Have you ever encountered that stand-up comedy video in which the comedian says, “We are the only country in which we find garbage in a garden and a baby in a garbage bag”? Well, that is an oops moment where we cannot figure out whether we should be laughing or not. That is exactly what we call dark humour, or rather, a difficult topic. (Rajwani, 2026)
What happens when you laugh about jokes regarding topics like death, diseases, and bad luck but don’t feel embarrassed afterwards? If that is the case, then you are not alone. Based on scientific findings, individuals who enjoy black humour do better in intelligence exams. They are also less likely to get aggressive compared to those who avoid dark humour (Willinger et al., 2017). Black humour includes creating jokes based on subjects that people do not often laugh at, such as death, diseases, wars, and sadness. It makes them funny temporarily. This paper will analyse the purpose of such brain functions as well as discuss some of its advantages.
Read More: Dark Humour: The Fine Line Between Comedy and Insensitivity
What Dark Humour Actually Is
Dark humour is a kind of comedy that revolves around themes that people believe are not appropriate to make jokes about. These include death, sickness, natural calamities, and loss, among others. Dark humour is also referred to as gallows humour. This is the name used to describe jokes made by individuals in prison about their upcoming execution (Aultman & Meyers, 2020).
The reason for the difference between dark humour and an offensive joke lies in the intention behind telling either one. Unlike an offensive joke, whose purpose is to ridicule an individual, a dark joke is aimed at creating an element of fear and reducing its effect. In cases where soldiers make jokes about the dangers surrounding their work, or individuals with cancer make jokes about hair loss while receiving treatment, it is evident that neither of them is criticising the situation.
This specific kind of humor has existed from the time when there have been humans. Using dark humour to vent frustration and overcome traumatic experiences without getting lost in emotions has been a constant practice in the history of medicine by physicians and nurses, as well as in the military life of soldiers (Aultman & Meyers, 2020; Watson, 2011). In addition to this, dark humour occurs in practically any culture, although there are some significant differences depending on the specifics of each culture: everyone makes jokes about his or her own problems.
First of all, it should be mentioned that there is a need to make an important distinction in this regard: using dark humour does not automatically make a person cruel and insensitive; on the contrary, as will be discussed below, such a person may be considered like that precisely because of the fact that they feel many strong emotions. Generally speaking, what differentiates good and bad dark humour from each other is basically the content of the joke, its narrator, and the context of telling.
Read More: How Your Brain Reacts to Humour
Why Our Brains Find Dark Jokes Funny
To understand the mechanism behind the success of dark humour, one needs to address some basics that are characteristic of a well-built joke. Firstly, most jokes utilise the pattern of building up an expectation and breaking it. A new situation occurs, and the brain processes this information to comprehend it in the shortest period of time.
However, dark humour presents a somewhat different pattern as it deals with a logical but emotionally unexpected outcome related to either death or disease. This means that there is a more sophisticated process that goes on inside the mind: it should register contradictory signals, such as this issue requires attention and consideration; however, at the same time, it makes people laugh.
The concept of a benign violation theory is applied to explain such types of humour. Thus, a joke creates a breach of social norms or instils the fear of some sort, but it does not threaten an individual (McGraw & Warren, 2010). As an example, haunted house jokes do create a feeling of being frightened, but the audience understands that it poses no threat.
It is important to understand that there exists the “concept of ‘distance'”. It should be recognised that the necessary distance that makes it possible for a person to laugh about the incident depends on the type of incident. Small mishaps that happened not long ago can become a source of humour just a few minutes later; however, tragic events take several years or even decades for a person to laugh about the incident. This explains the reason why certain jokes make one person smile while making others feel offended because of their closeness to the incident (McGraw et al., 2012).
As mentioned in the 2017 article, individuals who liked to tell black humour had higher verbal and non-verbal intelligence, a low level of aggression, and a good mood as compared to other joke lovers (Willinger et al., 2017). Nevertheless, one has to understand that it does not mean that those people who do not like this kind of humour lack intelligence. On the contrary, this type of humour requires a lot of effort on the part of a person.
Read More: Humour as a Coping Mechanism
Dark Humour as a Way of Coping
However, if it takes greater cognitive effort to process a joke, then what is the point of making it? Firstly, it needs to be said that dark humour is proven to help humans deal with fear, anxiety, and grief.
This becomes most obvious when considering the situation of workplaces where people face death, injuries, pain, and suffering regularly, such as the case with medical professionals, paramedics, etc. Jokes among such workers are very popular, and quite unexpectedly, they are seen as not a sign of callousness but an essential way of coping with their occupation as a means of not getting emotionally drained or burned out from the daily routine (Aultman & Meyers, 2020; Watson, 2011). As put by one nurse, the joke was hilarious only to those who were there because none of the others could possibly understand what it was like at the moment.
It should also be noted that not all forms of dark humour are similar. In particular, according to the results of scientific research, it is possible to make an assumption that there is a significant difference between targeting dark humour towards a certain situation or another person. Humour that targets a condition (e.g., making a joke regarding the unfairness or absurdity of a particular illness) seems to help people cope with problems. Jokes targeted at a certain person, especially a patient who suffers from any condition, are associated with poor well-being rather than its improvement (Navarro-Carrillo et al., 2020).
