Freud makes the distinction between dark humour and dark jokes as follows: humour is what happens when the unconscious mind finds something funny, it is the acknowledgement of a dire situation, whereas jokes are intended comedy, made through wordplay as a distraction from said dire situation. Bojack Horseman is one of the most notorious dark comedies of this century, and “Free Churro” is one of the most notable episodes. The episode consists almost solely of Bojack giving a eulogy for his mother’s funeral, throughout which he throws in jokes to make it a more light-hearted affair.
The humour here, however, comes not from the jokes themselves but from the context in which they are being performed. While Bojack is not the one who has passed, in a sense this is still gallows humour; at the very least we can understand it in the same way Freud explains gallows humour. Freud explains it as stemming from a desire to establish oneself as superior, and/or as an act of rebellion either against the cause of death or the very grief itself. In the case of Bojack’s mother, his desire to be superior to his mother is innate in their relationship. She never gave him her approval or support, causing him to both crave it and desire to prove both to her and himself that he was worthy of it. Similarly, the sense of rebellion is evident in Bojack’s character; he makes jokes to say that he does not care about the people who have rejected him and labelled him a loser.
We can also see Bojack come to realise Thomas Nagel’s concept of the absurd in this episode. Titled ‘Free Churro”, the episode begins and ends with jokes referencing getting a free churro when he was on his way to the funeral out of pity from the server.
“In ordinary life, to be sure, we do not judge a situation absurd unless we have in mind some standards of seriousness, significance, or harmony with which the absurd can be contrasted.” The context of the free churro joke is one that is probably the most serious and significant context possible; a funeral. For the audience, there is black humour in the very presence of a joke like that in such a setting. For Bojack, the joke is a demonstration of him coming to terms with mortality and the absurdity of life.
Nagel says “Not that irony enables us to escape the absurd”. While he is likely correct about this, this comment overlooks the function of irony as way to cope and laugh at the absurd. Throughout his essay, Nagel discusses the absurd as a thing that everybody tries to escape, but this ignores the pleasure (i.e. comedy) that can be gotten out of it, like with the free churro. However, he remains correct when he says “We cannot shed our ordinary responses, and if we could it would leave us with no means of conceiving a reality of any kind.” The free churro joke shows the audience Bojack confused by his response to be glad about and focused on the free churro, but ultimately it helps him remain grounded in reality.
Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd,” The Journal of Philosophy 68:20 (1971), 716-727.
Sigmund Freud, “On Humor,” The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (London: Hogarth, 1955), 160-166.
Simon Critchley, “Why the Super-Ego is your Amigo,” On Humor (New York: Routledge, 2002), 93-112.