History Main / ComedyGhetto

* ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': Despite the fact the film still has Pixar’s emotional storytelling, many people have been turned off from this movie due to having a bigger emphasis on comedy than the average film from the studio.

* Members of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'''s hatedom often claim that because the series is "only" a comedy, the viewpoints expressed within cannot be taken as actual critical analysis and [[CausticCritic Yahtzee]] is not a "real reviewer".
* Fans of Yahtzee often express virtually the same opinion: That because he's principally an entertainer, the content of his reviews cannot be criticized because he's "joking".
* This extends to most of ''the Escapist'' website, really. They don't hire consumer reporters, they hire ''critics''.

* The comedic tone of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' has drawn criticism from fans of a DarkerAndEdgier Batman, so much so that one episode [[BreakingTheFourthWall punched the fourth wall in the face]] to deliver an eloquent defense of a LighterAndSofter show.

Compare AnimationAgeGhetto and SciFiGhetto for similarly flawed ideas. For the fandom version, see MaturityIsSeriousBusiness. For comedies that managed to avoid this stigma, see OutOfTheGhetto. Particularly good {{satire}} and BlackComedy ''may'' be exempt such as with ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'', an ostensible comedy set during the Holocaust which got director/star Roberto Benigni the Best Foreign Language and Best Actor Oscars in 1998. But a movie that simply wants to be funny without an obvious message? Low-brow trash.

* ''Entertainment'' magazine's review of ''Film/ObserveAndReport'' praises the film over the similarly-themed ''Film/PaulBlartMallCop'' for one main oft-repeated reason: the former is direct, sad, and "brutal" whereas the latter is funny, and its praise for the performers is secondary.

There's an insidious school of thought circulating among the world's pop-culture enthusiasts and critics. It states that comedy is not and indeed ''cannot'' be TrueArt. Since TrueArtIsAngsty and offensive (if not down right [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible incomprehensible]]), it logically follows that something lighthearted, created to inspire joy and laughter amongst the public, must not be true art, right? Sadly, many people seem to think so. For instance, [[AwardSnub can you remember the last time a comedy film won the Academy Award for Best Picture]]?[[note]]It was 2022's ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'' followed by 2018's ''Film/GreenBook'', 2014's ''Film/BirdManOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'', 2011's ''Film/TheArtist'', 2002's ''{{Film/Chicago}}'', 1998's ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', 1994's ''Film/ForrestGump'', 1989's ''Film/DrivingMissDaisy'', 1988's ''Film/RainMan'', 1983's ''Film/TermsOfEndearment'' and 1977's ''Film/AnnieHall''. About one every five years.[[/note]] Exactly, and the numbers predict that it's pretty unlikely. Perhaps for this reason, the Golden Globe Awards have separate categories for comedies and dramas.

** Averted with the casting choice of Creator/PeterCapaldi, whose announcement was very well received despite his best known performance being from [[Series/TheThickOfIt a comedy.]] Although it might have helped that the comedy he was best known for ''was'' a [[BlackComedy pitch-black]] satire of contemporary issues, which tends to be the type of comedy which is most likely to find its way of the Ghetto and into critical acclaim; also, Capaldi was an avowed and longtime fan of the franchise. The Twelfth Doctor era (Series 8-10) was a DarkerAndEdgier stretch with very few {{Breather Episode}}s and a lot of horror content, but it incorporated humor into even the bleakest stories; in what is often seen as a response to complaints that Twelve was too cold and the tone too grim in Series 8, he and the show became lighter as it progressed. In addition, Series 8-9 companion Clara Oswald with her angsty character arc seems to be less popular than Series 10 companions Bill Potts and Nardole (the latter of whom originated, as Donna Noble had, as a one-off comedy character played by an established comic actor), wisecracking characters who may have been put through the wringer but [[EarnYourHappyEnding more than pulled through in the end]] (''especially'' Bill).

