Saddle up boys! We gonna be talking about everyone’s favorite, dark jokes. Haha murder haha terrorism haha bad things. Now that I have the attention of the edgy crowd as well, Dark Humor is a lot deeper than you think. When you think of dark humor you probably think of the edgy, non-consequential comedy filled with obscenities which aw shucks might never work in newer comedy scenes.
Interestingly, dark humor (also known as black comedy or gallows comedy) doesn’t innately imply the existence of obscenities or sexually explicit language. That’s an entirely different genre of comedy called Blue Comedy and as you know, black and blue are very different colors. Dark Humor is actually a comedy style which makes light of subject matter that is considered taboo. What Dark Humor does best is address topics avoided and initiate a dialogue about them. It’s never non-consequential, in fact the consequence is intended, i.e., the initiation of the dialogue.
You’re probably thinking, hey wait a minute, if black and blue (comedy) are different is it possible to have a clean dark humor set? Well, check Alex Velluto‘s Dry Bar Comedy set.
However, this doesn’t imply that talking about obscenities cannot address taboos. Often taboo in society is closely linked to language and obscenities are always based on taboo. In 1978, comedy legend George Carlin addressed language taboo and the hypocrisy of society in his set, “7 Dirty Words“.
In essence, Dark Humor isn’t about inconsequential punching down on victims but about sharing a laugh about matters we’re told to hush up about. And there’s something so organic about that. Think about it. How many times have you as a child been hushed by adults but continued talking with your friends? There is an intrinsic rebellion within us. There always has been too. We don’t want to accept society as it is. And when someone publicly opposes authority or society, they say what’s been on your mind.
A Dummy's Guide to Comedy 