Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Difference between revisions

* Hinted at with Charlie in ''[[Mystery Team]]''. Two throwaway gags imply that his dad is abusive/pedophilic, and an alcoholic.

* In ''[[Blades of Glory]]'', Jimmy [[Mc Elroy]]'s "pretty normal childhood" consisted of constant training and various injections to make him a superb skater.

 

 

 

* Banjo and Medium Dave from ''[[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]]''. They fondly remember their mother as "tough but fair." By the end, the comedy is cut away and the real effect of Mama Lilywhite on Dave in particular is shown... and [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|it's not funny any more]].

** The first book has a very different tone from the sequels, and starts out as both an homage to, and a send-up, of Victorian stories of orphans raised in wealthy homes, where they were told they would be one of the family, but then ended up as the lowest of the servants, and unpaid to boot, while constantly reminded of the family's kindness for taking them off the streets. They often slept in tiny rooms, or even in the scullery, and while it's true that servants' quarters were usually barely adequate, they usually weren't inhumane. JK Rowling takes what is already an exaggeration for literary purposes, and further exaggerates it for purposes of satire. Harry can't turn around without one more slap in the face reminder than he is less than his cousin. The then book takes a hard left when Hagrid shows up, and Harry finds out that he is rich, had loving parents who left him a legacy, he is famous among his own people-- he was an ugly duckling, after all-- and on top of that, can do magic. It plays out the fantasies that the poor orphans in the rich houses often entertained, before they either died in obscurity, or worked hard every day, saved each penny, and some day made good, depending on the author's message.

* Used in spoof self-help book ''Oh the Humanity''. The narrator's father started carving height notches at six feet to convince the kid he was shrinking, and coming second in a spelling bee led to several years of his mother working the word "psittacosis" into every sentence. Then came school, where his main encounter with "empathy" was when a bully smashed his science fair project and said "That must suck for you, dorkhole."

** Dennis and Dee's mother Barbara tricked Frank into raising her children from Bruce as his. Frank would routinely humiliate them as children even giving them Christmas present boxes with nothing inside. He canceled their insurance when they were 9. Barbara slept around behind Frank's back and routinely lavished attention on Dennis while going out of her way to humiliate and criticize Dee. Dee's childhood was all the more traumatic due to her back brace and the nickname the Aluminum Monster.

** Charlie's mother Bonnie tried to abort him but he survived. His mother was also implied to be a prostitute. Bonnie had extreme OCD which resulted in her fear that Charlie would die if she didn't do everything in 3's (like turning on a light 3 times).

* Arnold Rimmer from ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', his father vented his frustration at being rejected by the space corp for being an inch too short on him and his brothers by, among other things, using a medieval torture device to make them taller, and withholding food if they couldn't answer questions about astronomy.

{{quote|Rimmer: "Every morning he'd measure us to see if we had grown, if not it was back on the rack."}}

* Bill McNeal from ''[[News Radio]]'' would often fondly recall childhood events that would charitably be described as child neglect. Good times, good times...

** In one episode, Bill recalls one of his father's pieces of advice: "When I was a child, I spoke as a child and acted as a child. But when I grew up, I took that child out back and had him shot." Dave then asks if his father was in the Khmer Rouge.

{{quote|'''Bill''': Another time I was cut from the high school football team and my mother said, "Central's lost a fullback but the McNeal's have gained a daughter" and in front of the other players too... priceless! Good times... good times...

'''Lisa''': And this is a happy memory for you?

'''Bill''': Why shouldn't it be? }}

{{quote|'''Bill''': I remember one time my father came home from a night on the town which of course had turned into a week and my mother said, "John, is there anything you won't drink?" and my father shot back, "Poison... I'm saving it for you." (Laughing) And I and my brother, who is now an alcoholic himself, just about died laughing...}}

* Interestingly, ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' borders on this for the younger boys, who simply gripe about their mom lightly, but with Francis it's almost always averted and he has deep-seated hatred for her, acknowledging that psychological abuse is serious and long-term. Possibly because for them, this is the norm, while Francis has already flown the nest and seen just how horrible the things Lois did really are, and how much it has messed him up (though there are also indications that Francis was disturbed in the first place, so it's not entirely certain how much of it was Lois' fault). The closest any of the younger boys has gotten to realizing how unhealthy Lois treats them is Malcolm, the genius.

Junior, I once saw a circus artist get stomped on by an elephant. He got fewer bruises than you'll get now. Bend over. (''WHACK'') }}

* [[Your Mileage May Vary]] in the case of Sammy from ''[[Yes, Dear]]''. He's raised in a family where he is loved genuinely, but the many bad things befalling him are so over-the-top (the fact that said events all occur BY ACCIDENT adds to the humor factor) make his childhood life appear like this (for instance, in one episode, he's shown in flashback to have accidentally bumped his head on some hard surface 5 times).

 

== Music ==

** Ironically, "Jared has Aides," an episode whose entire plot is about what is and isn't too offensive to joke about, is rarely shown in reruns because people found the ending (where Butters is physically beaten offscreen) to be horrifying.

** Butters has also been sexually abused by his Uncle Bud. When an investigator shows the things that pedophiles do to children, he licks the doll's crotch and Butters tells him that his Uncle Bud does that to him.

*** Shelley's abuse of Stan is also played for laughs, as is the fact that his parents refuse to believe him, regardless of how many bruises he has or how much he asks for help. Only once did they attempt to defend him ("Over-Logging"), but Shelley went right back to abusing Stan halfway through the episode without Randy, Sharon, or their grandfather caring.

*** Kyle is also subjected to emotional abuse at the hands of his controlling mother.

[[Category:Hilariously Abusive Childhood]]

[[Category:Dude, Not Funny]]