There's an insidious school of thought circulating among the world's pop-culture enthusiasts and critics. It states that comedy is not and indeed ''cannot'' be TrueArt. Since TrueArtIsAngsty and offensive (if not down right [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible incomprehensible]]), it logically follows that something lighthearted, created to inspire joy and laughter amongst the public, must not be true art, right? Sadly, many people seem to think so. For instance, [[AwardSnub can you remember the last time a comedy film won the Academy Award for Best Picture]]?[[note]]It was 2022's ''Film/EverythingEverwhereAllAtOnce'' followed by 2018's ''Film/GreenBook'', 2014's ''Film/BirdManOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'', 2011's ''Film/TheArtist'', 2002's ''{{Film/Chicago}}'', 1998's ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', 1994's ''Film/ForrestGump'', 1989's ''Film/DrivingMissDaisy'', 1988's ''Film/RainMan'', 1983's ''Film/TermsOfEndearment'' and 1977's ''Film/AnnieHall''. About one every five years.[[/note]] Exactly, and the numbers predict that it's pretty unlikely. Perhaps for this reason, the Golden Globe Awards have separate categories for comedies and dramas.

* [[https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/12178/miserable-russian-film-soviet-comedies-criterion-collection-tarkovsky-gaidai-ryazanov As film critic Redmond Bacon argues in his article for The Calvert Journal,]] the reception of Soviet films in the West suffers from this trope. The likes of Creator/AndreiTarkovsky and Alexei German, who made often grim and artsy films, is much more known to Western audiences than, say, the works of Leonid Gaidai, Eldar Ryazanov or Georgi Daneliya, who made themselves famous from more comedic films. In former Soviet Union, Elem Klimov's brilliant Young Pioneer camp-set comedy ''Welcome, or No Trespassing'' is a favorite of many, yet in the West, he's much more known for ''Film/ComeAndSee'', a very grim war film, often considered one of the best in the genre. Not only that, but the most watched Mosfilm movie on their official [=YouTube=] channel is ''Love and Pigeons'', a comedy Westerners barely know about. Bacon goes on to suggest that stereotypes about Russia come into play, since comedies are believed to be less political and thus less prone to censorship (despite some of the most popular Soviet comedies containing clever and well-hidden jabs that flew past Soviet censors for one reason or another — Leonid Gaidai in particular was a master of CensorDecoy). [[/folder]]

There's an insidious school of thought circulating among the world's pop-culture enthusiasts and critics. It states that comedy is not and indeed ''cannot'' be TrueArt. Since TrueArtIsAngsty and offensive (if not down right [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible incomprehensible]]), it logically follows that something lighthearted, created to inspire joy and laughter amongst the public, must not be true art, right? Sadly, many people seem to think so. For instance, [[AwardSnub can you remember the last time a comedy film won the Academy Award for Best Picture]]?[[note]]It was 2018's ''Film/GreenBook'' followed by 2014's ''Film/BirdManOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'', 2011's ''Film/TheArtist'', 2002's ''{{Film/Chicago}}'', 1998's ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', 1994's ''Film/ForrestGump'', 1989's ''Film/DrivingMissDaisy'', 1988's ''Film/RainMan'', 1983's ''Film/TermsOfEndearment'' and 1977's ''Film/AnnieHall''. About one every five years.[[/note]] Exactly, and the numbers predict that it's pretty unlikely. Perhaps for this reason, the Golden Globe Awards have separate categories for comedies and dramas.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' is even more comedic than the others, and the trailers played up the comedy aspects. It was widely expected to bomb, though whether that was because of the comedy or the fact that its comic was pretty obscure is up for debate. Needless to say, the film is one of the highest-rated entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – effectively breaking out of the ghetto.

** ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'' was much more comedic in tone, and generally seen by some as the worst film in the DCEU so far. One common sticking point is that the film was an [[FollowTheLeader obvious attempt]] to ape the success of both the aforementioned ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and ''Film/Deadpool2016'' after it was clear the tone of both ''Film/ManOfSteel'' and ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' went too far in the [[TooBleakStoppedCaring opposite direction]], so the comedy felt forced.

