Cyanide & Happiness

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"...or one of us will mock the other for having AIDS?!"

Cyanide & Happiness is a daily webcomic strip at explosm.net It was begun by Kris Wilson originally, but after showing his work to some members on the sticksuicide.com forum several others joined in the fun: Matt Melvin, Rob DenBleyker and Dave McElfatrick. They have no shame in exploiting extreme Black Comedy, Literal-Minded-ness and affinities for the most hilariously controversially awkward situations known to webcomickind. Their comics involve the exploitation of simply-drawn stick dolls for all they're worth.

Dark, cynical, offensive, irreverent... and we're just getting started.

Oh, and they also have a sketch comedy show, here.

Tropes used in Cyanide & Happiness include:

• Accidental Athlete: The "Waiting for a bus" short. This being Cyanide & Happiness, the trope is Deconstructed.
• Actually Pretty Funny: "For the sake of that joke, I'm kinda glad it happened now."
• A Date with Rosie Palms: This comic, while not featuring the act itself, takes it to extremely awkward levels.
• And I Must Scream: Played as straight as possible.
• Armless Biped: Zig-zagged in legarms1 (#186) by Kris Wilson. Pinky appears to have no legs until it is clarified that he had his legs reattached at his shoulders.
• Art Evolution: Yes, in a stick figure comic. Compare Wilson's first comic with this more recent one.
• Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence: Implied in this strip.
• Badass Mustache: Musclestache!
• Balloon Belly: Literally.
• Beat Panel: Kris seems to love using these.
  • A non-Kris example.
• Better to Die Than Be Killed: This guy.
• Black Comedy: Pretty much every other strip deals with this.
  • "Dead baby" comedies can be found in strip 2325, strip 55, strip 138,strip 271, strip 322, strip 1034, strip 1968, strip 2097, strip 2237, strip 2273, strip 2316, strip 2165, The sign part 2.
    • Some are only discussed, like here and here, while some are actually treated seriously/semi-seriously, like here, here, here, or here.
    • See also strip 1782 and strip 1846.
    • Not to forget this brilliant woman.
• Blessed with Suck: One of the resident superheroes, Seizure Man
  • And Mind Fuck
  • Sword arms aren't as great as you might think.
• Body Horror: I'm giving birth to piranhas!
• Bowled Over: In #4659, after nearly a week of bowling ball themed strips, a man rolls into a ball and spin-dashes into several people dressed as bowling pins.
• Box-and-Stick Trap:
  • Kris depicts catching a rabbit with a propped-up top hat and a carrot as a rite of passage for magicians in #1274.
  • Inverted in #2696 by Rob. A box-and-stick trap is set over a slice of pie on a plate. "Hey! Free box!" and then he slips on the pie and impales himself.
  • In #4450 by Rob, a worm serves as bait to catch an "early bird" to cook and eat.
• Brick Joke: A lot, but their short Waiting for the Bus is probably their best example.
• Bungled Suicide: Because he was too tall.
• Butter Face: This comic is pretty much a straight demonstration of the trope.
• Captain Ersatz: On this strip, which is a direct follow up to this one.
• Captain Obvious: Literally.
• Caught with Your Pants Down: Double Subverted in this strip.
• Chess: With added Alabama rules.
• Children Are Innocent: Subverted in this strip.
• Cloning Blues: An unusual take in this strip.
• Compensating for Something: Discussed.
• Comically Missing the Point: Stick-figure ignorance is how most of the other squick-related tropes come into play.
  • This strip is a perfect example of this trope.
• Compliment Backfire & Digging Yourself Deeper: Taken to comically-tragic extremes on this trip.
• Continuity Nod: The guys in this comic are the same as the ones who found Jesus here.
• Crapsack World
• Credits Gag: Waiting for the Bus 2 has as much credits as animation.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Inverted...or something in this strip.
• Cut and Paste Comic: Starting on this strip, there was a brief streak of comics done in this style. The humor was also a weird blend of surrealistic antics and so-unfunny-they-are-funny jokes during that period.
  • "Son... you were copied and pasted..."
• Death by Racism: The Speed Racist animated skit.
• Deconstructed Trope: Child Prodigies with jobs, in the Doctor Baby series.
• Defiant to the End: Couple with Do Wrong Right.

You guys did a poor job nailing me up here. I know. I'm a carpenter.

