Kharms' stories are typically brief vignettes (see also short prose and feuilleton) often only a few paragraphs long, in which scenes of poverty and deprivation alternate with fantastic, dreamlike occurrences and acerbic comedy.

Beneath this wool-gathering is an acerbic comedy of a special sort.

He is commonly known for his energetic stage personality, his dark, acerbic black comedy, and his gruff but high-pitched voice.

Network television hasn't been kind to acerbic comedies lately, from "Action" to "Sports Night," and at times the producers' jitters come through here.

Excerpts during this hour from a lecture that Ms. Mitford gave at the University of California at Berkeley a few years ago display her gift for acerbic comedy.

Everybody wants something from Sandy Bates in Woody Allen's acerbic Felliniesque comedy.

Ruth Hussey, Paulette Goddard and Mary Boland were cast in the acerbic comedy The Women.

The film comes to resemble acerbic black comedies from the 90's like "The Player" or "Swimming With Sharks," movies that focus on Hollywood as a lethal place.

"Speed-the-Plow," David Mamet's acerbic comedy about the mores of Hollywood, opened at the National Theater Wednesday night to mixed reviews from London's theater critics.

Janet Maslin in The New York Times called it a "gleefully acerbic comedy."