Tropescilloscope: Black Comedy

Serious and horrible things Played for Laughs. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Action Survivor Easily Forgiven Crapsack World Contrived Coincidence Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Call-Back Red Oni, Blue Oni Dramatic Gun Cock MacGuffin Fake Shemp Bait-and-Switch Man on Fire From Bad to Worse Nice Hat Sports Stories Breaking the Fourth Wall Five-Man Band Stock Footage Chase Scene As Long as It Sounds Foreign Coming-of-Age Story Token Minority Needs Wiki Magic Love Expy Deconstruction The Faceless Cool Old Lady Age Lift Toplessness from the Back Monumental Damage Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Cloudcuckoolander Up to Eleven Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Television Movie Index Translation Convention Mystery and Detective Films Jerkass Has a Point The '80s Anti-Villain Boom, Headshot! In the Back Nothing Is Scarier Blackmail Cruel and Unusual Death Sir Swears-a-Lot Fanservice Extra Scenery Porn World of Ham The Remake Psycho for Hire Suddenly SHOUTING! Decoy Protagonist Jerk with a Heart of Gold Cool Car The Reveal Slasher Movie Mr. Exposition Hollywood Darkness Pay Evil unto Evil Captain Ersatz Line-of-Sight Name I'm a Humanitarian A Date with Rosie Palms Betty and Veronica Ax-Crazy Yandere Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Daylight Horror Auto Erotica Men Are the Expendable Gender Crucified Hero Shot Affectionate Parody Wicked Cultured Aluminum Christmas Trees Be Careful What You Wish For I Want My Beloved to Be Happy More Dakka Police Brutality All Girls Want Bad Boys Beta Couple Failed a Spot Check Once More, with Clarity! Evil Brit You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Get Out! Hell Is That Noise Fantasy Films Improbable Weapon User Star-Crossed Lovers Stalker with a Crush The Alleged Car Diabolus ex Machina Woman Scorned Together in Death Skewed Priorities Death Seeker Straight Gay Blatant Lies Villain Ball Early Installment Weirdness Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Wounded Gazelle Gambit B-Movie Almost Kiss Stepford Smiler Here We Go Again! Actor Allusion Precision F-Strike Bad "Bad Acting" Humans Are Bastards Serious Business Dirty Coward Humiliation Conga Mugging the Monster Anachronism Stew Face Death with Dignity One-Man Army Foil Shown Their Work Maybe Ever After Anguished Declaration of Love Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Punny Name Covers Always Lie Overprotective Dad All There in the Manual Improbable Aiming Skills Becoming the Mask Obviously Evil The Brute Silence Is Golden The Cameo Same Language Dub Composite Character The Chick Last-Name Basis Curb-Stomp Battle Driven to Suicide Action Girl Implacable Man Only One Name Deliberately Monochrome No Name Given Beware the Nice Ones Noodle Incident The Stinger Music Stories Sequel Escalation Brother–Sister Incest Break the Cutie Eye Scream Left the Background Music On Never Trust a Trailer Fish out of Water Real Life Bloodier and Gorier Idiot Ball Small Name, Big Ego Stealth Hi/Bye Real Life Writes the Plot Batman Gambit Tempting Fate Adaptation Expansion British Films He Who Fights Monsters Getting Crap Past the Radar Make It Look Like an Accident Drives Like Crazy Heterosexual Life-Partners Flipping the Bird Happily Married Military and Warfare Films Chekhov's Gun I Have Your Wife Bound and Gagged Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Didn't Think This Through Children Are Innocent Big Bad The X of Y Red Right Hand Amoral Attorney May–December Romance Revenge Logo Joke Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Accidental Misnaming Crazy Jealous Guy Trailers Always Spoil The Oner Sinister Minister Expository Hairstyle Change Dirty Cop Mighty Whitey Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Ambiguous Disorder Disney Villain Death It's All About Me No OSHA Compliance Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Names to Run Away from Really Fast Title Drop Card-Carrying Villain Loophole Abuse Evil Is Petty Drugs Are Bad I Need a Freaking Drink Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Love at First Sight Your Head A-Splode Lock and Load Montage Affably Evil The Mafia What Happened to the Mouse? Comically Missing the Point Wham Shot Oh, Crap! Self-Deprecation Retired Badass Accidental Murder Cain and Abel Kill It with Fire Ironic Echo Evil vs. Evil Our Vampires Are Different Made of Explodium Reckless Gun Usage Combat Pragmatist Film Noir Vitriolic Best Buds Taking the Bullet The Load Big "NO!" Malevolent Masked