a comedy dealing with an unpleasant situation in a pessimistic or macabre manner
black comedy in American English
noun
comedy that employs morbid, gloomy, grotesque, or calamitous situations in its plot
Word origin
[1965–70]This word is first recorded in the period 1965–70. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Coriolis effect, Finlandization, double-book, hired gun, isometric exercise