History Main / GallowsHumor

** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E04NorTheBattleToTheStrong Nor the Battle to the Strong]]" is a kiss to ''Series/{{MASH}}: Three Starfleet surgeons casually discuss the merits and drawbacks of various ways of dying as they await a Klingon assault they have little chance of withstanding. Over ''breakfast.''

* After the accident that left him quadriplegic, Creator/ChristopherReeve was visited in the hospital by Creator/RobinWilliams who, dressed in medical garb and talking in a Russian accent, said he was a proctologist and was going to perform an analysis. Reeve burst into laughter for the first time since the accident.

* In ''Fanfic/TheBlackSheepDog'', Orion, who is SecretlyDying of an unspecified illness, finally tells his eldest son about his condition. When a flabberghasted Sirius realizes that his father is suffering from a heart disease, Orion jokingly tells him that it's impossible, because he's known to be [[TheStoic without a heart]]. Sirius is not amused.

Gallows Humor is, by definition, from the perspective of the victim or at least expressing empathy. If anyone else laughs at the victim or the author tries to make the situation funny, it's BlackComedy. This trope is generally when the joke itself or simple laughter allows you to deal with your problems.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' has a camping skill that's called this word for word. It can recover the stress of your party members by rather sizable amount, but it also has the chance to stress them out even more.

** One particularly disturbing example of just ''how'' dark doctors and nurses' senses of humor can get, there's the medical term "CTF," or, "Cletus the Fetus," referring to a child born before 23 weeks. [[CrossesTheLineTwice There are no cases of a child born before 22 weeks surviving.]]([[http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/08/health/premature-baby-21-weeks-survivor-profile/index.html With one exception]] [[ScienceMarchesOn thus far.]])[[note]]Mainly because it takes that long for the ''lungs'' to properly develop: without which one cannot survive in atmosphere.[[/note]]

* Creator/PeteDavidson began doing comedy to cope with the death of his father on September 11th and his subsequent depression and trauma. These are frequent subjects in his standup comedy and correspondent pieces on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' (one piece had him lament that getting a sketch to air would help his depression, but all his sketches suck because "they're written by a depressed guy"). He also incorporated these themes into the dramedy film ''Film/TheKingOfStatenIsland''.

* ''Film/TheBalladOfBusterScruggs'': After the CosmicPlaything played by Creator/JamesFranco is condemned by a KangarooCourt while unconscious, wakes up with a noose around his neck, is rescued, gets recaptured, and is condemned again by a ''different'' Kangaroo Court, he smiles to the criminal next to him on the gallows:

* Chocolate desserts have a bizarre tendency to be named things like "death by chocolate" or "grave dirt": despite chocolate neither being poisonous nor in any other way deadly. In fact, cocoa has medicinal properties. It's probably due to the idea of orgasm being a "little death", and chocolate supposedly being an aphrodisiac. Its dark brown color, uncannily similar to freshly dug soil, probably doesn't help matters.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Harry's brand of snark become increasingly loaded with this as time goes by and the near death (and occasional actual death) experiences pile up, remarking when told that he's being essentially guided to face off against Thanos that he'll try to "fit him in between Surtur and [[spoiler: myself as a galaxy eating abomination]]." [[StepfordSnarker It is quite transparently a coping mechanism.]]

** It's now one of the top requested songs to play at British Funerals
* ''[[Film/SeventeenSeventySix 1776]]'': The members of the Second Continental Congress employ this to get through signing the Declaration of Independence. Franklin's [[TruthInTelevision real life quip]] about the situation (as seen in the page quotes) is famous enough that he gets to give it in the movie as well.

* Hazel, Augustus and Isaac of ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'' are as full of this as you would expect terminally ill teenagers to be. One particular gem:

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' makes use of this frequently, which is probably a good thing on a show that has had cannibals, killer clowns, guys that kill people and do experiments on them before feeding them to pigs, people that remove their victims eyes, people that kill others randomly, people that do live autopsies on others, and people that set up death traps to watch their victims suffer. And that's only a ''few''. Gallows Humor is probably one of the only reasons any of the (current) main cast is at all sane.

