Laugh until you cry.
A comedy that makes you cry is a comedy that transcends its own genre entirely and veers into something more creative, more challenging and ultimately more impressive.
When you watch a funny TV show you learn to love the characters for being able to make you laugh. This makes it all the harder when the show-runners shock you by killing them, hurting them or breaking their hearts.
Here are some of the saddest scenes from some of the least likely sources (warning: here be spoilers):
Scrubs: JD gets Dr. Cox back on his feet
Comedies set in hospitals can’t afford to spend too long before setting foot back in the harsh reality of death and disease. After a decision by Dr. Cox results in the death of three patients, he sinks into an alcoholic stupor. It takes this touching visit from his protégé to pull Cox out of a downward spiral and demonstrate the depth of their friendship.
Dr. Cox spends much of Scrubs pretending to hate JD. For him to acknowledge how important the young doctor really is to him is a big moment for any fan of the series.
Blackadder: Blackadder Goes Forth
Spoiler alert: a lot of young men died in World War I. The final scene of Blackadder painfully highlights the naive expectation of these men that they would eventually return home, or that the war would end in enough time to spare them from a bloody death in Belgium. The iconic scene shows Blackadder and his brothers in arms charging into gunfire and certain death.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Will Smith’s father leaves again
Will Smith’s inexhaustible range as an actor can be seen in films like Seven Pounds and I Am Legend, but his rawest, most moving performance came at the end of an episode of iconic comedy show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Will’s often-absent father breaks another promise to Will and leaves him fatherless once more, provoking Will to deliver one of the most relatable and heart-wrenching speeches ever delivered in a funny show.
We can’t do this one justice in a blurb, you’ll have to watch:
Only Fools and Horses: Del-Boy holding his son
Del-Boy never bothered too much with the real world but after the birth of his son, something does appear to dawn on him. He acknowledges that his life has not panned out according to his plans, and promises to provide opportunities for his child that he never provided for himself.
“I wanted to do things, be someone, but I never had what it took. But you, you’re different. You’re gonna live my dreams for me. You’re gonna do all the things I wanted to do, and you’re gonna come back and tell me if they’re as good as I thought they would be…”
Frasier: Niles professes his love for Daphne
Niles Crane’s enduring, desperate and almost-always unrequited love for Daphne Moon is a running joke throughout the whole Frasier series but there are certain moments when it takes a turn from funny to sad. His pining for her peaks in this scene. Niles is comforting Daphne after the two have both just been dumped. She tells him she loves him, but she doesn’t mean it the way Niles wants.
The Simpsons: Homer bids his mother farewell
In the episode “Mother Simpson”, Homer finally meets his estranged mother who he believed had been dead since his childhood. In Mona Simpson, it seems he has finally found a kindred spirit and someone who will nurture his extremely childlike tendencies.
All of this is snatched away from him, as his mother is a fugitive who can’t stay in one place for any length of time. The episode foregoes it’s usual credit sequence and shows Homer staring up at the stars in a rare moment of thoughtful sobriety instead.
The Simpsons: “Do it for her”
Before it all went soooo badly wrong, you could always count on The Simpsons to perfectly execute every episode, whether the concept was absurdly surreal or profoundly everyday. “And Maggie Makes Three” reveals that Homer’s commitment to the drudgery of his dead-end job is motivated by his love for Maggie and confirms that Homer, for all the child-choking, puts his family before everything else.
Family Guy: Stewie finds out Brian is suicidal
When the two are locked in a bank vault, Stewie discovers that Brian is storing a gun there that he was thinking about using to end his own life. Considering Family Guy’s tendency to ruthlessly rip through even the most sensitive of subjects, the show’s tender treatment of its characters is an extremely touching moment between two friends.
“I love you as one loves another person whom one simply cannot do without. You give my life purpose, and maybe, maybe that’s enough.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l49cra99wk
The Office: Dawn says no
The Office epitomises that old adage ‘if you don’t laugh, you cry.’ Every character in Wernham Hogg’s Slough Branch is living a life of pathetic desperation. None more so than Tim Canterbury, who is stuck in a dead-end office job, living with his parents and too scared to pursue his dream of studying psychology. Eventually he picks up the courage to chase after Dawn and tell her he loves her. She turns him down.
The One Where Rachel Leaves Ross (for the first time)
Whether or not being on a break makes it okay to sleep with somebody else is neither here nor there when you’re watching the scenes where Rachel and Ross sit in Monica’s living room trying to save their relationship. David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston really nailed just how sad it is when you want to keep your relationship alive but simply can’t any longer. This one will hit home for pretty much everyone who’s been through a tough break-up.
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