Top 10 Times Daria's Dark Humor Was on Full Display
No show did dark humor like "Daria." Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for some of the best instances of black humor on “Daria.”
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00:00Melody walked calmly away toward the hotel.
00:03There'd be a message there from HQ, no doubt. She hoped she had time for a shower.
00:11Welcome to Ms Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for some of the best instances
00:18of black humour on Daria.
00:20You really feel strongly about this.
00:23What do you mean?
00:24Well, you're talking to us.
00:27This is specific to the title character's own twisted sense of humour,
00:32and won't include any sick sad world segments or comments from other characters.
00:38Number 10, one of the lucky ones, I don't.
00:41Aunt Amy proves that dark humour runs in the family.
00:45I don't mind if you dance, but change the radio station and you're a dead man.
00:49At the wedding of Daria's cousin Erin,
00:52Amy mistakes her sister's new boyfriend for an old one.
00:56When he asks what happened to the late Paul, Quinn claims he fell onto a cow,
01:02causing Daria to add,
01:04And he was one of the lucky ones.
01:06Girls!
01:07to the chagrin of her mother.
01:09Amy immediately defends Daria,
01:12suggesting that the joke added some much-needed levity to the senseless tragedy.
01:17Hey, what's the point of a senseless tragedy if you can't find a little humour in it?
01:21Following this interaction, Aunt Amy would become one of Daria's few adult confidants,
01:27giving the teen advice on everything from contact lenses to how to deal with her mother.
01:33Your mother hasn't had a stroke, has she?
01:36Well, I haven't checked her in the last half hour.
01:38Number 9, couldn't shoot my own mother, the Daria Hunter.
01:43Daria and her mother don't always see eye to eye,
01:46particularly in the show's early seasons.
01:50In The Daria Hunter, Helen even has an argument with Lawndale's principal,
01:55Ms. Lee, about whether it's her daughter's home or school environment
01:59that causes her to have such a perpetually bad attitude.
02:04With all due respect, I can't think of a prison
02:07that could create an attitude like your daughter's, much less a school.
02:10No, I always assumed that came from interaction with her parents.
02:14During the school's outdoor paintball competition, Helen comes across her daughter,
02:18who is on the opposing team.
02:21She points her paint gun at Daria, who immediately surrenders.
02:25Instead of shooting, Helen chastises her daughter for giving up so easily,
02:31causing Daria to claim her lack of action was an act of kindness, sort of.
02:38Daria, you could at least try.
02:40I can't shoot my own mother, not with paint anyway.
02:43Number 8, realistic fantasies, college bored.
02:47Although Daria may not be in a rush to map out her future,
02:51that doesn't mean she can't fantasise about it.
02:55In College Bored, a teacher asks Daria and her classmates
02:59to think about what they want out of higher education.
03:02Jane dreams about being able to afford a workspace in New York,
03:06where her art is praised by critics.
03:10Brilliant, just like your art.
03:13Daria is less idealistic.
03:16In her fantasy, the teen imagines a professor
03:20asking her to teach at a graduate school in Paris.
03:24I'm not really sure I want to be a professional student.
03:27But I don't want you to study, I want you to teach.
03:30Although she is initially interested in the offer,
03:34it's quickly tainted by the professor's admission that he only wants her out
03:39so he can use her vacant dorm room to have affairs with other students.
03:45Even her subconscious is a cynic.
03:48Now I can use your dorm room to carry on affairs
03:50with some of the more beautiful undergraduates.
03:54How come even in my fantasies everyone's a jerk?
03:57Number 7, campfire story, the teachings of Don Jake.
04:02While camping, the Morgendorfers take turns
04:05telling scary stories around the campfire, to varying degrees of success.
04:11Helen's story is a bit too erotically charged for her audience,
04:16while Quinn's lacks any fear factor.
04:19Daria's is naturally the most horrific of the bunch,
04:24being a graphic retelling of Hansel and Gretel.
04:27And within minutes had devoured the rest of his body,
04:30leaving only the lower intestine for fear of bacteria.
04:33It has her family shaking, but we think its delivery is as funny as it is scary.
04:40Gretel she decided to hold on to for a while,
04:42so she crammed her into the freezer as best she could.
04:45This isn't the first or last time Daria uses her writing talents to shock those around her.
04:52In Cafe Diseffecto, she reads a story about a communist killing spy
04:57to a crowd at a local coffee shop, inspiring a riot.
05:02I could have loved you if you weren't as red as the blood stain now spreading across the sand.
05:07And in The Old and the Beautiful,
05:10she shares a similarly violent tale with an elderly deaf woman.
05:14I hope he's the strong, silent type she thought flicking away one of Misha's molars.
05:19I've already had one man go to pieces on me today.
05:236. Passive-Aggressive Snark – Jane's Edition
05:28In its first three seasons, the kinds of romantic relationships that are so
05:33commonplace in other teen shows are largely absent in the world of Daria.
05:38Sure, Daria has a crush on her best friend's brother Trent, but that's all it is – a crush.