* ''Series/That70sShow'' had an episode where Eric was driving his grandmother home, and the lady was not well liked by anyone for her fault finding and meanspiritedness. When Eric finally tells her that "It wouldn't kill you to be nice", she just suddenly drops dead. Interestingly no one, not even her son Red, cried at her passing and while the show had plenty of jokes happening, the funeral was a rather standard ordeal. After the funeral Eric confessed to Red that she died immediately after he told her off, Red chuckled saying "It could only [[CosmicPlaything happen to you]]." Kitty then came in, after spending the entire time just cooking things and finding herself with nothing left to keep her busy, and started to break down in tears. The three of them then cried together for a moment of grieving.

** One of the soldiers being chased by murderous ghosts in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E3UnderTheLake "Under the Lake"]]: "If I die, you know that I will come back to haunt you."

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': The crew of ''Moya'' spend so much time in serious trouble that it would be surprised if they didn't periodically deliver wisecracks on the edge of death. At one point, [[EnemyMine Scorpius]] learns that the gun Crichton gave him is completely empty; just before the bounty hunters open fire, he deadpans, "[[DeadpanSnarker Thank you, John.]]"

* ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' characters can use this trope if they've purchased the aptly-named "Gallows Humor" ability. It allows a character who fails a ''guts'' roll (made when facing virtually anything frightening, from a rattlesnake to an EldritchAbomination) to try again with a ''taunt'' roll (more usually used to goad an opponent)...provided the character has the ability to speak, and the character's player [[PaintingTheMedium can think of something witty to say]] about whatever the scary thing is. If the taunt roll also fails, the joke falls flat, which gives a penalty on the roll to determine the consequences of succumbing to fear.

* ''WebComic/OtterlyHuman'': In Pumpkin Spice, a pumpkin reveals that he is the main ingredient in pumpkin spiced lattes, and that the drinks are slowly killing him.

** from Pediatrics “FLK” (Funny Looking Kid), a child who’s behavior and appearance seems a bit “off”, but doesn’t quite rise to the level of any recognized syndrome or disease.

** The Fleet Air Arm squaddie song "The A.25 Song". The song itself contains some 20 or so verses, each describing various ways a naval aviator can screw up his plane, landing or himself. The name of the song, A.25 itself, refers to Fleet Air Arm damage report form, very detailed, and agonous to fill.

** Desproges also justified Gallows Humour in his mock-prosecutor's charge against French right-wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen, explaining that "On peut rire de tout, mais pas avec tout le monde" (You can laugh about anything, but not with everybody).He justified it even better when he told "On peut rire de tout. On ''doit'' rire de tout. Même de la mort. ''Surtout'' de la mort. Après tout, la mort se prive-t-elle de se rire de nous ?" (We may laugh about everything. We ''must'' laugh about everything. Even death. ''Especially'' death. After all, does death show any qualm about laughing at us?). This is a simplified version of the original quote:

* Pilots have often strong opinions with the planes they have to fly, making FunWithAcronyms: [=LaGG-3=] (Soviet fighter) = "Lakirovanny Garantirovanny Grob" (Varnished Guaranteed Coffin), [=SB2C=] (USN dive bomber) = "Son-of-a-B*tch, Second Class", SB-2 (Soviet bomber) "Svoloch Bezdarnaja" (lousy product) etc

* On his deathbed, Voltaire, a fervent deist, received a Catholic priest who asked him to renounce Satan and thus be accepted in Heaven. He reportedly replied "Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies".

* [[http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/07/09/famous-last-words-from-football-fans-and-other-fanatics/#ixzz2mTAoeTop The obituary]] of a lifelong [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Cleveland Browns]] fan: "He respectfully requests six Cleveland Browns pall bearers so the Browns can let him down one last time."

* During UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup semifinal in 2014, hosts Brazil faced Germany [[DecapitatedArmy without two key players]]. At first incentive hashtags such as "#[=PrayForBrazil=]" were common, especially once the Germans scored first. Then the Germans quickly built [[CurbStompBattle a 5-0 lead over]] a clearly [[DeerInTheHeadlights lost]] and [[DidntThinkThisThrough unprepared]] adversary (final score: '''7-1'''), and soon the Brazilians were resorting to SelfDeprecation [[http://f5.folha.uol.com.br/humanos/2014/07/1483046-goleada-alema-sobre-o-brasil-vira-piada-nas-redes-sociais.shtml gallows comedy]] instead. The ShockingDefeatLegacy remains to the point of MemeticMutation-- the phrases "Germany goal!" and "7-1 wasn't enough!" are still used in Brazil to joke about the country's disgraces, football related or not.

