Now, with the internet, it makes me feel sentimental about old-time angry mobs. Everyone was in a rush to tell their friends, everyone was laughing about it, and it was okay. With the Challenger explosion, or any other tragic event pre-internet, there were always a bunch of jokes that would come out immediately. They are responding to the fact that it’s tragic, and you’re acknowledging it. You’re saying, “Screw all those people who died, I waited for it to become unimportant to us.” When I do a joke about September 11, or the Japanese tsunami, what’s funny is that it shocks the audience. You can do jokes about the Lincoln assassination and the Titanic, and no one says anything because everyone involved is dead, and their grandchildren are dead. Is there an office with a guy behind a desk who decides when it’s not too soon anymore? I knew there were times where people wait to make jokes about something, but I always thought that concept was ridiculous. “Too soon.” I had never heard that before. One guy said, “Too soon!” He was just a face in the crowd, but now I wish I knew who it was, because his comment became part of the language. I don’t think anyone’s lost an audience bigger than I did at that point. I can’t get a direct flight - they said I have to stop at the Empire State Building first.” I said, “I have to leave early tonight, I have a flight to California. It was impromptu I don’t remember thinking about it beforehand. I was at the roast of Hugh Hefner, and I just wanted to be the first person to make a really-poor-taste joke about September 11. It kicked off the trend of jokes being delivered “too soon,” which still continues to this day. (That joke, and his legendary version of the Aristocrats that followed, were completely scrubbed from the telecast.) Nate Jones spoke with Gottfried for this as-told-to piece. We’ve already talked to the writers of Airplane! about the iconic “Don’t call me Shirley.” Today Gilbert Gottfried revisits the 9/11 joke he told at a Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner mere weeks after the attack. To go along with our list of the 100 Jokes That Shaped Modern Comedy, Vulture is taking a closer look at some of the jokes on the list.
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