
[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/funny_aneurym_moment_twin-towers-w-circle_4194.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:1992: FunnyBackgroundEvent\\
2001: "Funny Aneurysm" Moment]]

->''"But that joke isn't funny anymore\\
It's too close to home\\
And it's too near the bone,\\
More than you'll ever know"''
-->-- '''Music/TheSmiths''', "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore"

This is when a scene, joke, or offhand line that was originally meant to be funny or light-hearted makes the viewer cringe when it is seen in reruns due to the traumatic events in future episodes of a show or in [[RealitySubtext real life]]. When someone says that a bit of comedy has been "overtaken by events", this is the trope in play.

This often has to do with a character or actor's death and is named for a line from the ''[[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'' episode "The Freshman" in which Buffy hopes that her mother will have a "''funny'' aneurysm" when she sees the cost of Buffy's college textbooks. Please see the FunnyAneurysmMoment/LiveActionTV page for the full example.

Or, if you prefer, it's the moment when [[BuffySpeak the funny]] drops down dead. A "funny aneurysm" is an oxymoron since having an aneurysm isn't funny; it's both and neither.[[note]]An aneurysm is a weakened blood vessel in the brain that balloons with blood, which creates pressure on brain tissue and also risks rupture, causing neurological dysfunctions.[[/note]]

The inverse of this, where something in real life or more recent canon retroactively makes a lighthearted moment ''funnier'', is HilariousInHindsight. Depending on how dark your sense of humor is (particularly your attitudes towards BlackComedy and GallowsHumor), a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment could [[ActuallyPrettyFunny actually be funny]] in a twisted way.

In a Creator/RogerEbert Movie Glossary column, he defines the (related) [[RealitySubtext Pentimento Paradigm]]: "Pentimento is when images from an old painting seep through and become visible in a newer picture that has been painted over the old. Thus the relation is when what we know about a filmmaker or actor seeps into our perception of his film work. Example: Any old Rock Hudson movie now that his private life is no longer private. Being aware of the reality behind the fiction may add to the complexity of the drama (Taylor and Burton in ''Theatre/WhosAfraidOfVirginiaWoolf'') or distract from its intentions (Woody and Mia in ''Husbands and Wives'')." The Rock Hudson and ''Husbands and Wives'' examples are definitely "Funny Aneurysm" Moments.

There is also HarsherInHindsight, where a scene that's already tragic becomes worse because of RealitySubtext or more recent canon. A joke about jumbo jets hitting skyscrapers published before 2001 will likely be a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment; a ''serious'' plotline about jumbo jets hitting skyscrapers that was published before 2001 is HarsherInHindsight.

If this is done ''intentionally'', this trope becomes a CerebusRetcon.

Compare TooSoon, LifeImitatesArt, DudeNotFunny, HarsherInHindsight (when the original moment is not necessarily funny or lighthearted, but becomes even less so in light of later events), HaveAGayOldTime.

Contrast HilariousInHindsight, HeartwarmingInHindsight. Not be confused with SugarWiki/FunnyMoments - which is essentially the opposite, unless a recent event turns it into this trope.

For literal funny aneurysms, see {{Narm}}.

''Note: since all actors and creators are mortal as far as we know, if someone mentions death or plays a character who dies, and then die themselves, that's not a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment unless there's some connection to the circumstances of the death.''


* [[FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Anime}} Anime and Manga]]
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Comedy}}
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/ComicBooks
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/FanFiction
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Film}}
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Literature}}
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/LiveActionTV
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Music}}
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Theatre}}
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/{{Other}}
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/VideoGames
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/WebComics
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/WebOriginal
* FunnyAneurysmMoment/WesternAnimation
** FunnyAneurysmMoment/FamilyGuy
** FunnyAneurysmMoment/TheSimpsons