** Averted with the casting choice of Creator/PeterCapaldi, whose announcement was very well recieved despite his best known performance being from [[Series/TheThickOfIt a comedy.]] Although it might have helped that the comedy he was best known for ''was'' a [[BlackComedy pitch-black]] satire of contemporary issues, which tends to be the type of comedy which is most likely to find its way of the Ghetto and into critical acclaim; also, Capaldi was an avowed and longtime fan of the franchise. The Twelfth Doctor era (Series 8-10) was a DarkerAndEdgier stretch with very few {{Breather Episode}}s and a lot of horror content, but it incorporated humor into even the bleakest stories; in what is often seen as a response to complaints that Twelve was too cold and the tone too grim in Series 8, he and the show became lighter as it progressed. In addition, Series 8-9 companion Clara Oswald with her angsty character arc seems to be less popular than Series 10 companions Bill Potts and Nardole (the latter of whom originated, as Donna Noble had, as a one-off comedy character played by an established comic actor), wisecracking characters who may have been put through the wringer but [[EarnYourHappyEnding more than pulled through in the end]] (''especially'' Bill).

* You'll almost never get a wrestler with a comedy gimmick as a world champion in any major promotion. If a wrestler wishes to become a main eventer in any shape or form then they're going to have to be taken seriously. Wrestling/JohnCena is probably the closest to a comedic main eventer WWE has had in the modern era, besides perhaps [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], who despite making people laugh supposedly did not count, though his comedy came more from insulting his opponents in clever ways he also had the occasional silly spot and he had a tendency to [[TheatricsOfPain oversell]]. Wrestling/{{TNA}} came somewhat close with Wrestling/ChristianCage, Eric Young.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' was, in its day, often dismissed for its frequent comedic tone. However, since the series is a CerebusRollercoaster, it can be plenty serious when it wants to be.

* Very prominent throughout the history of animation. For example, with regards to ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', Creator/TexAvery was only nominated twice for the Best Animated Short Oscar. He never won it. Creator/BobClampett was never even nominated at all (ironically, one of his unfinished shorts after he left the studio, ''WesternAnimation/TweetiePie'', won the studio their first Oscar after Friz Freleng finished it). Likewise, Creator/ChuckJones received nominations for his later "True Art" shorts, but not for "The Dover Boys", "One Froggy Evening", or "Duck Amuck". He did, however, win an Oscar for the WesternAnimation/PepeLePew short ''WesternAnimation/ForScentimentalReasons'', however.

* Very prominent throughout the history of animation. For example, with regards to ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', Creator/TexAvery was only nominated twice for the Best Animated Short Oscar. He never won it. Creator/BobClampett was never even nominated at all (ironically, one of his unfinished shorts after he left the studio, ''WesternAnimation/TweetiePie'', won the studio their first Oscar after Friz Freleng finished it). Likewise, Creator/ChuckJones received nominations for his later "True Art" shorts, but not for "The Dover Boys", "One Froggy Evening", or "Duck Amuck". His only ''Looney Tunes'' short that ever got nominated for an Oscars was ''WesternAnimation/ForScentimentalReasons''.

* Very prominent throughout the history of animation. For example, with regards to WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, Creator/TexAvery was only nominated twice for the Best Animated Short Oscar. He never won it. Creator/BobClampett was never even nominated at all (ironically, one of his unfinished shorts after he left the studio, ''WesternAnimation/TweetiePie'', won the studio their first Oscar after Friz Freleng finished it). Likewise, Creator/ChuckJones received nominations for his later "True Art" shorts, but not for "The Dover Boys", "One Froggy Evening", or "Duck Amuck".

