what these characters were doing was wrong; but since they are so wildly incompetent and self-absorbed, they learn nothing, leaving room for endless future hijinks and incredible content for us viewers. The key here is that we are laughing at the gang, not with them.

The gang at Paddy's Pub; the main characters of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

So, what can we take away from all of this? As the world around us becomes more bleak, does this mean that dark humor is the end-all, highest form of comedy? While the nature of our society definitely lends itself to limitless opportunities for this brand of humor, I think we all could use some wholesomeness in our lives too. Comedy is such a broad art form that I think it's important for us to embrace and explore it in all of its manifestations. While I can't expect everyone to have my same sense of humor, all I can say is, don't knock it 'til you try it! The world of comedy is one I hold incredibly close to my heart, and I encourage all of you to find more and more ways to laugh--just make sure you're not hurting marginalized folks in the process.