Stanfield 1

Kelsey Stanfield

Dr. Isaacson

HNR 111

18 December 2020

Jigsaw: Piecing Together Tension and Relief

“95,000+ break ups, 200+ divorces,” touts comedian Daniel Sloss’ Twitter bio

(@Daniel_Sloss). With one show, Jigsaw, Sloss has ended tens of thousands of relationships.

Yet, one might ask, how can a comedy show cause countless couples to break up? Covering

topics such as divorce rates, dead siblings, and abusive relationships, Sloss’ Jigsaw seems as

though it should be a tragedy as opposed to a comedy show. However, Sloss has the unique

capability of synthesizing morbidity with humor in order to create dark humor. Moreover, Sloss

balances serious moments with comedic aspects and personal anecdotes with universal fears of

the audience. In doing so, Sloss synthesizes multiple routines into one emotionally impactful

show. Daniel Sloss’ Jigsaw balances serious topics and comedy, balances his own struggles and

the audience’s struggles, and synthesizes morbidity and humor to create dark humor which

invokes an emotional response from the audience. An important factor in his overall ability to

balance and synthesize these concepts is his comedic style.

Sloss’ humor style is characterized by his wit, leaving him better able to balance

entertainment and serious moments. Not only does his wit provide comedic relief, but it also

deepens the comedian’s relationship with the audience. In a study conducted by Virgil

Zeigler-Hill, Gillian A. McCabe, and Jennifer K. Vrabel of Oakland University, humor styles
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were analyzed to find notable characteristics. Affiliative humor, which best describes Sloss’

humor in Jigsaw, was found to enhance interpersonal connections and put others at ease.

Zeigler-Hill et al. write, “Affiliative humor involves the use of humor in social situations as a

way to strengthen relationships [...] through strategies such as telling humorous anecdotes or

engaging in witty banter in order to put others at ease. An individual who is characterized by the

affiliative humor style may say funny things in order to increase interpersonal cohesiveness [...] ”

(Zeigler-Hill et al.). Affiliative humor plays a large role in Sloss’ ability to connect with the

audience as he often interjects sharp-witted, quick punchlines in between serious moments in

order to balance the dark topics of his show with comedy. For example, in the last routine of

Sloss’ show, he pleads with the audience to not accept less love than they deserve. Sloss says, “If

you only love yourself at 20%, that means somebody can come along and love you 30%. You’re

like, “Wow, that’s so much.” It’s literally less than half. Whereas if you love yourself 100%, a

person that falls in love with you has to go above and beyond the call of duty to make you feel

special. That’s something every one of us deserves [...]” (Jigsaw). However, this serious moment

is quickly followed by his affiliative humor characterized by a quick-witted remark. He adds

immediately, “You can get your happiness from hundreds of different people and not even in a

slutty way. Now don’t get me wrong, the slutty way is fucking fun. Right?” (Jigsaw). While he

implores the audience to consider a serious topic, he immediately balances his plea with a sexual

joke. As Zeigler-Hill et al. noted in their study, this banter puts the audience at ease. However,

this witty remark also increases interpersonal cohesiveness between Sloss and his audience, as

Zeigler-Hill also noted. Sloss’ Jigsaw balances his own experiences with that of the audience’s

through this cohesiveness.

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In Jigsaw, Sloss makes light of his experiences with the death of his sister, a past abusive

relationship, and his struggle with depression, all of which is ultimately followed by an appeal to

the audience’s own struggles, creating a balance of experiences. Once Sloss opens up about

himself early on in Jigsaw, he balances personal struggles with universal struggles in order to

provide comic relief to his audience. Mark McKee, former standup comedian and director of

career development and placement at Heidelberg University says that Sloss has the ability to find

a balance between serious topics and humor by identifying a common fear amongst the audience.

“[Sloss was able to establish a connection with his audience] because it was balanced [...] he

connects by [...] trying to find your soulmate. That is something that is universal [...] So he

highlighted that point in an effort to try to connect the million of potential viewers he had at

home [...] that lands with a worldwide audience” (McKee). Sloss relates his struggle to find a

significant other who completed him to the similar struggle of the audience. By at first telling the

audience that he struggled with finding love, he then balances his own experience with that of a

broader audience. Sloss says, “When you raise children in that world, where everything points

towards love [...] when we become an adult for the first time in our late teens and our early 20s,

we’re so terrified. We’re so trying to be an adult that some of us will take the wrong person, the

wrong jigsaw piece and just fucking jam them into our jigsaws anyway, denying that they clearly

don’t fit [...]” (Jigsaw). In the audience, many have experienced forcing themselves into a

relationship that was not the right fit for them out of the fear of being alone. By opening up about

himself within the first half, Sloss then can balance the experiences he has gone through with the

general experiences of the audience. Moreover, Sloss finds humor in morbid concepts such as the

fear of never finding one’s soulmate and synthesizes that humor and morbidity into dark humor.
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Daniel Sloss synthesizes humor with untraditionally humorous concepts such as his dead

sister in order to create dark humor within Jigsaw. Dark, Sloss’ preceding special, is centered

around the loss of his sister Josie to cerebral palsy. However, in Jigsaw, he discusses his sister’s

gravesite. Yet, the joke would be in poor taste if Sloss did not first balance humor with the

seriousness of the topic. Dr. Julie O’Reilly, professor of communications, media, and women’s

studies at Heidelberg University argues that by making light of the darkness in his own life, Sloss

synthesizes morbidity and humor for the audience.“[Sloss] sets it up to, “[My family and I] have

this dark sense of humor, this is how we cope [with Josie’s death],” so then you’re sort of ready

for the joke and it’s okay to laugh. Like he’s given everybody permission to laugh because he set

it up that way. Without that setup, there’s too much discomfort on the audience’s part”