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' {{Fandom VIP}}s are known for automatically rating horror serials above comedy, which is part of the reason for the longstanding bad reputations of stories like "The Gunfighters" and "City of Death" (both of which, especially the latter, were VindicatedByHistory once they became widely available to view again), as well as being part of the reason why the LighterAndSofter Creator/GrahamWilliams era (which [[ReplacementScrappy replaced an era of the darkest horror and goriest thrillers the show ever achieved]]) is considered a DorkAge by some parts of fandom. "The Space Museum" suffers especially from this, as people tend to praise its creepy and atmospheric JustOneSecondOutOfSync first episode and attack the three comedy episodes that come after. Revival series episodes that tend to be criticised entirely for being comedy are the "Aliens of London" two-parter (which had ToiletHumor) and "Love and Monsters" (which had a {{Squick}}y sex joke and Creator/PeterKay in a ridiculous rubber suit). On the other hand, this trope ended up working in the show's favour in a big way - the writers during the Graham Williams era realised that if they were stuck writing a cheap ExecutiveMeddling-mandated children's comedy to appease MoralGuardians protesting about the horror, no-one would care if they stuffed it full of sophisticated ParentalBonus satire, brilliantly intelligent dialogue and some of the blackest of BlackComedy, and so they did - overtly political stories like "The Sunmakers" and "The Invasion of Time" being fan favourites.

Compare AnimationAgeGhetto and SciFiGhetto for similarly flawed ideas. For the fandom version, see MaturityIsSeriousBusiness. Particularly good {{satire}} and BlackComedy ''may'' be exempt such as with ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'', an ostensible comedy set during the Holocaust which got director/star Roberto Benigni the Best Foreign Language and Best Actor Oscars in 1998. But a movie that simply wants to be funny without an obvious message? Low-brow trash.

