So You Want To/Write a Black Comedy

A common actors' saying is "Dying is easy: comedy is hard." And Black Comedy, which uses dark and serious matters and themes as its subject matter to invoke laughter is one of the hardest things to write well.

Necessary Tropes

 * Crosses the Line Twice
 * Gallows Humor-- Self Explanatory.
 * Refuge in Audacity-- This is another staple of Black Comedy, but try not to go overboard with it.

Pitfalls

 * Comedic Sociopathy-- This is can make a Black Comedy become depressing or impossible to take seriously. Just don't use it too much and use irony instead of just apathy for humor.
 * Dude, Not Funny-- You want to make your audience laugh, not alienate them.

Potential Subversions

 * Disney Death

Potential Motifs

 * Death
 * Failure and Futility-- See Kafka Komedy.
 * Freudian symbols

The Greats

 * Catch-22 - Allegedly the work the term "black comedy" was coined for. Combines increasingly hilarious running gags with an increasingly dark take on the horrors of war.
 * Dr. Strangelove - It's a bona fide classic. With the power of nuclear war, Stanley Kubrick crafted a satire like no other.
 * Network - Despite its dramatic elements, this film is still hilarious at times.
 * Robo Cop - This is an odd example. It plays itself as an action film, but still satirizes the idea of large corporations. Watch it anyways.
 * Black Adder - One of the crappiest crapsack worlds with one of the most evil heroic sociopath.