Are there exceptions that make Suicide jokes funny? (trigger warning)

[Captain Brony (MG11) 218]

I remember being mad at one of the Spongebob writers tweeting about how Plankton's suicide attempt in One Course Meal was "not immoral because it was in a comedic light."

 

I thought about how suicide jokes are not funny period.

 

But then I thought: "Wait I must be hypocritical then because I remember laughing a suicide joke before."

 

So I thought: "Are there exceptions to this?"

 

Lets take a look at two examples that I thought were funny

 

In Deadpool the Game Deadpool is listening to Cable who is giving exposition. Deadpool is getting so bored by this that he pulls out a gun and shoots himself. (Deadpool is of course insane and also has a healing factor so he won't die from suicide) Cable angrily responding with "Damn it Wade!"

 

This was funny because Deadpool would rather die than listen to anything that bores him for a long time. (This of course lacks the consequence of him actually dying.

 

Example 2 is Game Grumps joking about how Sonic '06 is so bad that the developers approached the president of Sega who thought it was a tech demo and not the full game (which is was). They joke that the devs feel they've made a grave mistake for making a horrible game and killed themselves realizing what they've done.

 

It's hard to defend why this one was funny though some of you might remember how notoriously bad that game is for this joke to be remotely funny.

 

Now if you're not familiar with the Spongebob episode One Course Meal the event that happened here was that Mr. Krabs continuously used Plankton's newfound fear of Whales to scare him away from the Krusty Krab as well as simply tormenting him when he can.

 

When Plankton's constant fear of Whales became realized after Mr. Krabs' slew of scare tactics continued, Plankton decided that he couldn't take living in fear so he decided to wait by the street so he could get himself run over by a bus. Spongebob tells Mr. Krabs and Krabs responds by saying to let him do it and laughed.

 

I honestly don't know how this episode slipped past censors. It depicted a bully who drove a person to suicide and encouraged it once it was about to happen. All of which is a horrible thing to encourage and in no sense funny.

 

I guess what makes this not funny is that it's just too real. Bullies driving people to suicide has been a staple trend in today's world and needs to stop. The other jokes I've referenced were very surreal and are way less likely to happen. In no way a justification but the episode was undeniably worse.

 

But I wanna know what you guys think. Are there exceptions? Can suicide jokes be funny in a certain context? Or are they not funny no matter what?

 

-Captain Brony, out!

Edited April 26, 2014 by Captain Brony (MG11)

[Teller 360]

Instead of writing out a lengthy essay weighing in morals and whatnot, I'll just say that it depends.

 

Relevant YouTube video:

 

[BastementSparkle 20,334]

If it's a clever and well thought out joke then I find it funny. Or if it's just extremely weird or out of left field I might find it funny.

 

 I don't really have morals when it comes to humor, laughing at all the bad parts of life is how I deal with things. When a close family member dies or I go through something traumatic I try to laugh at it. Giggle at the Ghosties if you will. I don't think there is a topic too morbid to joke about.

 

 It's obviously a good idea to be careful who you make certain jokes around, but that shouldn't stop you from making the jokes altogether.

[Aleksei 7]

Humour is one of the ways we deal with morbid things. A lot of jokes take their premise in really dark subject matter, such as racism, violence, etc. As for a distinctive answer, yes, they can be funny, just as you pointed out some examples of ones that were. There can also be jokes that aren't funny or rely too much on shock value.

 

And, as another spin on this, I'd say there is a distinction between making jokes about suicide and making jokes involving suicide. For instance, in the joke made in your example of the Deadpool game, the joke isn't focused on suicide, it only incorporates it. Rather, the joke focuses on how easily bored Deadpool is, and the extreme reaction he has to things that bore him.

 

As for funny jokes actually focused on the topic of suicide, I can't think of any, but I'm sure there might be some that may elicit a chuckle from me.

[Something Floaty 1,334]

I find the humor in everything, including things that other people consider crass or tasteless. It's my way of coping with the horrors of the world. However, there is a time and a place for these sort of things, and people should understand that they must live with the consequences if their humor is ill-received. For example, many people enjoyed my terrible pun in the thread about the boy who murdered that girl who turned him down for prom. I made the joke, as I said, because my way of coping with the myriad tragedies of human existence is to make jokes. However, I made that joke in an online thread containing a link to the article. I wouldn't make the joke to the parents of the innocent girl who was killed, because that would be awful. There are always going to be people who are offended by jokes about murder, or suicide, or dead babies, or anything else. If they are offended because they are offended, I just say "tough". That's life. People joke about terrible things as a way of not going insane with grief about the state of humanity.

 

On the other hand, if someone is offended because they have a personal experience relating to the subject matter, I will apologize for offending them and move along. I also wouldn't make the joke in the first place if I was already aware of their experiences.

 

I feel the same about celebrities who make tasteless jokes. I remember Gilbert Gottfried was fired from AFLAC because of some shitty jokes he made on Twitter following the Japanese tsunami. While I wasn't offended, many people were because they condemn that sort of humor. While I have no problem with it, I recognize that actions have consequences and he would have known that. I wouldn't have fired him, but given the public perception of tasteless jokes, I can see why AFLAC made that choice.