* Chess champion Garri Kasparov has recounted how he once met the former World Champions Tigran Petrosjan and Michail Tal, both of whom were marked by serious illness, and expressed his awe at being in the prescence of "two living legends":

* In 1943, actor Van Johnson was involved in a serious car crash, which left him severely injured, with damage to his face, skull, and neck, and had severed an artery, causing massive blood loss; in fact he had just narrowly avoided getting decapitated by the accident. The accident had occured right on the county border between Los Angeles City and Culver City, and had in fact thrown Johnson right across said border onto the Culver City side. When the Los Angeles police arrived on scene, Jonhson, despite his serious injuries and bleeding profusely, was still, somehow, conscious, and as such they informed him that due to being on the other side of the dividing line, he would have to wait for an ambulance from Culver City. In response, the heavily injured Johnson was said to have quipped: "Tell me where the right side is, and I'll crawl there!"
* Chocolate desserts have a bizarre tendency to be named things like "death by chocolate" or "grave dirt": despite chocolate neither being poisonous, nor in any other way deadly. In fact, cocoa has medicinal properties. It's probably due to the idea of orgasm being a "little death", and chocolate supposedly being an aphrodisiac. It's dark brown color, uncannily similar to freshly dug soil, probably doesn't help matters.

* In ''Fanfic/TheUnfantasticAdventuresOfBizarroNo1'', Bizarro-Flash, who is being trialed by the non-existent murder of his obviously living wife (long story), agrees to fight the [[ManOfKryptonite Blue-Kryptonite Men]] because "All they can do is shorten sentence". SelfDemonstrating/{{Bizarro}} identifies his witticism as "gallows humor".

* The ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' manga does this all the time, hence the MoodWhiplash and the sudden shifts to SD mode. Some Western fans complain that the bits of tragicomic laughter during gloomy, gritty fights become JustForFun/{{egregious}} towards the end of the manga. The humour tied to characters such as Livio and Legato gets particularly disturbing and seemingly out of place at times. Vash and Knives' snarky banter has a weird edge too, and [[spoiler: Cosmic Horror Knives]] yelling insults in SD form is possibly even creepier than his non-SD moments.
* ''Manga/KimiNoKakera'' (''Your Piece'') contains a few outrageous cases too. A particularly jarring example is the RunningGag tied to Icolo's [[spoiler: breasts]], since [[spoiler: the children are fascinated by them because they're all motherless and have had no substitute mom before teenage Icolo]] and [[spoiler: Icolo/Cololi and a few other young girls are rape victims who went through forced prostitution]].

* Invoked by way of the InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike and {{Mondegreen}} tropes in the "English" episode of Manga/SquidGirl, at the very end when "English-impaired" Eiko meets a foreign tourist who asks how to get to Yuigihama station, she tells him "Aru keru yo!" ("You can walk there"), but to the tourist, [[spoiler:it sounded like she was saying "IllKillYou"]].

* Creator/RichardPryor was the master of this trope.

%% * [[http://lh5.ggpht.com/-VcCiFXVeFCE/R11E-N6_ijI/AAAAAAAADlU/v4uyPuNUv1E/s720/Mundo%252520Quino%252520078.jpg Several]] [[http://lh6.ggpht.com/-G5CJhlvDRkw/R11FQd6_imI/AAAAAAAADlw/canaEXDoN44/s1024/Mundo%252520Quino%252520080.jpg examples]] [[http://lh3.ggpht.com/-45fUckRciVY/R11FGt6_ikI/AAAAAAAADlc/97x45WotuAY/s1024/Mundo%252520Quino%252520081.jpg by]] [[http://lh3.ggpht.com/-sJJ8CNfIxFk/R11FKt6_ilI/AAAAAAAADlo/14CkeBMLkDk/Mundo%252520Quino%252520088.jpg Argentinian]] [[http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UYSFWS8UoRE/R11Gkd6_iyI/AAAAAAAADnQ/qNqi_ecknWs/s720/Mundo%252520Quino%252520076.jpg cartoonist]] ''Creator/{{Quino}}''. [[http://lh4.ggpht.com/-C7ZtGybfqmA/R11Hk96_i6I/AAAAAAAADoU/DMlFPXUkhqI/s720/Mundo%252520Quino%252520086.jpg Many]] [[http://lh5.ggpht.com/-MHnVAjdrbd8/R11GrN6_izI/AAAAAAAADnY/K1SR37T_b-o/s720/Mundo%252520Quino%252520077.jpg examples]] [[http://lh4.ggpht.com/-dAXud9_V0aQ/R11G-96_i1I/AAAAAAAADno/h-09QaITYyA/s1024/Mundo%252520Quino%252520079.jpg indeed]].
* Happens quite often in the Swedish comic ''Hälge''.

