Dark comedy has finally arrived, but more to go, say local comics

Dark comedy and offensive comedies are different for the subject matter they tackle, opined comedianCK Sarvesh. While dark comedy deals with issues like death, disease and disability, offensive comedy is more centered on either an individual or a community and is akin to insult comedy.

“Because of social media forwards, a lot of people have learned to laugh at offensive jokes, which might be about the Malayali or Bihari communities. There are also many stereotypes that people are familiar with. However, a lot many people are sensitive enough to not laugh at jokes about the deceased or disabled,” he said, explaining that a few years ago, dark humour was received with lukewarm responses from audiences in the State.

Now, however, such is not the case. With a rise in the number of shows centered around dark comedy, more audiences are receptive to this form of comedy. The rise in interest in darker memes and internet humour have led to this, opined Vikash Paul. The demographic thus amounts to younger, more tech-savvy people, he added.

For Sarvesh, writing for the art is challenging as the jokes must remain witty to ensure that the audience knows what they are laughing about, rather than about subject matter as a whole. “We also market the shows as dark comedy, that people are aware of what they sign up for. Thus far, we have had about five shows, and there have been no issues with the audience members getting offended,” he said.