Just so we know who we're talking about.
Posted on 09/14/2008 7:56:16 PM PDT by Oyarsa
By Michael Ventre MSNBC contributor updated 2:25 p.m. CT, Tues., Sept. 9, 2008 At a Friars Club roast of Hugh Hefner three weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, comedian Gilbert Gottfried not only pushed the envelope, he set it on fire. He was at the podium, about to launch into the abundantly filthy “Aristocrats” joke that inspired an entire documentary film, when he mentioned that he had tried to get a direct flight “but they said they have to stop at the Empire State Building first.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Lighten up. I remember when he dropped that joke. It really was theraputic to have such a good laugh. As long as the humor doesn’t make fun of victims, fair game.
some things will never be funny. 9/11 is one of them. I will never be able to lighten up on that subject.
I wonder if Mr. Gottfried would care to toss in a few “jokes” about the Shoah while he’s at it?
I’m in total agreement with you. 9/11 will “NEVER” be funny nor will the Holocaust. Comedians can find other sick subjects to make fun of. The Holocaust, 9/11, and other tragedies are off limits, IMO.
Is this guy a muslim commedian?
Well, just for reference, I have never heard a “Pearl Harbor” joke. Never. Not one.
I find it absolutely amazing that any American would justify such a tasteless joke as being “therapeutic”.
In the near term, 10 more years(?), it should be treated like the Holocaust.
It ain’t funny.
I watched the History channel documentary footage by the minute tonight. It reconfirmed that 9/11 was not funny and will not be funny to me.
Q. What was the last thing to pass through Mo Atta’s mind?
A. A rivet, probably.
No, seriously, I treasure the Onion article from soon after the attacks, “Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell”, which subjects the fellas to several, shall we say, inventive penalties, including the vigorous and highly affectionate attentions of the now world-famous Gulbuth the Rampant.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38673
I was thinking the exact same thing - no one jokes about Pearl Harbor and no one should. Just as no sane, decent person jokes about the Holocaust (I imagine the anti-Semetic left and the stormfronters do, but they are not sane or decent). Anyone who thinks 9/11 is funny is sub-human.
I watched it too. I felt it was happening in present time.
He isn't any kind of comedian.
Or Bull Run...
Lexington...
Since 9/11 humor came up elsewhere this week, I’ve got to say, Gottfried’s joke was bad...and that smiley-face Twin Towers Day greeting card thing was just stupid. As in, whoever did that is not smarter than Trig Palin.
I heard a young boy tell this joke about a week ago:
Knock knock
Who’s there?
World Trade Center
World Trade Center Who?
You promised that you would never forget.
Pushing the envelope...It's easy to take on some groups because they dont fight back. Basically, all stand-up comics nowadays are absolute wimps.
Also referenced in the article is the 'comedian' "I wont joke about Islam because I'm a wimp and someone my hurt my little head" -Lewis Black.
A Chinese person walks into a bar late one night and he saw Steven Spielberg. As he was a great fan of his movies, he rushes over to him, and asks for his autograph.
Instead, Spielberg gives him a slap and says “You Chinese people bombed our Pearl Harbor, get out of here.”
The astonished Chinese man replied “It was not the Chinese who bombed your Pearl Harbor, it was the Japanese”.
“Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, you’re all the same,” replied Spielberg.
In return, the Chinese gives Spielberg a slap and says “You sank the Titanic, my great-grand father was on that ship.”
Shocked, Spielberg replies “It was the iceberg that sank the ship, not me.”
The Chinese replies, “Iceberg, Spielberg, Carlsberg, you’re all the same.”
Michael Ventre: Yes.
I suppose in a free society, even the party of the "classless society" can have a voice.
Personally I don't think that one will ever be funny, therapeutic or not.
Do you want to give us a zinger about the train deaths in LA? Or would you rather wait a couple of weeks?
Godfrey didn't make fun of the victims, as you suggest I do about train deaths.
BTW - You know Amtrack is being renamed?
Yeah, to Offtrack.
*The Holocaust, 9/11, and other tragedies are off limits, IMO.*
The Holocaust and 9/11 were not TRAGEDIES. They were monstrous, murderous crimes.
A tragedy is when a roof falls in or a building collapses.
Sheesh.
Yes, but there are Hitler jokes.
It’s never inappropriate to joke about anything. I remember hearing some Wall St. guys 25 years ago when the Ethiopia starvation story had hit the news. “What are Ethiopian bunk beds?.......Venetian blinds!” Eyes rolled, but people did laugh.
Tragedies or murderous crimes, neither should be the subject of some schmuck’s jokes.
Some people just don’t know when to quit. Your inability to distinguish what is and isn’t appropriate is astounding.
As I recall, the actual quote was “I’m sorry I was late, but my flight had to make a stop at the Empire State Building.”
After an audible groan enveloped the room, he said “Too soon?” and then launched into one of the most hilarious editions of The Aristocrats I’ve ever heard.
THAT laughter was indeed therapeutic.
I am properly chatised, but still view you as a boor...
Nothing personal.
Not nearly as much as your belief that you are in any position to define the distinction.
A Hilter joke is legitimate because the aim is to mock or humiliate an evildoer. Such humor can even be used to support traditional standards of morality and justice. Everyone knows the Third Reich was not funny, but it can be therapeutic to use humor heap contempt on an enemy like the Nazis. Likewise, a joke about terrorists in hell may be in acceptable taste. But a joke about, say, riding a cattle car to Auschwitz or riding an airliner into a building would be wrong because it makes light of the suffering of innocent people. Making light of innocent people suffering evil tears down standards of right and wrong, so it is destructive. There is quite a difference between mocking a wicked person and making light of the suffering the wicked person caused.
Anyone who thinks it is appropriate to make fun of an event that cost 3000 American lives is sick in the head and a sorry excuse for a human being.
A similar joke might be "I was a big fan of Hitler making the trains run on time until I found out he was going to put me on one to Auschwitz."
A BAD joke would be something along the lines of joke at the victims expense.
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