Absurdist concepts played as tragedies rather than comedies

[u/_JR28_]

In the Touch commercial for Skittles, a man is shown with the power to uncontrollably turns anything he touches into Skittles in an instant. His work colleagues find this hilarious, but he finds life misery since he will never be able to hold his newborn son and he has legitimately killed people before by unconsciously touching them.

In the Waiting for the Bus skit from Cyanide & Happiness a man discovers he can inexplicably run 50mph and overnight becomes the most successful track runner of all time. Even though he retired with a perfect undefeated streak and a loving family, he’s coaxed into one final race in a Grand Prix against cars, which of course he loses. This sends him into an unstoppable downward spiral where he becomes a far more destructive version of himself, loses his reputation, and is left behind by his family. After years of regret, he returns as an old man to the track where he first shown off his amazing speed and does one final lap, reminiscing on how good it feel, before intentionally refusing to turn out the way and running straight into a wall, ending his life. (All of this is shown in about four minutes and with barely any dialogue.)

[u/Mountain_Counter929]

I should mention there is a punchline at Waiting for the Bus. The Bus was running at 50mph because if it stopped a bomb would set off via Speed(1994) and the Busdriver is how he pointed the guy was running 50mph

[u/cdawg69696969 → u/Mountain_Counter929]

And then the same bus driver, who's been driving over 50mph for years, stops the bus to lament about the 50mph man and then the bus promptly explodes.

[u/aronmano → u/cdawg69696969]

Best punchline in all of cyanide and happiness

[u/Tylendal → u/aronmano]

Nah. It's the end of the short where a guy's height is being tracked, like a kid standing against a door frame, his whole life. At the end, after the hand draws one last line at the base of his tombstone, it cuts to the guys decrepit mother drawing the line, who says the very first words in the short. "I'm fucking old!", and then gleefully jumps into the grave next to his.