[[folder:Exceptions]]
* Television in general does tend to avert this, as many of the most popular and acclaimed television shows of all time are pure comedies. Wacky, outrageous shows like ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' are just as likely to top any given "best TV shows of all time" list as serious, gritty dramas like ''Series/TheSopranos'' or ''Series/BreakingBad''.
* A very good example is ''Film/TheHangover'', a comedy that's basically RefugeInAudacity and CrossesTheLineTwice put on film -- it won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy), the first non-animated "pure comedy" film to do so in over two decades.
** Unfortunately [[{{Sequelitis}} the sequels]] play this straight and even the first film has suffered HypeBacklash.
* Usually, if comedies win any major awards, it's for a supporting performance. Examples include Creator/MelvynDouglas in ''Film/BeingThere'', Kevin Kline for ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'', Marisa Tomei in ''Film/MyCousinVinny'', Jack Palance in ''Film/CitySlickers'', and Alan Arkin in ''Film/LittleMissSunshine''. Read what you like into how many of those were the StraightMan or OnlySaneMan to a more comedic protagonist who usually ''wasn't'' nominated.
* ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' had the tagline in the trailer "If you think a comedy can't be moving, if you think a drama can't be funny, look closer". The film is essentially a comedy with the drama coming to the forefront in maybe the last fifteen minutes, and it managed to win Oscars in four of the "Big Five" categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor).
* There have been only five comedies winning Best Picture in the last 60 years. It's worth noting that four of these winners -- ''Film/TheApartment'' (1960), ''Film/AnnieHall'' (1977), ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'' (1998), and ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'' (2014) -- aren't regarded as ''pure'' comedies; they all contain significant dramatic elements, though when these occur in ''Annie Hall'' it's still played for laughs. The other winner, 1963's ''Film/TomJones'', ''is'' a pure comedy, or very close to it... albeit one that's [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted from a respected 18th-century British novel]].
** In a similar vein, it has been noted that at the Emmys there's been an increasing tendency to nominate and award 'comedies' that are actually very serious, dramatic and deal primarily with incredibly 'heavy' issues (such as ''Series/{{Transparent}}''), with several critics of this arguing that in some cases the only real difference between some of these shows and the winners for Best Drama Series is that the 'comedies' are only half an hour long.
* ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' is mostly a comedy and is regarded as one of the best installments of the series. Of course, the whole series is already in the SciFiGhetto.
* Considering cartoon comedies, ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' is a '''major''' exception. Such shorts as ''Quiet, Please!'' and ''Yankee Doodle Mouse'' got an Oscar for the Best Short Animated Film; although it's also worth noting that the number of shorts that won this award is the same that their amount that was only nominated. Before ''Tom and Jerry'', cutesy fare like ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' shorts tended to always win the award while zany comedies were overlooked.
* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' got an Oscar nomination for its original screenplay. Naturally, it lost to ''Film/{{Witness}}'', but for a [[SciFiGhetto sci-fi]] teen comedy that's practically a Best Picture win.
* Creator/JuddApatow subverts this trope. His first two films were vulgar sex comedies (''Film/TheFortyYearOldVirgin'' and ''Film/KnockedUp'') that both wound up named among the best ten films of the year by the American Film Institute. His third, ''Film/FunnyPeople'', was markedly less of a comedy. He produced ''Film/{{Bridesmaids}}'' and it got two Academy Award nominations (one for Melissa [=McCarthy=]'s performance and another for the screenplay).
* Shakespeare himself applies as an exception. Literary scholars love his whole work: comedies, tragedies, histories, romances... everything. And everything has been on stage ever since he wrote it.
* Creator/CharlieChaplin devoted much of the latter part of his film career showing that his film comedies could do far more than provide a few laughs. As a result, he has been honored as one of the great filmmakers with sophisticated satires like ''Film/ModernTimes'', ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' and ''Film/MonsieurVerdoux''.
* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'' by Creator/MarkTwain is the original Great American Novel, but it is mostly a comedic series of adventures, especially toward the end.
* Creator/JamesJoyce's ''Literature/{{Ulysses}}'', one of the best-regarded novels of the 20th century, is essentially a comedy. Joyce himself claimed there was "not one single serious line in it". Of course, it ''does'' have TrueArtIsIncomprehensible on its side.
** Ditto for ''Literature/FinnegansWake''. In fact, "Comedy" is just about the ''only'' [[GenreBusting genre to which it belongs]].
* Creator/FranzKafka read his books aloud to his friends while supposedly roaring with laughter, and he is considered one of the great writers of the 20th century. That said, his works are just as often described as "nightmarish and terrifying" by critics.
* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' is often cited as the greatest novel ever written, and it's a DeconstructiveParody of {{Chivalric Romance}}s.
* ''Literature/Catch22'' was ranked seventh on Modern Library's list of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and it's hilarious. Granted, it does get more serious later in the book.
* The novels of Creator/PGWodehouse are often critically acclaimed as being the product of both a great writer and a comic genius.
