Back in '86 the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff. (I was actually watching it live in science class at school.) There were jokes made about that before the debris hit the ground. (What were the last words recorded on the flight data recorder? Hey, you women, get away from the controls.) I could start telling Ethiopian famine jokes and keep going for hours. Tasteless? Yes. Funny? Yes. Too soon? Probably. We do it because it's and easy way to filter what really happened through our minds. It's simply an oblique way to deal with something awful.
The AFLAC duck is fucking annoying, too. Give me the cavemen any day. Probably because we already nuked them TWICE in 1945. A guy on my team is from North Carolina and has a knack for running our truck into stationary objects (he's still the driver because no one else wants to do it and because our team leader doesn't trust him to dismount). I've started calling him "Dale Earnhart" because he's a redneck and he likes to run into walls. 10 years later and most people find it funny but you'll still get a few Georgia National Guard types around base going "tha' ain't funny, man!!!".
Here is my TOO SOON joke about Japan, copied verbatim from my Twitter: Not sure if it really counts as a TOO SOON though, since I wasn't making light of the deaths, and news was breaking about how the coastline of Japan had shifted.
I have no beef with Gottfried's jokes. It's his job, don't like it don't subscribe to his feed. I will however call him momumentally stupid for making the jokes when the spokesman(duck?) for a company that does almost all of its business in Japan. http://phx.corporateir.net/External...9NDExODA3fENoaWxkSUQ9NDIyNDQ2fFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1
"TOO SOON" is entirely dependent on the audience. When my mother was disgnosed with breast cancer and she found out after her surgery that radiation wasn't going to cut it and she'd have to go on chemo, I started in with some jokes. Stuff like, "Awesome, I'm gonna have to draw you some angry eyebrows." She stopped crying and burst out laughing on the phone. When her friends held a "Hat Party" for her just before she had to get a buzz cut, most of them gave her hats they had knitted, or that other relatives who had survived cancer had used. I gave her a giant pink, foam cowboy hat and a Dr. Seuss hat. Her friends were mortified (a couple actually pulled me aside to tell me how ashamed I should've been), but my mom loved it. She actually wore the cowboy hat around the backyard a lot because it kept the sun off of her face. It was a coping mechanism for both of us because we both believe that humor can "heal" a lot of things. Nothing I joked about was ever "TOO SOON" to her, and she was the only audience I cared about. The thing about Gilbert is that these jokes don't seem to have an intended audience. They're just out there to be outlandish, which is something he's always done. I just hope he doesn't come out, tail tucked between his legs, and apologize to a "Gilbert is so mean" public. The jokes have been said, own up to them and move on. Besides, the duck needed to die, anyway. On another note, I read somewhere right after the quake that Dave Chappelle tweeted almost immediately: "I guess the PS4 will be waterproof."
Is it TOO SOON to assume that the Japanese are impervious to radiation? Edit: fark headline: Redskins Sean Taylor shot, experts shocked bullet was not fumbled. I wanted to hurt something when I read that.
I'd be much more forgiving of an immediate reaction. He's a comedian, and comedians are constantly analyzing everything to look for humorous angles, and inappropriate Tweets are a consequence of living in a society with great comedians. Chappelle's tweet also came before the nuclear meltdown, which has made the situation a whole lot more serious. But Gottfried? He waited a couple days, which means there was plenty of time to think "oh, maybe I shouldn't joke about this." Also, did anyone find any of his jokes funny? I'd rather be in Fukushima than within earshot of Gottfried
This argument is ridiculous. So Chappelle's remark wasn't out of line because only the earthquake and tsunami killed people, but not nuclear meltdown? And he had plenty of time as he was typing his statement to think, "Hey, the bodies haven't even washed back ashore yet, maybe this is a little rough." If you don't think Gilbert is funny, that's one thing, and that's fine. But don't chastise one comedian while forgiving the other for doing exactly the same thing. Both of them have an equal part in making some TOO SOON comments.
TOO SOON is for bitches (99% of the time). We could debate all day regarding the quality of Gottfried's comments, but the overreaction to them is just plain silly. Remember when Michael Jackson passed away? People were making jokes THE VERY SAME DAY.
Both comedians' quips were TOO SOON but at least Chapelle's was funny and didn't sound like it was stolen off of a Popsicle stick.
Well, it seems that Gilbert Gottfried has apologized for his tweets. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20473876,00.html
You do realize the meltdown isn't going to kill 1/10 as many people as the tsunami/earthquake? Also I found what Gilbert said to be funny. I'm not Japanese and don't play video games, so you have to take that with a grain of salt.
I heard Howard Stern talking about Gottfried today in support of him. The guy has always been offensive. He plays to the back of the room. His entire routine has always been weird voice, horrible jokes, and offending people. The best part was the people that didn't get it. Everyone knows that one day, all tragedies become ridiculed. So what's the deal? http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/howard-stern-joan-rivers-defend-167799 Article about Howard and Joan Rivers voicing support.
He's totally right. Nuclear reactors are a very sensitive subject in this country. I joke about cancer and 9/11, but never nuclear energy.
Come on folks, besides what the good Dr and Netted stated, all is fair game. This PC shit drives me nuts. No one is singling out a death or a loss of family; but it is about tension relief. One can either laugh at what life gives you or cry. Myself, I love to laugh because I know I cannot fix what has already happened. If you can chose to ignore the plight, why can't you also have the option to ignore the comic relief? Unlike SuperTramp, it cannot go both ways.
I was thinking a lot about this, and I don't think the answer is so cut-and-dried. I'm probably one of the few people on this board that is cautiously in favor of political correctness, though I'm not quite sure that's the issue here. First of all, everybody is allowed to say or tweet whatever they want. Just like other people are allowed to be offended and think, "wow, what a tasteless dick." It makes sense to me that a public company that has a lot of business in Japan wouldn't want its spokesperson mocking a tragedy there, and nobody has the right to a high-paying voice acting job. You want to be a fearless, blue, back of the room comedian? Congratulations. But you most certainly can't pride yourself on being offensive and abrasive and expect people not to be offended and taken aback. On the larger issue of what's "too soon", I don't think it's strictly about waiting a pre-ordained amount of time before cracking wise, but the closer people are to a tragedy, the better the joke needs to be. Not just funnier -- though that helps, of course -- but defter, more sensitive, wiser. If you can't handle that responsibility as a comedian, stick to making jokes about how airlines charge too much for stuff, and how babies are sticky and easily tricked. If you're going to try to "heal somebody else's pain with laughter", unasked, and PUBLICALLY, you better damn well make sure they know you're on their side. And it better be funny.
How to TOO SOON, Canadian style: How do you kill a fox? -cut his leg off and tell him to run to Thunder Bay. Spoiler