* Many Marvel Universe characters are fairly fond of this.

* ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuckles_Bites_the_Dust "Chuckles Bites the Dust"]]

--->'''Blackadder:''' Can I ask you to leave a pause between the word "aim" and the word "fire"? Thirty of forty years, perhaps?\\\

* ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' has an odd example near the end of the series: [[spoiler:[[SixthRanger Gou]] killing Professor Banno, the BigBad and [[{{Patricide}} his own father]], is obviously an important and somber event. However, it's made unexpectedly comical when he strikes the final blow with the late Kamen Rider Chaser's Signal Axe, with the same goofy sound effects and voice clips it's always had.]]

'''Gou:''' It said "go for it"...didn't it?]]

* Music/JunTogawa (especially YAPOOS) occasionally delves into this when she's not being [[TearJerker straight-up depressing]].

* Roughly ninety percent of all humor in [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Warhammer Fantasy]] and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is of this variety, [[CrapsackWorld for good reason]].

* The card game ''TabletopGame/NuclearWar'' is built on this.

* A couple of near-literal examples from [[FamousLastWords real-world executions]]:

* On his deathbed, Voltaire, a fervent deist, received a Catholic priest who asked him to renounce Satan and thus be accepted in Heaven. He reportedly replied "[[FamousLastWords/RealLife Now, now my good man, this is no time for making enemies]]".

--->'''EMT 1:''' ''[after moving a very heavy patient]'' When I die, you can wait until I'm rotted down to a skeleton so I'm easier to move.\\

* ''Afterlife'' - Hell has a punishment known as the "Deadly Serious Caverns". Any of the damned who get caught trying to make their suffering more tolerable through humor are sent there to have it beaten out of them.

-->'''Lorne Michaels:''' Can we be funny again?\\

-->'''EMT 1:''' ''[after moving a very heavy patient]'' When I die, you can wait until I'm rotted down to a skeleton so I'm easier to move.\\

** "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E22Grave Grave]]": Buffy is updating the recently returned Giles on the horrible things that happened to her and her friends (her masochistic relationship with Spike, Xander and Anya's altar break-up, Dawn's shoplifting, etc.) After this laundry list of soul-crushing defeats, both Buffy and Giles suddenly break out laughing. Buffy even recounts the particularly traumatic events of ''Normal Again'' (where she's hallucinating that her entire time as the Slayer was just a delusion from a mental hospital, and she tried to kill everyone to stop the delusion...) in a fit of giggles.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' has its fair share of this, but the most literal example has to be River giggling at the absurdity of being tied to a post so she can be burned at the stake on the same day as she learned what a "post-holer, for digging holes for posts" looked like in "Safe".

** One side story had Mustang contemplating about his "[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone work on Ishbal]]", then later we had his subordinates pushing paperwork on him.

* ''Afterlife'' - Hell has a punishment known as the "Deadly Serious Caverns". Any damned SOULs who get caught trying to make life in Hell more tolerable through humor are sent there to have it beaten out of them.

* According to medieval Catholic legend, Saint Lawrence of Rome was martyred by being roasted to death on a gridiron. After roasting over a hot fire for a while, he supposedly told his torturers, "''I am done on this side; you may turn me over''". The Catholic Church decided that because of this, he should be considered the patron saint of cooks and chefs, making this first-rate BlackComedy as well. Lawrence is also the patron saint of stand-up comics for just this reason. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Escorial The Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial]] is built in the form of a grill just for this.