So You Want To/Write a Black Comedy
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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.
Choices, Choices
Pitfalls
- Comedic Sociopathy. This is can make a Black Comedy become depressing or impossible to take seriously [1]. Just don't use it too much and use irony instead of just apathy for humor.
- In general, any one can easily become an Overlong Running Gag if used excessively.
- Know your Target Audience. How dark do you plan to go?
- You want to make your audience laugh, not alienate them and get "Dude, Not Funny".
- Or they may see your effort as a tame and over-cautious pretence.
Potential Subversions
Writers' Lounge
Suggested Themes and Aesops
Potential Motifs
- Death
- Failure and Futility-- See Kafka Komedy.
- Freudian symbols
Suggested Plots
Departments
Set Designer / Location Scout
Props Department
Costume Designer
Casting Director
Stunt Department
Extra Credit
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.
- RoboCop - This is an odd example. It plays itself as an action film, but still satirizes the idea of large corporations. Watch it anyways.
- Blackadder - One of the crappiest crapsack worlds with one of the most evil heroic sociopath.
The Epic Fails
- ↑ It may be a strange issue for a comedy, but even a pratfall requires the clown to start in an upright position. Some contrast is necessary.