 

I also believe that the tasteless humor defense does not apply when you are clearly using that to (unsuccessfully) mask true bigotry, such as when celebrities or politicians or even regular people make horrifically bigoted 'jokes' about race or religion or sexual orientation or gender. There is a huge difference between, say, a waiter making a joke about black people not tipping well, and that same waiter making a similar joke while cursing, using the n-word, and following it up with "don't worry, just kidding".

 

And lastly, while I know it is somewhat hypocritical, the one thing I never joke about is rape. For many reasons, though I know and have heard rape jokes that would be considered funny, I don't tell them, especially in comment threads attached to articles about rape. I have made jokes about murder, suicide, terrorism, child abuse...but I just can't bring myself to joke about rape.

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

They are exceptions to make anything funny, provided you have proper context and do the joke in a correct manner. Humor is a biological coping mechanism that is inherent in all people, it allows us to make light of the situation, and may even assist in moving past it. To never make light of a certain subject then forces one to dwell on it, often only exasherbaiting the issue.

[Shisko (Collin) 34]

I remember being mad at one of the Spongebob writers tweeting about how Plankton's suicide attempt in One Course Meal was "not immoral because it was in a comedic light."

 

I thought about how suicide jokes are not funny period.

 

But then I thought: "Wait I must be hypocritical then because I remember laughing a suicide joke before."

 

So I thought: "Are there exceptions to this?"

 

Lets take a look at two examples that I thought were funny

 

In Deadpool the Game Deadpool is listening to Cable who is giving exposition. Deadpool is getting so bored by this that he pulls out a gun and shoots himself. (Deadpool is of course insane and also has a healing factor so he won't die from suicide) Cable angrily responding with "Damn it Wade!"

 

This was funny because Deadpool would rather die than listen to anything that bores him for a long time. (This of course lacks the consequence of him actually dying.

 

Example 2 is Game Grumps joking about how Sonic '06 is so bad that the developers approached the president of Sega who thought it was a tech demo and not the full game (which is was). They joke that the devs feel they've made a grave mistake for making a horrible game and killed themselves realizing what they've done.

 

It's hard to defend why this one was funny though some of you might remember how notoriously bad that game is for this joke to be remotely funny.

 

Now if you're not familiar with the Spongebob episode One Course Meal the event that happened here was that Mr. Krabs continuously used Plankton's newfound fear of Whales to scare him away from the Krusty Krab as well as simply tormenting him when he can.

 

When Plankton's constant fear of Whales became realized after Mr. Krabs' slew of scare tactics continued, Plankton decided that he couldn't take living in fear so he decided to wait by the street so he could get himself run over by a bus. Spongebob tells Mr. Krabs and Krabs responds by saying to let him do it and laughed.

 

I honestly don't know how this episode slipped past censors. It depicted a bully who drove a person to suicide and encouraged it once it was about to happen. All of which is a horrible thing to encourage and in no sense funny.

 

I guess what makes this not funny is that it's just too real. Bullies driving people to suicide has been a staple trend in today's world and needs to stop. The other jokes I've referenced were very surreal and are way less likely to happen. In no way a justification but the episode was undeniably worse.

 

But I wanna know what you guys think. Are there exceptions? Can suicide jokes be funny in a certain context? Or are they not funny no matter what?

 

-Captain Brony, out!

I-I don't see how suicide could ever be funny... Maybe it's because of what I've been through but I just don't see ANYWAY for it to be funny.

[Judgement 445]

If there is a dark comedy that makes a character kill themselves in just the most ridiculous way, then I could see how someone could find that funny.

[Scootalove 10,689]

It depends on the joke and what the joke is really talking about.

[Sugar Pea 2,682]

Is everyone writing an essay? xD
Anyways, i'll make this answer short and sweet. I believe it's an insult to those who have committed suicide, and at the most disrespectful in ways more than one. Those poor people felt like they had no choice, and did the unthinkable before seeing if their life would get better. I can care less if it's dark humor, it's just a huge "NO" in my book. 
 

[NomDeSpite 452]

For me, it's a matter of realistic vs. unrealistic. The more unrealistic and purposely nonsensical a suicide joke is, the easier it is to find it funny. "Dr. Rabbit's Suicide World Tour" is hilarious. The reason is because it's so surreal and unrealistic (and also because of the funny non-suicide dialogue). The Spongebob example OP gives is a bit too far for my liking. That's a realistic example of suicide (it doesn't matter if it's a cartoon and the characters are sea life. It's a realistic example of what drives some people to suicide) and I don't find it funny. Unsurprisingly, it's one of the newer and more deteriorated Spongebob episodes.

[Hive King 2,001]

One funny one involving suicide was in TFS

"Don't worry Tien, you'll just bring me back with the Dragonballs!

"BUT CHAOZU, WE ALREADY USED THEM ON YOU, WE CAN'T DO IT AGAIN!"

"....Wait, wha-?" 

BOOM!

 

In any case, suicide jokes can be very funny, like rape and nazi jokes

[~*bacon princess*~ 278]

no.

Suicide is killing yourself. It should not be taken in a comedic way. Death in general is saddening. Do NOT make jokes about DEATH or SUICIDE. If you do, you're an asshole.

Besides, it may trigger people who were depressed/thought of killing themselves in the past or have recently lost a relative bc of suicide.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Nymphia

[Tholos 145]

Dark humor can be used correctly in the right context. But there's a time and place for it, and you should know your audience before trying to make such jokes.