Read the room, dude! One week after the Dark Knight Rises shooting killed 12 movie goers in Aurora, Colorado, Dane Cook took the stage at L.A.’s Laugh Factory and joked, “I know that if none of that would have happened, pretty sure that somebody in that theater, about 25 minutes in, realizing it was a piece of crap, was probably like ‘ugh f—ing shoot me.’” Regardless of whether his bit even made sense (everyone liked The Dark Knight Rises, didn’t they?), Cook eventually realized his mistake, tweeting today: “I made a bad judgment call with my material last night & regret making a joke at such a sensitive time. My heart goes out to all of the families & friends of the victims.” We can’t say we’re surprised, either that Dane Cook would make a shooting joke or that he apologized for it. You think he would have learned from his fellow comedians who had to deal with a “too much/too soon” backlash to their material:
Tracy Morgan
The 30 Rock star ended up apologizing and teaming up with GLAAD after going on an allegedly violent anti-gay riff during a stand-up set in June 2011. What was wrong with lifting up the shirt, Tracy? Everyone loves the shirt!
Gilbert Gottfried
Gottfried was fired from his job as the Aflac duck, even after he apologized for making jokes about the devastating Japanese earthquake last March. Apparently no one wants their spokesducks ripping on innocent earthquake victims.
Sarah Silverman
Silverman took the stage at the annual TED conference in 2010, where she joked repeatedly about adopting a “retarded” child. “I know I shouldn’t say this about one of my own speakers, but I thought Sarah Silverman was god-awful,” TED organizer Chris Anderson tweeted after the event. On one hand, yikes. On the other hand, did no one listen to Sarah Silverman’s stand-up before hiring her? We guess comedy is a two-way street, ya’ll!
