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A type of comedy series cast where every character is either a Deadpan Snarker (who falsely believes themself to be the Only Sane Man completely Surrounded by Idiots) or, rarely, a Ditz of any kind. These shows usually lie far on the Cynical end of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, and most of their humor comes from the characters' reactions to what they perceive as their crappy lives and constant snarking matches.

This is not to say that this world is incapable of having genuine, tender moments. Half the cast may be jerks, but the rest may be jerks with hearts of gold.

Examples of World of Snark include:


Anime And Manga[]

  • Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru has a cast that is equal parts Cloudcuckoolanders and Deadpan Snarkers, with a Genius Ditz main character.
  • Yu Yu Hakusho especially in the English dub, with the somewhat simplistic dialogue replaced with witty and sarcastic comments/insults. Especially Hiei and Yusuke, but also Kurama, Genkai, Shizuru, Kaito, Koenma, Jorge Saotome, Koto (when the idiocy around her gets too much, especially towards Chu and Jorge), Shishiwakamaru (in the final season, at least), Sniper, Atsuko, Toya (when he's not being stoic), hell even Kuwabara shows this very rarely.
    • Also note, the snark doesn't stop with the heroes and their supporters. Some of the major villains such as Sensui and Sakyo had their moments.
  • As the characters of Hayate the Combat Butler know that they are in fact characters in a manga/anime it typically results in literally almost every character being sarcastic or witty if they have any lines at all. Nagi and Hinagiku tend towards snarking at villains and some of the more ridiculous weirdos that pop up, but the Student Council Rangers, Ayumu, Wataru, and even Maria all make remarks at the expense of the plot or craziness around them. Hayate himself probably takes the cake, especially in the manga where he is a lot more cynical than he usually appears and has had exasperated reactions to just about everything and everybody.


Fanfiction[]

Film[]

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Literature[]

  • David Eddings
    • The Belgariad isn't a comedy or very cynical, but you're lucky to go two pages in the series without two characters snarking at each other or nothing in particular.
    • The same holds true for The Elenium.
  • The Artemis Fowl series. To the extent that, if a character isn't snarky, they're either insignificant or incompetent. Usually both.
  • Dragaera, especially the Vlad novels. Pretty much every character is either a Deadpan Snarker or someone who Vlad can make snarky comments about.[1]
  • Percy Jackson The powers that demigods and gods are born with must include snarkiness, because well, they are. Even the chapter titles are snarky!
  • The Nightside series is chock full of snarkers, as it's set in what's probably the most jaded place on Earth.
  • Harry Potter. There's Snape, McGonagall and Phineas for the starters. Much humour, especially in the later books, comes from the characters snarking each other. In the core trio of Ron, Hermione and Harry, snark is passed around like a hot potato.
  • The Skulduggery Pleasant series has three kinds of dialogue: Exposition, snark, and snarky exposition.
  • Most of Pratchett's work is this trope.
  • Frequent in The Dresden Files since the main character is a massive Deadpan Snarker and almost every other character has at least a few snarky moments. Even Michael gets a moment or two, particularly when borrowing Harry's name for the Denarians.
  • The Wodehouse 'verse fits the bill nicely. Much snark is had at the expense of Upper Class Twits--many of whom can, in fact, be pretty snarky themselves.


Live Action TV[]

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 distraction (anyone in need of a getaway; Vila)

defence (anyone being held prisoner, tortured, shot at, etc; anyone dealing with Avon)

coercion (snark-to-snark combat; Blake)

everything (Avon)

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    • The more idealistic characters (Gan, Cally, Dayna, Blake) entered the series with a relatively low level of snark. Their snarkiness grew on a par with their cynicism, especially with Blake.
  • Lost — snark is basically how everybody communicates in this show. If you look it up, basically every Wham! Line is snark.
  • Supernatural: Are there any non-snarky hunters? Demons? Angels? Apparently, all characters are either snarky or Comically Serious.
  • This turns up in Doctor Who, since the main character snarks on a semi regular basis, and when he isn't doing it, he gets snarked at. Three, Six, Ten and Eleven are among the snarkier Doctors, while Tegan, Turlough, Captain Jack, Donna, Amy, Rory and River Song are among the snarkier companions.
  • Seinfeld
  • Curb Your Enthusiasm
  • The Big Bang Theory
  • Two and A Half Men
  • Basically everyone in Frasier. In their defense, they have to be this way: anyone who can't hold their own in a snark-off would get eviscerated by the Crane brothers, who are probably the deadpan world champions.
  • Corner Gas
  • Sherlock
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000, where the main characters actually have to constantly snark in order to keep their sanity.
  • The X Files, starting with both protagonists and their boss.


Newspaper Comics[]

Video Games[]

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 Kasumi: Trapped in a Reaper. Could be worse. Don't know how. (Beat) I guess it could be full of rats.

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Webcomics[]


Web Original[]


Western Animation[]

  1. Of course, given that they're presented as transcripts of narrated recordings and Vlad is a known Unreliable Narrator, it's possible he's just projecting.
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