• Delivery Stork:
  • #1035 shows an egg hatching into a "freak" (i.e. a human), and the mommy and daddy stork decide to "leave it on someone's doorstep."
  • #1742 implies that storks feed at least some babies to their chicks. A comment speculates that this might be what happens to miscarriages.
  • #2139 has a stork in a lab coat as an obstetrician.
  • #2499 has a man and a woman deciding to order "delivery". After they reject Chinese and Mexican, the stork brings an African baby.
  • #2867 by Matt has a woman giving birth to a live stork. "Push! Push!" and then it flies off.
  • And vultures carry off aborted fetuses in #2886 by Dave.
• Disney Creatures of the Farce: On this strip.
• Disproportionate Retribution: What this kid does when he doesn't get his ice cream.
• Divide by Zero: On this strip.
• Double Subversion: Many, many times.
  • This is but one example.
  • Strip 1547. Strip 1635. Strip 1806. Strip 1895. Strip 1911. Strip 2020. Strip 2168. Strip 2319. Strip 2701. Strip 2705. Strip 2730.
  • Gasp, could it be? Triple Subversion!
• Driven to Suicide: By not being able to find Waldo.
  • It also happens on this strip.
  • It also happens here, due to a Hurricane of Puns.
• The Eeyore: Dan the Downer.
• Eldritch Abomination: Or whatever this thing is...
• Exact Words: Provides the Page Picture.
• Extreme Omnivore: This guy.
• Eye Scream: The Purple-Shirted Eye Stabber's M.O.
• Eye Shock: There's a strip where someone did this and the other guy stared at him in shock and disgust, then the guy's eyes wouldn't go back in and he was all like 'oh God! Oh God!'. It was pretty gross (link is to another, very similar one).
• Watch It Stoned
• Precious Puppies: Uh, you be the judge of that...
• Evil Versus Evil: One of the funniest examples ever.
• Facing the Bullets One-Liner: Inverted.
• Fail O'Suckyname: Parodied.
• Flat What: This comic, which also counts as a Fridge Logic moment:

The "she" in "that's what she said" is really annoying in bed.

• For Halloween I Am Going as Myself: The purple shirted eye-stabber.
• Fourth Wall Psych: Considering how weak the fourth wall typically is, this comes at a bit of a surprise.
• Frame Break: Here and here.
• Fridge Horror: This Comic , once you realize the tie extends past his torso.
• Friend to All Living Things: Subverted.
• Gallows Humor: "Cancer comes with a free robot!?!"
• Glasgow Grin: Satan, when depicted, is shown to wear one of these.
• Godwin's Law: Even with hi fives.
• Gone Horribly Right: Cloning yourself won't alleviate loneliness.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Invoked as they discuss the merits of cheating on a science project.
• Goomba Stomp: ...A darkly hilarious variation.
• Go Out with a Smile: See Better to Die Than Be Killed. and also One of the character's dad's death. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny.
• Gotta Catch Em All: Not what you'd expect, though...
• Groin Attack: "Congratulations, it's a girl!"
• Gross Up Close-Up: Betcha didn't think the characters are as ugly on the outside as they are on the inside.
  • Need more proof? Of course you do.
• Grotesque Cute: The stick figures drawn by Kris and Dave are somewhat adorable. Sadly, the cuteness probably won't stay.
• Handicapped Badass: Suzy dominates the obstacle course from her wheelchair in the short "Gym Class".
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Egoraptor appears in quite a few shorts.
• Historical In-Joke: Apparently, Edvard Munch used a live model as reference for "The Scream".
• Hitler Ate Sugar: This comic.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Wordplay on the phrase, not an actual example.
• I Always Wanted to Say That: Parodied or deconstructed, depending on how you look at it.
• Impossible Thief: "The greatest thief I've ever met!"
• It Always Rains At Funerals: Even cellphones aren't exempt.
• It Came From the Fridge: "Oh! There it is".
• Incredibly Lame Pun: People are already pointing out that this is the longest C&H comic ever.
• The Internet Is for Porn: In #2819 by Rob, Green asks about the history of the Internet and Yellow rattles off a list of porn fetishes.
• Kick the Dog: Literally.
• Lampshade Hanging: Did someone say hat off?
• Late to the Punchline: Hey, wait a minute!
• Limited Wardrobe: Commonly assumed by comment section regulars, based on the early recurring character Purple Shirted Eye Stabber. Later averted in #2562 by Matt and #3726 by Rob, where a character is choosing which color shirt to wear.
• Literal-Minded: Where plenty of the gags come from.
  • One particularly notable example of this was the 'Facebook' strip.
  • In a combination of horrible puns, literal-mindedness, really old references, and nudity, Pole Position.
  • "u no if n e milk is in fridge?" "i dunno. go to fridge and c4 yourself"
  • "Just listen to your heart." Two for the price of one.
• The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Put to Mind Screw-y use in this strip.
• Logic Bomb: The fate of Attorney-Tron.
  • Though what is said isn't actually a paradox. Simply refusing the question by saying "no" does make it impossible to know if he's lying (i.e. a null answer), but since he didn't claim to actually be lying it doesn't create a contradiction.
• The Long List: Of diseases.
• Made of Plasticine: Ice cream cones are dangerous.
• Magic Feather: Can I have my money back?
  • Four examples of varying awesomeness.
• Mexican Standoff: Another literal case...
• Minor Injury Overreaction & Major Injury Underreaction: Used at the same time!
• My Eyes Are Up Here: But this guy knows what he's looking at...
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Vampire Zombie Werewolf, actually. And herpes.
• No Fourth Wall
• "No. Just... No" Reaction: The common reaction to puns.
• "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: "This conversation actually happened."
• N-Word Privileges: Played with on this strip.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: It sure would be nice to know how those guys got chopped in half and decapitated.
• Onion Tears: Subverted or something.
• Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?: Double Subverted here.
  • Regular Subverted here.
  • "YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH!"
  • Played completely backwards but without actually saying the "happy to see me" part.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: And whenwolves, whywolves, and whowolves.
• Overly Long Gag: So long it needs a scroll bar.
  • If you scroll rightwards at just the right speed, it's like a flipbook.
• Rambling Old Man Monologue: Can come in handy on occasion.
• Reality Ensues: In this strip. That's actually a fairly accurate depiction of how real boomerangs (fail to) work!
• Red Herring: A lesson on how to use it.
• Refuge in Audacity: Exemplified by this comic.
• Rule of Three: The third time the same joke is used, it's typically curveballed. Case in point.
  • And another example.
• Running Gag: Tons.
  • The Purple-shirted Eye Stabber is one of note, though he has since deceased fighting huge aliens. Godspeed, Purple-shirted Eye Stabber - godspeed.
    • He got better!
  • There's also the old man who becomes a seagull by flapping his hair like wings and detatching his head.
  • *squeeze*
  • Every depressing comic week contains something getting killed by a car.
  • "Did someone say [X]-off?" Followed by two characters trying to outdo each other at whatever [X] is. Inevitably led up to this.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: With a big dose of Squick inducing it...