05:44It wasn't until the show's third season finale that an
05:47actual romantic interest was introduced for the show's misanthropic protagonists.
05:52Hey Daria, if you want me to leave, just say so.
05:55Okay, bye now.
05:56Tom first meets Jane at one of Trent's gigs and takes her for a ride, leaving Daria alone.
06:03Annoyed, Daria rings up her bestie the next morning and opens with this
06:08darkly comedic line, acknowledging the dangers of running off with a stranger.
06:14Oh gee, did I wake you? I guess that means you haven't been murdered. Well, that's good.
06:205. It's Enough to Turn Your Stomach – This Year's Model
06:25I can't take my glasses off. I need them to see scam artists.
06:30Modeling is a decidedly anti-Daria pursuit, a fact she makes clear in this early episode.
06:38Daria's school invites talent scouts to give modeling classes to select students
06:43in return for funding. The teen finds the whole situation hypocritical
06:48and cracks a dark joke about it making her nauseated.
06:52The whole thing's enough to turn your stomach,
06:54which I guess is good if you want to be a model, eases the transition to bulimia.
06:58Whether or not this joke is appropriate or even funny is up for debate.
07:04It is a sensitive topic after all.
07:07But Daria would later prove that her sympathies lie with those with disordered eating
07:13by working with Jane on a provocative art piece highlighting the issue.
07:194. Daria and Jane's Accidental Prediction – The Misery Chick
07:31For an animated comedy about teenagers, this episode is actually pretty profound.
07:37It also has one of the series' darkest jokes.
07:40You're on my locker.
07:42Do you know who I am? Tommy Sherman?
07:45After seeing celebrated Lawndale alumnus Tommy Sherman insult or harass everyone he comes across,
07:53Daria expresses her frustration with the fact that he'll be celebrated for the rest of his life.
08:00Jane jokes that he might not live that long, to which Daria replies,
08:05Come on, you know wishes don't come true.
08:08Immediately after the exchange, Tommy actually dies.
08:12Jane is shocked and ultimately regrets her joke.
08:17Well, I don't like it when I say people should die and then they do.
08:20But Daria doesn't feel the same.
08:23She acknowledges his death as sad, but if given the chance,
08:27it doesn't seem like she'd take back what she said.
08:31He shouldn't have died.
08:33No.
08:34But he wasn't a nice guy.
08:36No.
08:38Wisecracks in a crisis.
08:40Fire.
08:41Making quips about the world around her is second nature to Daria.
08:46So much so that she even finds time to joke when her life is in danger.
08:51When her dad's midnight snack turns into a fiery disaster,
08:56Daria is abruptly awoken by his panicked yelling.
09:00Instead of reacting with the urgency usually associated with these kinds of emergency situations,
09:09she just puts on her glasses and delivers a joke in her usual monotone.
09:21Thankfully, everyone makes it out of the house unscathed,
09:24and only the kitchen suffers major damage.
09:28But Daria's unrelenting dedication to sarcasm in the face of danger is still pretty impressive.
09:40No. 2 Career Aptitude Test
09:43It happened one nut.
09:45For students like Jane, yearly career aptitude tests are nothing but a welcome time waster.
09:52She answers C and gets the same results each year.
09:56An accountant.
09:57Daria, on the other hand, answers sincerely and is given the role of mortician.
10:09Though she seems uncomfortable with her result,
10:12that doesn't stop her from hilariously riffing off of her mother's questioning about her future.
10:19Have you given any thought to your career plans?
10:22I guess I'll just wait around for people to kick the bucket.
10:24Unfortunately for her, Helen doesn't find her quips quite as funny as we do.
10:31Daria ends up having to get a job at a nut counter in the mall to appease her mom.
10:37Welcome to It's a Nutty Nutty Nutty World. We're just nuts about nuts.
10:42Wearing a squirrel-themed outfit that we're sure makes her wish she was six feet under.
10:50Let's go cruise the mall in case there's
10:51someone I know who hasn't seen me in my nutty world uniform.
11:071. Praying for the End – Daria
11:15In the midst of a pet rally, the students of Lawndale High are informed that a hurricane
11:20is approaching and they'll need to go home. Some students fear for their lives,
11:29while others express concern about the cancellation of the night's big football game.
11:34Daria and Jane do neither. Hiding out on the roof,
11:39the two girls learn about the oncoming storm from a newspaper and are immediately celebratory.
11:46I always knew that I would die in Nowheresville, but I didn't think I'd die there quite so soon.
11:52Daria likes that the hurricane could inconvenience her sister Quinn,
11:57while Jane happily suggests that it could take out the mall.
12:00My sister would have nowhere to stay. The mall would be gone and that's okay.
12:08At one point, the girls even get on their knees and pray for their town to blow away.
12:15Oh, and did we mention they express all of these dark desires in song?
12:21You've got to be manly. Manly.
12:25My great aunt could do better and she's dead.
12:27Do you have a favorite darkly funny Daria moment? Let us know in the comments.