Dark humour — why do we laugh at things that aren't a laughing matter?

God Forbid - A podcast by ABC listen - Fridays

The famous psychiatrist and holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, wrote that an outsider would be astonished to hear of the humour that existed in Auschwitz. He said humour was "the soul's weapons in the fight for self-preservation." But in today's era of cancel culture and comedy by committee, is the surest way to destroy a funny story to analyse it? And yet – analysis, light-hearted at least, is what we propose on this week's God Forbid. Join James Carleton and the panel as they wonder why we laugh at things that aren't a laughing matter, and where exactly, the boundary lines lie.

Visit the podcast's native language site