[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw&w=584&h=390%5D

Anyone familiar with the Darwin Awards has laughed at people dying in ridiculous, unfortunate ways, but have you seen it animated and soundtracked in the super-cute style of a domestic home goods commercial? “Dumb Ways To Die” made me LOL at people suffering electrocution-by-toaster, head-removal by bear, and body-flattening by oncoming train. I think this 3-minute ditty could be shortened to 2 minutes, but I was surprised by how amusing it was to watch a stick figure meet a bloody demise.

Which makes me think, what am I laughing about exactly? A friend of mine who also appreciates a darkly comic joke used to end our emails with non-sequitur, entirely jocular requests for me to violently mutilate him in very specifically described ways. And this was a treasured, ongoing joke in our friendship! Are we sick people? Thanks for making me introspective about violence and death, Cute Viral Video.