The Dark Backward (also known as The Man with Three Arms) is a 1991 American black comedy film written and directed by Adam Rifkin.

Marty Malt (Judd Nelson) is an unhappy garbage man who moonlights as an atrociously unfunny standup comic.

He lives in a dark, grimy, garbage-strewn urban netherworld, where a company named Blump's apparently owns everything.

One day, Gus convinces a talent agent, Jackie Chrome (Wayne Newton), to check out Marty's act.

Re-christened "Desi the Three-Armed Wonder Comic," and with Gus now providing musical accompaniment, Marty gets a fresh start on his career.

Marty and Gus have a few semi-successful shows and eventually meet Hollywood talent agent Dirk Delta (Rob Lowe), who offers them a job.

[8] Janet Maslin of The New York Times stated, "The Dark Backward concentrates only on stomach-turning trivia and on the kind of exaggeratedly stupid behavior that amounts to directorial condescension.

"[9] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The Dark Backward is ultimately a tale of liberation with the notion that only when you are truly free can you be truly funny.

"[10] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented, "Adam Rifkin wrote the script for this comedy six years ago when he was nineteen.

Travers also stated, "Instead of the high satire of How to Get Ahead in Advertising (in which a boil on Richard E. Grant's neck grows into a talking head), Rifkin has conjured up a new low in cinematic ineptitude.