Dark Humor

Oliver Gaspirtz

Apr 2020 · Westhoff Publishing

About this ebook

Throughout history’s darkest times, people have exhibited a particular type of humor: dark humor, also known as black humor, black comedy, dark comedy, or gallows humor.

That’s my favorite kind. I like absurd, random stuff. But with a dark twist. Black humor makes fun of the things that terrify us. It’s a coping mechanism. 

Some people think death is taboo as a topic for jokes. 

But every stand up comic and every cartoonist knows that taboo jokes get the biggest laughs, the guilty laughs, and the biggest dopamine release. 

Humor is not supposed to be polite. It’s supposed to mock bad things.

Here’s a little selection of some of my favorite cartoons, about life’s painful little absurdities that make me laugh.

“I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.”

-Abraham Lincoln

"If you're a fan of Gary Larson's The Far Side, you'll love Gaspirtz's Dark Humor."

-Not Abraham Lincoln

Ratings and reviews

I like Oliver's cartoons, I've read some of his other works that contain his cartoons and I've always enjoyed them. This book has a bunch I've seen but it's nice to have it in one collection and all in one place. Oliver's humor is different that the traditionally accepted ones that we see these days because people are usually too scared to offend others. However, Oliver isn't afraid and blatantly puts it out there and I for one, really like that about his works!

I'm not sure if its a childrens book or not, if it was meant to be then maybe I would have given it another half a star lol. Nothing dark about the memes and they are only kinda humorous tbh.

Comedians. THE FIRST THING THAT I CARED FOR WAS A LITTLE BIT Silliness in those moments of attitude

About the author

Gaspirtz's award-winning cartoons have appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines like Saturday Evening Post, SUN and National Enquirer. 

His work has also been featured in dozens of books, including the New York Times best-selling series, Chicken Soup For The Soul. 

You might have seen some of his comics online, on sites like BuzzFeed.

Gaspirtz cartoons have been on display in several museums, like the Museum of Modern Art in Tehran, Iran and the National Museum of Cartoon Art in Boca Raton, Florida.

In the late 1980s, Gaspirtz founded a video game development company called Amok Entertainment. 

After programming several 8-bit games, he retired from coding and focused on game design as project manager for games like Pot Panic and Woody The Worm. Some of Amok's games were published by a subsidiary of Electronic Arts.

Visit the artist at: Gaspirtz.com