* Sci-fi comedy ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' is considered a classic. Although literary critics often avoid it, reviewers have praised it and it has a very devoted cult following. Since it also falls slap bang into the SciFiGhetto, however, many critics may play the humourist/satire card as a way of claiming that the fact that it's funny means it's somehow not science fiction.
* ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'' won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a rare feat for a comedic novel.
* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' is probably the most zany and comically over-the-top series in the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' franchise, but owing to the mostly serious second season, it's often considered the best of them all by fans.
* ''Film/TropicThunder'' gave an Oscar nomination for Creator/RobertDowneyJr for his very, '''very''' [[CrossesTheLineTwice line-crossing]] character of Kirk Lazarus. Similarly, Downey and Creator/TomCruise were nominated for the golden globes.
* ''Film/TheProducers'' won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and spawned a Broadway musical adaptation that set a record for most Tony wins. Creator/GeneWilder earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, for ChewingTheScenery as the original Leo Bloom, but lost to Jack Albertson, who played John Cleary in ''The Subject Was Roses''.
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] initially with the VideoGame industry, and averting it altogether later on. Video games have leaned towards having fun more than anything else ever since the existence of [[{{VideoGame}} Pong]], and it wound up taking a while before the medium started being recognized as a way to tell serious stories while keeping the gameplay solid. Even today, both comedy-oriented games and drama-oriented games are treated equally by critics and fans alike. Case and point: [[http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/gone-home the grim, bleak Gone Home]] has nearly the exact same Metacritic score as [[http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/borderlands-2 the wacky, outrageous Borderlands 2]].
* Averted (and maybe inverted) with ''De HA! Van Humo'', which is one of the most prestigious awards that a show can get in Belgium. Of the 35 times that they handed out the award 10 went to comedies. By comparison only 3 drama's and 1 dramedy on Belgian television ever won the award. If one wonders where the rest of the awards go to one should keep in mind that they review everything on Belgian television. That also includes music programs, TV-hosts, documentaries, travel programs, satire news shows etc.
* Most of Creator/ShermanAlexie's fiction is at least ''slightly'' comedic (even if he tends towards [[BlackComedy very, very dark humor]]), and he's regularly cited as one of the foremost writers of literary fiction of his generation. Not only does he often write humorous fiction, he's [[HeAlsoDid actually a practicing stand-up comic as well as an author]]. Lampshaded by the protagonist of his short story "What You Pawn I Will Redeem".
-->"The two funniest tribes I've ever been around are Indians and Jews, [[GallowsHumor so I guess that says something about the inherent humor of genocide]]."
* Despite their music being far down on the silly end of the SlidingScaleOfSillinessVsSeriousness, the Music/BeastieBoys are considered to be one of the greatest Hip-Hop groups of all time. ''Music/PaulsBoutique'', widely considered to be their MagnumOpus and one of the best Hip-Hop albums ever made, has almost no serious lines in it.
* Creator/TheCriterionCollection has never believed in this ghetto, nor does it regard certain sub-genres of comedy as superior to others; it has featured works from creators ranging from Creator/CharlieChaplin to Creator/JohnWaters.
* Inverted with the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries''. While the original ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert]]'' started out with a relatively grounded Cold War scenario, the series gained more respect when its sequels ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 Red Alert 2]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 Red Alert 3]]'' went with a DenserAndWackier direction that spoofed Cold War propaganda cartoons and Japanese anime. The inherent silliness of the series made it more memorable than the other ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' games and gave it a distinct identity compared to its more serious entries in the genre.
* Of all the films made by 20th Century Fox based on Marvel properties, the highest grossing one, and one of the most acclaimed, is ''Film/Deadpool2016''. Creator/RyanReynolds was even nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.
* 1981's ''Film/{{Arthur 1981}}'', a wholehearted RomanticComedy about a FunPersonified playboy drunkard, was nominated for four Oscars and won for Best Supporting Actor (Sir John Gielgud as a ServileSnarker valet) and Best Original Song. The two categories it lost in were for Best Original Screenplay (to ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'', the Best Picture winner) and Best Actor, and it's possible that Creator/DudleyMoore would have won if Creator/HenryFonda hadn't ''way'' overdue for a ConsolationAward for ''Film/OnGoldenPond'', as those two movies were by far the biggest hits represented in the category.
* Adult animation tends to invert this trope, as almost all of it in the west is comedic in nature. Shows like ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark, WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', and ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' are critically-acclaimed and do offer plenty of genuinely entertaining plots and dramatic moments, but fully dramatic shows in their vein are much harder to come across.
* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is a straight fantasy comedy whose first episode ends with shrimp flying through the sky. It is also regarded as one of the best TV shows of the 2010's, alongside darker and grittier material such as ''Breaking Bad'', ''Game of Thrones'', and ''The Leftovers''.
[[/folder]]