People also use dark humour outside medical institutions and during emergencies to cope with traumatic events. According to recent research findings, dark humour can serve as an essential tool for processing the experiences that occurred during a tragic event. Particularly, researchers have analysed humorous videos that emerged after the terrorist attack. It turned out that humour was a helpful mechanism that helped society to deal with fear and anxiety caused by trauma and contributed to its psychological recovery (Steinfeld et al., 2025).
The common theme throughout all these studies is that dark humour doesn’t make the pain go away. Rather, it appears to offer a tiny window through which a person can experience their fear, sorrow, or stress without feeling totally overwhelmed by it.
Read More: Sarcasm as a Defence Mechanism: Psychology Behind Humour, Avoidance, and Emotional Protection
When Dark Humour Crosses the Line
Though people can use dark humour effectively as a coping mechanism, they must never cross the thin line between appropriate and inappropriate humour. In other words, the dividing line between what counts as acceptable dark humour and what is not depends upon many different aspects, such as who the subject of mockery is, who tells the joke, and when.
People should also consider whether they mock and make jokes about those in positions of authority or vulnerable victims. In other words, punching up is significantly different from punching down. For instance, the study on the benign violation theory states that people are much more likely to perceive a joke as a violation rather than humour when it targets a particular group instead of the entire situation (McGraw & Warren, 2010).
Time also plays an important role in this matter. People may view humour as an attempt to cope if enough time has passed since the tragic event. Otherwise, they often consider it highly offensive. In other words, a lack of sufficient distance is an important aspect in this case.
The next element is who is making the joke. People perceive a joke very differently in two situations. In the first situation, someone makes a joke about their own experience with sickness, suffering, or even death. Also, in the second situation, an external observer makes the same joke about another person’s situation.
In the former case, the joke tends to express solidarity and empathy because it conveys the message “I know exactly what you went through”. In the latter case, however, the exact words may easily become mockery.
Scholars suggest not taking for granted the assumption that all forms of dark humour are beneficial simply because they are popular. Sometimes, dark jokes might serve as a defence mechanism. This mechanism can prevent a person from addressing their painful feelings and emotions. Rather than expressing these feelings, the person avoids them. At other times, dark humour may lead a person to treat their fellow human beings cruelly (Navarro-Carrillo et al., 2020). The reality, therefore, is that dark humour is but a tool which, depending on how one uses it, can do both harm and good.
Conclusion
But then why do we make fun of those aspects of life that scare us the most? Thanks to science, we have learned that a lack of interest in the topic does not cause this. On the contrary, the significance of the events happening to us or around us makes humour the only way to cope with fear, illness, and even loss. It helps us cope without becoming completely absorbed in the problem.
Indeed, when making jokes related to frightening issues, our mind understands both, “it is something very important” and “everything is going to be okay. Dark humour can promote psychological well-being, especially in professions where people face extremely tense situations every day. However, people must make jokes about events rather than individuals. Colleagues also need sufficient time and mutual understanding to use such humour appropriately.
If you notice yourself laughing at something really frightening, pause, but do not get angry with yourself. There is a possibility that, in spite of the fact that the issue scares you, you are totally alright with it anyway. In other words, dark humour is just a way to live through difficult times.
References +
- Rajwani, M. (2026, February 22). Unity in diversity [Video]. YouTube.https://youtube.com/shorts/4vVmqqO-zYE
- Aultman, J. M., & Meyers, A. (2020). Gallows humour in medicine. Hastings Centre Report, 50(5), 23– 29.
- McGraw, A. P., & Warren, C. (2010). Benign violations: Making immoral behaviour funny. Psychological Science, 21(8), 1141–1149. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610376073
- McGraw, A. P., Warren, C., Williams, L., & Leonard, B. (2012). Too close for comfort, or too far to care? Finding humour in distant tragedies and close mishaps. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1215–1223. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612443831
- Navarro-Carrillo, G., Torres-Marín, J., & Carretero-Dios, H. (2020). Healthy or unhealthy humorists? Examining the relations between the dark tetrad personality traits and humour styles. Personality and Individual Differences, 154, 109699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109699
- Steinfeld, N., Rosenberg, H., & Mahat-Shamir, M. (2025). TikTok war humour: Social and psychological functions of humour videos by micro-influencers and ordinary users during conflict. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1637194. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1637194
- Watson, K. (2011). Gallows humour in medicine. Hastings Centre Report, 41(5), 37–45. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1552-146X.2011.tb00139.x
- Willinger, U., Hergovich, A., Schmoeger, M., Deckert, M., Stöttner, S., Bunda, I., Witting, A., Seidler, M., Moser, R., Kacena, S., Jäckle, D., Loader, B., Müller, C., & Auff, E. (2017). Cognitive and emotional demands of black humour processing: The role of intelligence, aggressiveness and mood. Cognitive Processing, 18(2), 159–167. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-016-0789-y
