I tend to give comedians some leeway, since the nature of their job often demands they push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable, and it's all too easy to overstep. Besides, I'm kind of a sucker for comedic shock value if the delivery is on point.
For example:
Quote:
In comedy, timing is …
Everything.
Current Las Vegas Hilton headliner Gilbert Gottfried remembers a moment of remarkably errant timing nearly a decade ago, when he was among the comics recruited by the Friars Club to roast Hugh Hefner in New York City.
In a performance that has become revered among comics, Gottfried surveyed the audience, measured the merits of terrorism jokes against the anguish being suffered across the country and …
“I came out and said, ‘I have to leave early tonight, I have to fly out to L.A. I couldn’t get a direct flight, I have to make a stop at the Empire State Building,” Gottfried, appearing in “Icons of Comedy” at Shimmer Cabaret through Sunday, said on last Friday’s episode of Kats With the Dish (the new radio show I co-host with Tricia McCrone that airs at 6 p.m. Fridays on KUNV 91.5-FM). “And people were booing, and gasping, and one guy yelled out, ‘Too soon!’
“I thought he meant I took too long between the setup and the punch line.”
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In retrospect, Gilbert Gottfried's 9/11 joke was maybe 'too soon' - The Kats Report - Las Vegas Sun News
Many people found this joke to be highly offensive. Personally I thought it was kind of funny. I might not have, had someone I loved been killed in the attacks. But that doesn't change the fact that I thought it was funny.
But even in cases where the joke isn't funny, as long as it isn't a blatantly malicious attempt to hurt someone, I don't fault the comedian as being a bad person for telling a bad joke that was in poor taste.