: Re: How do you prevent whiplash when transitioning between comedy and tragedy? I constantly see reviews of people criticizing how it feels like "whiplash" when going from something like a death scene

@Candy753

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As proven by Cyanide and Happiness's Depressing Comics Week, comedy and tragedy both depend on the same thing: TIMING and SUBVERTING OF EXPECTATIONS. In both, you have to surprise the audience and evoke emotion. This is even true of horror.

To be inspired, watch how the transitions are in Bojack Horseman and Steven Universe - two cartoons famous for their balance of happy/heartbreaking (though the former is way more heavy than the latter). Bojack seamlessly dives from depression and and drug addiction to literal cartoon hijinks and animal jokes. In the beginning of the show it wasn't flawless, but you can see them get the hang of it later on.

The main takeaway is, there is humor within sadness, though there is not always sadness within humor. For example I recently went to an improv show at the People's Improv Theater, where actors asked for a prompt of where an audience member had been last weekend. He said, quietly, "Actually I was at my friend's dad's funeral." At first there was a hush but the actor decided to "yes and" him; he said, "Would you like us to use that as our prompt?" and the audience member agreed. What followed was a heartbreakingly sad improvised song, about how a friend loves you, even if your dad is gone...and it became a little bittersweet when the other person said he was too sad to attend his own dad's funeral and was struggling with having to go to the bathroom constantly as a result. It was funny in a very intimate and loving way; that's the kind of balance you have to strike when transitioning from sadness to happiness. Just evoke emotion. At that show, I cried AND laughed in equal measures, and it was the most respectful comedy - and perhaps even the most profound improv - that I have ever seen.

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