Dear John (Waters)

While the black comedy can be a subtle and pessimistic affair, one of my favorite filmmakers uses the genre to create bawdy, uproarious fores into the worlds of filth and kitsch. John Waters' films usually deal with topics of crime, mayhem and general debauchery, but present these topics through outlandish and hilarious farce.

Described by NetFlix as "ultra-black comedy", Waters' Pink Flamingos (1972) features the acting... uh... talents of Mink Stole, the perplexing Edith Massey and the ever fabulous Divine. Divine's character is the self-proclaimed "Filthiest Person Alive" and is challenged for this title by a dubious, sexually deviant couple lusting for fame through filth. The movie races through the seedy underbelly of Baltimore as Divine and the Marbles battle to commit the filthiest act possible, culminating in an unforgettable scene in which Divine literally eats feces.

True to its genre, however disgusting this film may be, it is undeniably hilarious.

Death to Smoochy

Danny DeVito is perhaps the king of offbeat comedy, so his 2002 comedy Death to Smoochy, starring Edward Norton and Robin Williams, naturally takes its place in the annals of humor history. One thing that dark humor can do for an audience in addition to making light of the miserable is to do the reverse: take something light and make it miserable. DeVito's film does the latter by chronicling the struggle of Edward Norton's character, a kind-hearted, non-violent and beloved children's show host in a world of vice bent on his destruction. Edward Norton's "Smoochy" character brings up childhood memories of such lovable icons as Barney the Dinosaur and Sesame Street's Big Bird. 

With pure DeVito flair, this film creates an overblown reality with saturated colors and characters. The humor here is generated when misfortune befalls the innocent, well-meaning Smoochy. Here we can learn that perhaps the greatest goal of Black Comedy is to create humor from misery.

Living In Oblivion

Not all black comedies need to concern death. Living in Oblivion, a 1995 film starring Steve Busciemi and Catherine Keener proves that dark humor can even come from the disenfranchisement and monotony of everyday life. Through a series of nightmares, Living in Oblivion shows the tedium of low-budget filmmaking as the film crew attempts to shoot a single scene in spite of countless small but annoying problems. The film characterizes life in the entertainment industry as existence in a kind of oblivion in which we roll our boulder up the hill each day, then roll it back down only to repeat the process endlessly.

The humor in this piece comes from the audience's ability to identify with the annoyances that eventually drive everyone crazy. After a long day, we've all had to listen to that watch alarm that no one seems to be able to locate. We laugh, however the situation is actually quite bleak, for it depicts the real misery of living in the limbo of mediocrity in which most of us exist.