Men Enemy Mine Destination Defenestration Closed Circle Death of a Child Zombie Stories Artistic License – Biology Adaptational Attractiveness Due to the Dead Australian Movies Homage Karma Houdini Big Applesauce Final Girl Put on a Bus The Un-Reveal Casting Gag Sanity Slippage Riddle for the Ages Camera Abuse Russian Films Peek-a-Boo Corpse Guns Akimbo The Hero Dies Spiritual Successor The Great Depression Animated Credits Opening Papa Wolf Good Is Not Nice Evil Laugh Dropped a Bridge on Him The Smart Guy Insult Backfire Serial Killer Flashback Creator Cameo Car Fu Not So Different Romantic Comedy Bavarian Fire Drill Calling the Old Man Out Genre Savvy N-Word Privileges Deliberate Values Dissonance Karmic Death Agony of the Feet Greater-Scope Villain Fun with Acronyms Danny Peary Cult Movies List Early-Bird Cameo NO INDOOR VOICE Bar Brawl Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Heel Realization Wretched Hive Time Skip Ascended Extra Insistent Terminology Bolivian Army Ending Loads and Loads of Characters Brick Joke Anti-Hero Badass Normal Not Even Bothering with the Accent Older Than They Look Pyrrhic Victory Armor-Piercing Question Attempted Rape He Knows Too Much Unwitting Instigator of Doom Spell My Name with an "S" Non-Indicative Name Corpsing The Ace Berserk Button Outrun the Fireball Bowdlerise Author Avatar Bring My Brown Pants Disappeared Dad Black Best Friend Bond One-Liner Slap-Slap-Kiss Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Stylistic Suck Hypocrite Freeze-Frame Bonus Disproportionate Retribution Missing Mom Deus ex Machina Kick the Son of a Bitch Offscreen Moment of Awesome Jitter Cam Evil Is Hammy Eureka Moment Lampshade Hanging Body Horror Bland-Name Product I Did What I Had to Do Parental Neglect Retcon Scare Chord Rich Bitch The Lancer Cool Guns Only Known by Their Nickname Creative Closing Credits As You Know Villainous Breakdown The End... Or Is It? Bury Your Gays Big Brother Instinct Interrupted Suicide Guile Hero My Beloved Smother Worthy Opponent Overly Long Gag Foreshadowing Determinator Posthumous Character Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other An Axe to Grind Does Not Like Shoes "Shaggy Dog" Story Obstructive Bureaucrat And Starring The Stoic Gold Digger Playing Gertrude Exactly What It Says on the Tin Rule of Symbolism Smoking Is Cool Amusing Injuries Death by Irony Woman in White Back from the Dead Romantic False Lead Your Cheating Heart Adults Are Useless Celebrity Paradox No Antagonist Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Off-into-the-Distance Ending Leitmotif Despair Event Horizon Rewatch Bonus Beard of Evil Villain Protagonist Mercy Kill Light Is Not Good Captain Obvious Big Fancy House O.O.C. Is Serious Business Those Two Bad Guys Honor Before Reason Psychological Thriller Crazy-Prepared An Aesop Villain with Good Publicity Establishing Character Moment Black and Gray Morality Red Herring Mr. Fanservice Fiery Redhead Biopic Take a Third Option Frame-Up Framing Device Police are Useless Hope Spot Daddy's Girl Wham Line Actually Pretty Funny Black Dude Dies First Intergenerational Friendship Dogged Nice Guy Protagonist Title The Bully Gory Discretion Shot The Cavalry Chekhov's Gunman Empathic Environment Horror Comedy Never Found the Body Show Within a Show Fainting The Stoner Evil Sounds Deep Smug Snake Say My Name Rule of Funny Fanservice Double Entendre Tranquil Fury Thriller La Résistance Broken Pedestal Major Injury Underreaction Ugly Guy, Hot Wife All There in the Script Rule of Cool The Big Guy Costume Porn Drowning My Sorrows Alas, Poor Villain Every Car Is a Pinto Unspoken Plan Guarantee Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Demonic Possession Domestic Abuse Fatal Family Photo Death by Sex Married to the Job Public Domain Feature Films Annoying Younger Sibling Mad Scientist The '50s Obfuscating Stupidity Bond Villain Stupidity Martial Arts Movie Instant Death Bullet Dark Action Girl Adaptation Dye-Job She Cleans Up Nicely Hollywood Law The Atoner Pet the Dog Chewing the Scenery Unusual Euphemism Author Appeal Brutal Honesty Rousing Speech Lighter and Softer The Smurfette Principle Epic Movie Love Triangle Abhorrent Admirer Shipper on Deck Girl-on-Girl Is Hot "Well Done, Son!" Guy Gender Flip Conspicuous CG Fingore Important Haircut Extreme Doormat Let's Get Dangerous! Hooker with a Heart of Gold Fourth Date Marriage Bloodless Carnage Dark Is Not Evil Cat Fight Refuge in Audacity Artistic License – Law Freudian Excuse Facial Horror Suspiciously Specific Denial Cold-Blooded Torture Those Two Guys