** In a similar vein, it has been noted that in the Emmys there's been an increasing tendency to nominate and award 'comedies' that are actually very serious, dramatic and deal primarily with incredibly 'heavy' issues (such as ''Series/{{Transparent}}''), with several critics of this arguing that in some cases the only real difference between some of these shows and the winners for Best Drama is that the 'comedies' are only half an hour long.

* ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' got an Oscar nomination for its original story. Naturally, it lost to ''Film/{{Witness}}'', but for a [[SciFiGhetto sci-fi]] teen comedy that's practically a Best Picture win.

* The song ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5JAPkvnyso A Comedian at the Oscars]]'' performed by Creator/WillFerrell, Creator/JackBlack and Creator/JohnCReilly at the 79th Academy Awards is a biting satire of this idea. Ferrell and Black begin by pretending to challenge Oscar winners and nominees to a fight over the preferential treatment of dramatic actors before Reilly teaches them that they, too, can win awards if only they learn to accept absurdly tragic roles.

* The song ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5JAPkvnyso A Comedian at the Oscars]]'' performed by Creator/WillFerrell, Creator/JackBlack and John C. Reilly at the 79th Academy Awards is a biting satire of this idea. Ferrell and Black begin by pretending to challenge Oscar winners and nominees to a fight over the preferential treatment of dramatic actors before Reilly teaches them that they, too, can win awards if only they learn to accept absurdly tragic roles.

* ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' was disliked for keeping a lighthearted tone while other comic book films at the time of release including ''Film/SinCity'' (also featuring Creator/JessicaAlba) and ''Film/BatmanBegins'' had gritty tones and were praised.

* Creator/JimCarrey once said that the Academy didn't give him a Best Actor nomination for ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' because of his [[Film/AceVentura "talking butt" routine]]; he would go on to be snubbed for his work in ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' (in which he played {{AntiHumor}} pioneer Creator/AndyKaufman) and ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' as well. All three movies arguably qualify as {{Dramedy}}; Carrey actually won a Best Actor -- Drama Golden Globe for ''The Truman Show'' and the corresponding Musical/Comedy award for ''Man on the Moon'' (he saw the latter as a case of AwardCategoryFraud), and picked up a nomination for Musical/Comedy for ''Eternal Sunshine'' too. Notably, Kate Winslet got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for ''Eternal Sunshine'' -- Carrey's role is of equal importance, but Winslet is primarily associated with dramas and thus REAL acting, whereas Carrey came to fame in LargeHam {{Slapstick}} roles.

* Creator/JimCarrey once said that the Academy didn't give him a Best Actor nomination for ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' because of his [[Film/AceVentura "talking butt" routine]]; he would go on to be snubbed for his work in ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' (in which he played {{AntiHumor}} pioneer Creator/AndyKaufman) and ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' as well. All three movies arguably qualify as {{Dramedy}} -- Carrey actually won a Best Actor -- Drama Golden Globe for ''The Truman Show'' and the corresponding Musical/Comedy award for ''Man on the Moon'' (he saw the latter as a case of AwardCategoryFraud), and picked up a nomination for Musical/Comedy for ''Eternal Sunshine'' too. Notably, Kate Winslet got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for ''Eternal Sunshine'' -- Carrey's role is of equal importance, but Winslet is primarily associated with dramas and thus REAL acting, whereas Carrey came to fame in LargeHam {{Slapstick}} roles.

** Averted when both ''Film/Aquaman2018'' and ''Film/Shazam2019'' took a light-hearted comedic approach and were acclaimed for it (especially because unlike ''Suicide Squad'', they were planned that way to begin with instead of [[ExecutiveMeddling having the tone changed during production]] - and the same can be said for the films actually with characters from ''Suicide Squad'', ''Film/BirdsOfPrey'' and ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'', both of whom had dark and violent elements but still leaned heavily on the comedy).

* Creator/JimCarrey once said that the Academy didn't give him a Best Actor nomination for ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' because of his [[Film/AceVentura "talking butt" routine]].

--> -- '''Trixie Tang''', ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' ([[SelfDeprecation animated comedy]])

--> -- '''[[WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents Trixie Tang]]''', [[SelfDeprecation animated comedy character]]

** While the Spider-Man films ''[[Film/SpiderManHomecoming Homecoming]]'' and ''[[Film/SpiderManFarFromHome Far From Home]]'' have been well-received, they tended to get less praise than other films in the MCU, since they primarily served as BreatherEpisodes between more serious fare. By contrast, ''[[Film/SpiderManNoWayHome No Way Home]]'' was much DarkerAndEdgier, and not only made more money than any Spider-Man film prior, but managed to receive the most critical acclaim out of all the MCU Spider-Man films.