“Wrong Memes” is a Facebook page that shares various dark and sometimes even unsettling memes. The page was created back in January of 2022. Currently, it has over 5K likes and nearly 9K followers.
So, since the page’s owners decided to go the dark humor route, did you know that this type of humor, which, frankly, is not for everyone, has quite a lot of different names? Besides our mentioned one, black humor/comedy or dark comedy are the most common ones. Then it can also be called morbid humor and gallows humor, which is a little less heard, at least in our experience.
Basically, dark humor is a comedy style that makes fun of things that usually are considered to be taboo or even painful to discuss.
The first time black humor was noticed was in a 1965 mass-market paperback titled Black Humor edited by Bruce Jay Friedman. It was one of the first American anthologies meant to analyze black humor as a literary genre.
Pop culture is no stranger to portraying dark comedy, for example, in TV shows. In fact, there are quite a few that are based on black comedy. For example, the animated sitcom South Park, which, since its release, has already established its legacy with some controversies along the way, such as being banned in China.
Other dark comedy shows include such titles as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Fleabag and Russian Doll.
Dark comedy should not be confused with blue comedy (or ribaldry). Blue comedy is a genre that jokes about risqué and profane topics, usually related to sex and filled with a bunch of curse words. It often seeks to shock and offend the public.
On the other hand, there is clean comedy that tries to stay away from certain risqué topics or use euphemisms instead of addressing the topic straightforwardly. To each their own, right?
What is your favorite type of comedy? Are you more fond of dark or even risqué jokes, or you are attracted to so-called clean comedy? Share with us in the comments!
#17
