Suicide, as played for comedy, was prevalent in mainstream entertainment, particularly from the 1930s to the 1960s, as seen and heard in the likes of radio, movies, stage routines, cartoons, and comic strips. At its peak, everyone from Laurel and Hardy to Bugs Bunny threatened, attempted, or even committed suicide.
While especially prevalent in Looney Tunes (with one-time characters often shooting themselves), it has even cropped up in Disney shorts, on Gilligan's Island, and in Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons such as The Flintstones and Top Cat. Mickey Mouse, of all characters, made multiple attempts in a week-long 1930 comic strip arc by means of shotgun, drowning, and gassing himself. Once on radio in the 1940s, and in a repeated 1957 television episode of The Jack Benny Program, Jack's annual Christmas shopping encounters with a frustrated clerk (Mel Blanc) ended in the character's suicide (although the actor would return in other roles).
Such jokes diminished over time due to increased sensitivity to the topic and mental health concerns, but still cropped up casually as late as the 1990s before increasingly being limited to more "adult" or black humor projects. The Muppets and related projects used their share of the gags, along with other comedic uses of violence and death.
A common subsection of the gags involved characters who have been disappointed in love threatening or attempting suicide, sometimes just as a stratagem. One method involves jumping from a bridge or cliff, referencing real-life "lover's leap" locations.
This page does not include any real-world suicide instances.
 |
The Jimmy Dean Show December 17, 1965 |
"Lassie, marry me, or I'll shoot myself!" proclaims Rowlf the Dog, as a plan to demonstrate his love (pointing a gun to his head, but having Jimmy Dean rush in to intervene). Rehearsals do not go well, but ultimately Rowlf and Lassie have a romantic moment without canine suicide. |
 |
Sesame Street "One Way" |
The lead singer, after being unable to meet up with his lady love, mournfully sings, "I'm so lonely, I wish I was dead." |
 |
The Muppet Show episode 111 |
Breaking from its original meaning, Miss Piggy quotes 1 Corinthians 15:55 from The Bible in a moment of over-dramatization. Claiming she's been crushed and destroyed by Kermit's rejection, she announces that her life has no meaning, the sun will never again shine upon her, and pleads, "Death, where is thy sting?" |
 |
The Muppet Show episode 207 |
The closing tag shows Waldorf without Statler, looking over the balcony. He says, "He shouldn't have jumped. The show's not that bad." |
 |
The Muppet Show episode 522 |
Beauregard asks Buddy Rich if he can use his dressing room window. Rich tells him not to jump out the window, but Beauregard explains that he's just going to take a nap on the fire escape. |
 |
The Muppets March 16, 1982 |
Miss Piggy starts a three day comic arc by threatening to jump off of a Lover's Leap cliff because of her unrequited love for Kermit the Frog (but also arranges a trampoline). |
 |
The Muppets March 17, 1982 |
Piggy continues her threat to jump, but has Animal up there to provide a dramatic drum roll. |
 |
The Muppets March 18, 1982 |
Kermit arrives, pleading with Piggy (already smiling at her ploy working) not to jump. She declares she now has an appetite for life... and love, but Kermit suggests a pizza instead. |
 |
The Muppets May 30, 1982 |
Piggy returns to Lover's Leap a couple months later for an extended Sunday strip. Fozzie Bear prefaces her threat with her lack of a parachute. After Kermit pleads with her, Piggy jumps... revealing that the short cliff was merely for beginners. |
 |
The Muppets June 24, 1982 |
Piggy again returns to Lover's Leap, which turns out to be an elaborate trick to instead get Kermit to "The Kissing Rock." |
 |
Muppet Meeting Films "The Big Picture" |
J.P. Braithwaite threatens to jump out a window over Smerdley supposedly destroying democracy and leaving him nothing left to live for. (Smerdley rushes to save him and falls out instead, with the callous Braithwaite demanding donuts when he gets back up.) |
 |
Dinosaurs "Hurling Day" |
After Ethyl Phillips decides she does not want to be hurled, Earl shouts over the cliff to the already-hurled Grandpa Louie that he's coming. |
 |
Dinosaurs "How to Pick Up Girls" |
On TV's "Love Confession," after Sandra describes her date with Bob in a humiliating fashion, the host turns to Bob himself... whose dead body is now hanging from the studio ceiling, complete with swinging rope sounds. |
 |
Dinosaurs "Refrigerator Day" |
After seeing that the presents are missing (unaware that the family returned them in an attempt to buy a new refrigerator), Earl comments that he's going to hang himself in the garage. |
 |
Dinosaurs "Fran Live" |
Just Listenin’ host Frank puts on a caller who's standing on a high ledge and states his life is not worth living anymore. Frank casually encourages him to call back if things work out before hanging up. |
 |
Dinosaurs "Variations on a Theme Park" |
After Fran tells the family that they will not be escaping the park but instead spending time as a family, Robbie and Charlene comment that they want to be thrown into the electric fence. |
 |
Muppets Tonight episode 108 |
A suicidal Humpty Dumpty jumps from the wall on purpose in a "Fairyland PD" sketch after detective Bobo fails to talk him down. Bobo and Clifford then prepare to eat his eggy remains as an omelette. |
 |
Muppets Tonight episode 210 |
Gary Cahuenga threatens to jump off of the KMUP roof, saying "There's no place for me in this crazy, mixed-up, nose ring world of yours!" Penn and Teller (impersonating his former ventriloquist Chick) talk him down. He falls anyway, but is saved by the Muppets. |
 |
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie | Paralleling It's a Wonderful Life (where angel Clarence finds George Bailey about to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge), angel Daniel arrives to find a despondent Kermit, having sat out on a park bench allowing himself to become frozen. He breathes Kermit back to life, but the frog resents the intervention ("Do me a favor and don't bother"), before wishing he had never been born. |
 |
From the Balcony episode 8 | After viewing the trailer for the Al Pacino movie Two for the Money, Statler finds Waldorf punching himself in the chest and asks if it was too intense for him. Waldorf continues swinging and responds, "I'm trying to stop my own heart so I don't have to watch anymore." |
 |
The Muppets "Pig Out" |
While listening to Miss Piggy at Rowlf's Tavern drone on and on, Pepe the King Prawn says, "somebody peel and eat me" (as an analogue for "somebody just shoot me"). |
Notes[]
- Rowlf the Dog and Sam the Eagle perform the first and third verses of the three-verse "Tit Willow" in the UK Spot from The Muppet Show episode 120. The second verse, in which the dicky bird commits suicide, was omitted from their performance.
See also[]
External links[]
- TV Tropes links to various suicide-themed tropes in media
- Suicide Prevention Lifeline