(O’Reilly). By elaborating on the fact that he and his family use humor to cope, Sloss is able to

then synthesize loss and comedy. Sloss approaches this by telling the audience how his parents

prepare for performing monthly maintenance on Josie’s grave. He says:

Every month since my sister died, my mom and dad have to go up to Josie’s grave to do

maintenance on it, because that’s the shitty thing about dead people in graves. It’s a very

one-sided relationship. They’re very needy, the dead [...] And because they didn’t want to

feel sad every single time they did it, what they did was, when they go up there, they

make little jokes just to each other, just to make each other laugh in their moments of

sadness[...] I’ve heard my dad make the same fucking dad joke[...] [He says,] “We’ve got

to go and deflower your sister.” [...] And [mom] just joins in like, “Her bush is getting out

of control this month. Neighbors are starting to complain.” (Jigsaw)

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Not only does Sloss touch on the morbidity of death, but he also sexualizes his deceased younger

sister. Although it may sound appalling without context, because Sloss balances serious moments

with comedic ones, he can later synthesize the morbidity of death with the light of humor,

resulting in dark humor. Sloss has given the audience permission to laugh at taboo topics by

synthesizing humorous aspects with morbid topics. Additionally, Sloss’ synthesis of morbidity

and comedy creates a show in which the audience can experience catharsis.

Jigsaw features a unique blend of humor and dark topics, resulting in the emotional

release of viewers. By taking two opposite ideas, humor and tragedy, and synthesizing them,

Jigsaw gives viewers relief. While Sloss admits that his goal was not to break up couples, he also

acknowledges that joking about hard topics allows one to relinquish their fears. In an interview

for the podcast show Talk for Two, the comedian says that he synthesizes the fear of not finding

one’s soulmate or being with the wrong person with humor in order to lessen the control these

fears have over him and audience members (Daniel Sloss: Comedy). By acknowledging that

these fears about love are universal and consequently shedding light on them, Jigsaw allows

viewers to find comfort within these dark topics. Moreover, studies have shown that dark humor

allows one to find meaning in places of darkness. Cindy L. Cain, a medical sociologist researcher

at the University of Alabama, went undercover as a volunteer at a nursing home in order to study

interactions between nursing home staff members. While she found that dark humor was

frequently used by workers, she also found that sharing dark moments in a humorous light

allowed workers to find meaning in their line of work. In a similar fashion to Sloss, workers

would share personal stories with one another to brighten each others’ day while also giving the

other workers a platform to relate their own experiences to and would subsequently allow
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workers to once more find purpose in their difficult line of work (Cain). Likewise, Sloss shares

his own difficulties regarding how he was raised in an environment where he was taught that a

romantic relationship was his sole purpose in life, an experience the audience can fully relate to.

By joking about the dark fear of being alone, or worse, in his eyes, the fear of being with

someone who is not the right one, Sloss gives the audience a way to relate their own experiences

and find purpose again in their struggle, similar to Cain’s coworkers during her study. By

allowing the audience to relate their struggles through jokes, Sloss allows the audience to find

emotional release and relinquish the power their fears hold over them. This ultimate release as a

result of the synthesis between fear and humor is what has given over 95,200 audience members

the strength to leave their unhappy relationships.

At the end of Jigsaw, Daniel Sloss says, “I’m not here to break up true love. I never

would want to, and I don’t think I possibly could.” Although his comedy special has resulted in

the end of thousands and thousands of relationships, audience members still return to watch. The

popularity of his special stems from his unique blend of cynicism and comedy. During Jigsaw,

one can expect to see a balance of serious topics and comedy as Sloss seamlessly blends between

the two through his unique sense of humor. Moreover, Sloss also balances his own struggles and

the audience’s struggles. He relates his own experiences to the universal experiences of the

audience, allowing audience members to easily relate to his comedy. Additionally, Sloss

synthesizes morbidity and humor to create dark humor, a synthesis which evokes an emotional

response within the audience. Overall, Jigsaw is a comedy special unlike any other because it has

a profound impact on the audience as a result of Sloss’ ability to balance and synthesize across a

variety of topics.
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Works Cited

@Daniel_Sloss. “Daniel Sloss: X streaming on HBO (U.S. & Canada), Jigsaw & DARK

streaming on Netflix My break up tally: Break ups = 95000+ Divorces = 200+” Twitter,

https://twitter.com/daniel_sloss?s=11. Accessed 02 December 2020.

Cain, Cindy L. “Integrating Dark Humor and Compassion: Identities and Presentations of Self in

the Front and Back Regions of Hospice.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, vol. 41,

no. 6, Dec. 2012, pp. 668–694. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/0891241612458122.

“Daniel Sloss: Comedy Helps Find the Humanity in the Tragedy.” Talk For Two, 18 Feb. 2019,

talk4two.com/2019/02/daniel-sloss-episode-191/. Accessed 30 Oct. 2020.

Jigsaw. Directed by Daniel Sloss, Performance by Daniel Sloss, Netflix, 2018.

McKee, Mark. Personal interview. 01 December 2020.

O’Reilly, Julie. Personal interview. 17 November 2020.

Zeigler-Hill, Virgil, et al. “The Dark Side of Humor: DSM-5 Pathological Personality Traits and

Humor Styles.” Europe’s Journal of Psychology, vol. 12, no. 3, Aug. 2016, pp. 363–376.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1109.