"What exactly are you searching for?"

• Self-Deprecation: Also counts as Hypocritical Humor in this strip
• Shaggy Dog Story: "...I wish the guys were here."
  • Which is a straight retelling of a classic joke.
• Shaped Like Itself: THOSE MEAN THE SAME DAMN THING!!
• Shout-Out: To the infamous "horse's head in a bed" scene of The Godfather.
• Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Played for Squickness.
• Slasher Smile: "I do it for the ol' fashioned joy of killing."
• Stable Time Loop: HELLO!
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism - One moment the strip is Black Comedy, the next it's standard, and there are times where it gets innocently silly.
• Something's Different About You Now: Played with somehow...
  • Also done here
• Stick Figure Comic
• Strange Minds Think Alike: See the first strip, among others.
• Take That:
  • Rips Ctrl+Alt+Del a new one in this comic.
  • Also in the opening week of August 2009, they all took turns doing strips for one another in the other artists' "style." Each was a Take That against whichever artist they were covering for, with the fun starting here.
  • Getting punched in the face is better than the Twilight movie.
  • Makes fun of Nickelback here.
  • They also make fun of Metallica here.
  • This strip works as a generic Take That against all those run-of-the-mill Webcomics about Two Gamers on a Couch with lots of Walls of Text.
  • The Radioactive Sparrow Man (he was bitten by a radioactive sparrow)
  • A direct and simple, yet hilarious, meta-example appears on this strip.
• Take That Us: You call this art?!
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: #1231 makes male baldness a plot point where a mom with twin daughters shaves one's head to help tell them apart, and others assume the shaved daughter is a boy.
• Throwing Off the Disability: Parodied. Inspiring comic day!
• Title Drop: Here: 04.15.2005
• Unsettling Gender Reveal:
  • Inverted. Or something like that.
  • Played straight here.
• Viewers Are Geniuses:
  • People who don't know that C4 is a plastic explosive typically used for safecracking will never get this one.
  • This comic will require a bit of web browser knowledge to get.
• Visual Pun: In this comic, a guy laments the lack of beer with "Aw man". In the next panel, a superhero with 'AW' emblazoned on his chest touches down...
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: The Man Who Could Sit Anywhere
• What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: This guy is really mad about his roses.
• White Dude, Black Dude: Parodied.
• Who You Gonna Call?: Not exactly.
• Wingding Eyes: Doesn't stop at his eyes, though.
• A Worldwide Punomenon: Half the point of the comic are the absolutely horrendous puns.
• Worth It: Here.
• Yaoi Fan: Then give him butt resuscitation!
• You Don't Want to Die a Virgin, Do You?: "Um... That line only works if I'm about to die."
• Your Head Asplode: Somewhat common. Usually caused by a Logic Bomb, although there have been exceptions.
• You Wanna Get Sued?: "Blast!! Copyright-Infringement-Man!"