Anyone Can Die And the Adventure Continues Evil Counterpart Bilingual Bonus The Hero Jerkass My Greatest Failure Made of Iron Ambiguously Gay Vomit Discretion Shot Kubrick Stare Faking the Dead Grievous Bottley Harm Japanese Films Shut Up, Hannibal! Darkest Hour Butt-Monkey Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Deal with the Devil Arranged Marriage Kill 'em All Alliterative Name Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Mexican Standoff Meaningful Name Scenery Gorn In Name Only Vomit Indiscretion Shot Laughing Mad Take That! Cat Scare Adorkable My God, What Have I Done? The Power of Love Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Off with His Head! Adaptation Name Change Apocalypse How Gone Horribly Right timeperiod Hate Sink The Ditz Awesome, but Impractical Those Wacky Nazis Bloody Hilarious Adaptation Distillation From Nobody to Nightmare Death Glare Parental Incest Based on a True Story Hero Antagonist Handicapped Badass Truth in Television Very Loosely Based on a True Story The Sociopath Ms. Fanservice Stealth Pun Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Totally Radical Meaningful Echo Distracted by the Sexy Funny Foreigner Wrong Genre Savvy Anachronic Order Central Theme Eldritch Abomination Not What It Looks Like No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Sacrificial Lion Ominous Latin Chanting Badass Grandpa Downer Ending Defiant to the End Defrosting Ice Queen Kick the Dog Adult Fear French Films Extremely Short Timespan Only in It for the Money Adaptational Heroism One-Word Title Video Credits Poor Communication Kills Gratuitous English Shoot the Shaggy Dog One Steve Limit Slashed Throat Alpha Bitch Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Market-Based Title Sealed Evil in a Can Historical In-Joke Arc Words True Companions Documentary Have a Gay Old Time Camp Gay Heroic Sacrifice Ass Shove Unreliable Narrator Epic Fail Hong Kong Films Word of God Vacation Films Character Development Chiaroscuro Would Hurt a Child Sole Survivor Break the Haughty Politically Incorrect Villain Manchild Reality Is Unrealistic The '70s Slasher Smile All Men Are Perverts Superhero As Himself Advertised Extra Ragtag Bunch of Misfits How We Got Here Dark and Troubled Past War Is Hell Groin Attack Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Only a Flesh Wound Tap on the Head No Celebrities Were Harmed Famous Last Words Ghost Fiction Drill Sergeant Nasty Sexy Discretion Shot There Is No Kill Like Overkill Half the Man He Used to Be Bittersweet Ending An Arm and a Leg Hypocritical Humor Rasputinian Death The '90s Not Using the "Z" Word Call-Forward No Good Deed Goes Unpunished The Bad Guy Wins Throwing Your Sword Always Works Rape as Drama Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Shell-Shocked Veteran Dirty Old Man Antagonist Title Spared by the Adaptation Reality Ensues Our Zombies Are Different Never My Fault Fan Disservice Took a Level in Jerkass '80s Hair Big Eater What You Are in the Dark In Medias Res Genre Throwback Dumb Blonde "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Twist Ending Male Gaze Rule of Three Spiteful Spit Neck Lift You Killed My Father Does This Remind You of Anything? Race Lift The Vamp Mind Screw Bunny-Ears Lawyer Bald of Evil Reality Has No Subtitles Scary Black Man Even Evil Has Standards Meaningful Background Event Henpecked Husband Everyone Has Standards Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Fat Bastard Manly Tears Nice Guy Arch-Enemy Developing Doomed Characters Artistic License – Military The '60s Eagleland Improvised Weapon Male Frontal Nudity Action Prologue Corrupt Corporate Executive Air-Vent Passageway Dies Wide Open Rated M for Manly Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Better to Die than Be Killed Hero of Another Story Bi the Way Badass in a Nice Suit Dramatic Irony Authority Equals Asskicking Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Manic Pixie Dream Girl Artistic License – History Eyepatch of Power Aside Glance Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Victoria's Secret Compartment Fatal Flaw Not So Stoic No-Sell Mama Bear Dramedy Well-Intentioned Extremist Femme Fatale Leaning on the Fourth Wall Action Genre Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Killed Mid-Sentence Brainless Beauty Foregone Conclusion Too Dumb to Live Match Cut Babies Ever After Broken Bird Belligerent Sexual Tension Irony The Musical Demoted to Extra Bare Your Midriff Meet Cute Black Comedy Rape Even Evil Has Loved Ones Ripped from the Headlines Plucky Comic Relief Naïve Newcomer Visual Pun Red Shirt Mooks Not So Above It All The Dragon Asshole Victim No Ending Villain Opening Scene You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Blood from the Mouth Soft Glass Cassandra Truth Index of Film Westerns Informed Ability Super Strength Badass Boast You Have Failed Me Canon Foreigner Badass Longcoat All for Nothing Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Catch-Phrase Only Sane Man Sadistic Choice Disguised in Drag Credits Gag The Quiet One Earn Your Happy Ending Knight Templar Immune to Bullets Animal Motifs Redshirt Army Heel–Face Turn Badass Bookworm Unusually Uninteresting Sight Shout-Out I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Moment Killer Pragmatic Adaptation Double-Meaning Title Dying Moment of Awesome For Want of a Nail Exact Words Imagine Spot Sassy Black Woman Award-Bait Song Vampire Fiction Knife Nut For the Evulz Intrepid Reporter Film Series Training Montage What the Hell, Hero? Blood Knight And I Must Scream Evil-Detecting Dog Department of Redundancy Department Punch-Clock Villain Science Fiction Films Sci-Fi Horror Mythology Gag Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Kids Are Cruel Manipulative Bastard BFG Gainax Ending Face–Heel Turn Tagline Soundtrack Dissonance Storming the Castle Shirtless Scene Insane Troll Logic Fire-Forged Friends The Starscream Dual Wielding Madness Mantra Bad Boss A Minor Kidroduction Four-Temperament Ensemble The Chessmaster Whole Plot Reference Depraved Bisexual Random Events Plot Historical Villain Upgrade Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer The Mole Pimped-Out Dress The Film of the Book Film Noir Index Heroes Want Redheads The Dog Bites Back Evil Plan Naked People Are Funny Heroic BSoD Green-Eyed Monster Stuff Blowing Up Grey and Gray Morality Country Matters Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience All Just a Dream Took a Level in Badass Spanner in the Works Pre-Mortem One-Liner Pretty in Mink Not Quite Dead Leave the Camera Running Parental Substitute 20 Minutes into the Future Artistic License – Physics Morality Pet Deadpan Snarker Hair-Trigger Temper Black Comedy Bottomless Magazines Adapted Out Would Hit a Girl Laser-Guided Karma Impaled with Extreme Prejudice A.I. Is a Crapshoot Mood Whiplash A God Am I Gorn Continuity Nod The Voiceless Narrator Reasonable Authority Figure Historical-Domain Character Abusive Parents folderlabel Large Ham Pragmatic Villainy Big-Bad Ensemble Novelization The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Works Set in World War II Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Red Eyes, Take Warning It Can Think Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Offscreen Teleportation Friend to All Children Adaptational Badass Gilligan Cut Disney Death Bullying a Dragon Faux Affably Evil Fate Worse than Death Eiffel Tower Effect Dutch Angle Curse Cut Short Christmas Movies Index Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism The Alcoholic The Casanova The Ghost Mistaken for Gay Creepy Child "The Reason You Suck" Speech Jerk Jock Psychopathic Manchild Dull Surprise Race Against the Clock Cool Old Guy Artistic License – Geography Book-Ends A Father to His Men Cool Shades Broken Aesop Cluster F-Bomb Pretty Little Headshots Fantastic Racism Undying Loyalty Cowboy Cop Hidden Depths Mundane Made Awesome Darker and Edgier The Dreaded Italian Films It's Personal Unresolved Sexual Tension Product Placement Big Bad Duumvirate Dissonant Serenity Dwindling Party Adaptational Villainy Canadian Movies Re-Cut Damsel in Distress "Awesome McCool" Name After the End She's Got Legs Hoist by His Own Petard Historical Hero Upgrade Silent Movie It Will Never Catch On Ungrateful Bastard Really Gets Around Horror Films Roaring Rampage of Revenge Ship Tease Did Not Get the Girl German Films Chekhov's Skill Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Villain Song Funny Background Event Running Gag Jump Scare Retirony Artistic License – Gun Safety Dressing as the Enemy The Place Motor Mouth Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Plot Hole The Lost Lenore Death by Adaptation Neck Snap Paper-Thin Disguise Big Damn Heroes Genre Shift Room Full of Crazy Beauty Is Never Tarnished Catapult Nightmare Dark Reprise Setting Update Properly Paranoid Suspiciously Similar Substitute Shower Scene Sequel Hook Ambiguous Ending Parental Abandonment Determinator aka: The Determinator Taking You with Me Animal Title Index Recycled IN SPACE! This Is Gonna Suck As the Good Book Says... Redemption Equals Death