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Humor based on the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks were a series of terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, in which 2977 people and 19 hijackers were killed. Jokes based on the events have been made in print and other media since soon after the attacks took place.
A number of scholars have studied the ways in which humor has been used to deal with the trauma of the event, including researcher Bill Ellis who found that jokes about the attacks began the day afterwards in the U.S., and Giselinde Kuipers, who found jokes on Dutch websites a day later. Kuipers had collected around 850 online jokes about 9/11, Osama bin Laden, and the Afghanistan war by 2005. A notable early public attempt at 9/11 humor was by Gilbert Gottfried just a few weeks after the attacks. During a comedy roast for Hugh Hefner at the Friars Club the crowd did not respond well to Gottfried's 9/11 gag, with one audience member yelling "Too soon!", a common response to jokes told in the immediate wake of tragedies.
In contrast to these early jokes about 9/11, late-night comedy shows and humorous publications did not appear for several weeks following the attacks. The Onion, a satirical newspaper, cancelled the issue that had been scheduled to be released on September 11, 2001, and then returned to print with a special edition on September 26, 2001, which was devoted to the attacks.
The Zero (2006) by Jess Walter is a post-9/11 satirical novel which features a New York City cop who shoots himself in the head and forgets it minutes later; his brain damage accounts for gaps in the story.
In 2016, comedian Billy Domineau uploaded a spec script to the Internet that he had written for Seinfeld, which had aired its last episode in 1998, set in New York during the days after the attacks. He said later that it had started when he suggested "a 9/11 episode of Seinfeld" to a student as an example of "an exercise in bad taste" for a class. In his episode, the show's four main characters follow plotlines typical of them, all related to the attacks: Jerry becomes convinced that dust from the fallen towers is contaminating his food; Elaine, initially relieved that she will not have to break up with a boyfriend who worked at the Twin Towers, finds herself engaged to him when he unexpectedly survives; George basks in the glory after he is mistaken for a hero who rescued people, and Kramer attempts to recover the high-quality box cutter he loaned to Mohamed Atta. Popular minor characters, such as George's parents and Newman, also make appearances. "[It] is indeed in bad taste, but it perfectly captures the self-obsessed way these characters would handle such a crisis," wrote The Guardian.
Gilbert Gottfried was one of the first stand-up comedians to reference the 9/11 attacks on stage. Eighteen days after the attacks at the New York Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner hosted by Comedy Central, Gottfried said, "I have to catch a flight to California. I can't get a direct flight. They said they have to stop at the Empire State Building first." The joke was met with gasps, boos, and scattered laughter, with one person shouting that it was "too soon!". The joke was followed by the telling of a version of The Aristocrats joke, which was well received. In an interview with Vulture, Gottfried said, "I lost an audience bigger than anybody has ever lost an audience. People were booing and hissing." The Aristocrats joke, however, Gottfried stated, was "the biggest laughs I ever heard."
Just a month later, George Carlin addressed the attacks, sarcastically claiming that "otherwise the terrorists win," which he claimed to be the latest mindless mantra. He went on to joke about how in this extreme time he's even willing to cooperate with the US government and "Governor Bush". Then he elaborates his plan for retaliation through the use of "fart warfare".
One notable 9/11 joke was told by Joan Rivers in London in 2002. The joke concerned the widows of fire fighters killed in the attacks, who Rivers said would be disappointed if their husbands had been found alive as they would be forced to return money they had received in compensation for their late spouses. The joke received condemnation from Harold A. Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Fire Fighters.
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Humor based on the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks were a series of terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, in which 2977 people and 19 hijackers were killed. Jokes based on the events have been made in print and other media since soon after the attacks took place.
A number of scholars have studied the ways in which humor has been used to deal with the trauma of the event, including researcher Bill Ellis who found that jokes about the attacks began the day afterwards in the U.S., and Giselinde Kuipers, who found jokes on Dutch websites a day later. Kuipers had collected around 850 online jokes about 9/11, Osama bin Laden, and the Afghanistan war by 2005. A notable early public attempt at 9/11 humor was by Gilbert Gottfried just a few weeks after the attacks. During a comedy roast for Hugh Hefner at the Friars Club the crowd did not respond well to Gottfried's 9/11 gag, with one audience member yelling "Too soon!", a common response to jokes told in the immediate wake of tragedies.
In contrast to these early jokes about 9/11, late-night comedy shows and humorous publications did not appear for several weeks following the attacks. The Onion, a satirical newspaper, cancelled the issue that had been scheduled to be released on September 11, 2001, and then returned to print with a special edition on September 26, 2001, which was devoted to the attacks.
The Zero (2006) by Jess Walter is a post-9/11 satirical novel which features a New York City cop who shoots himself in the head and forgets it minutes later; his brain damage accounts for gaps in the story.
In 2016, comedian Billy Domineau uploaded a spec script to the Internet that he had written for Seinfeld, which had aired its last episode in 1998, set in New York during the days after the attacks. He said later that it had started when he suggested "a 9/11 episode of Seinfeld" to a student as an example of "an exercise in bad taste" for a class. In his episode, the show's four main characters follow plotlines typical of them, all related to the attacks: Jerry becomes convinced that dust from the fallen towers is contaminating his food; Elaine, initially relieved that she will not have to break up with a boyfriend who worked at the Twin Towers, finds herself engaged to him when he unexpectedly survives; George basks in the glory after he is mistaken for a hero who rescued people, and Kramer attempts to recover the high-quality box cutter he loaned to Mohamed Atta. Popular minor characters, such as George's parents and Newman, also make appearances. "[It] is indeed in bad taste, but it perfectly captures the self-obsessed way these characters would handle such a crisis," wrote The Guardian.
Gilbert Gottfried was one of the first stand-up comedians to reference the 9/11 attacks on stage. Eighteen days after the attacks at the New York Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner hosted by Comedy Central, Gottfried said, "I have to catch a flight to California. I can't get a direct flight. They said they have to stop at the Empire State Building first." The joke was met with gasps, boos, and scattered laughter, with one person shouting that it was "too soon!". The joke was followed by the telling of a version of The Aristocrats joke, which was well received. In an interview with Vulture, Gottfried said, "I lost an audience bigger than anybody has ever lost an audience. People were booing and hissing." The Aristocrats joke, however, Gottfried stated, was "the biggest laughs I ever heard."
Just a month later, George Carlin addressed the attacks, sarcastically claiming that "otherwise the terrorists win," which he claimed to be the latest mindless mantra. He went on to joke about how in this extreme time he's even willing to cooperate with the US government and "Governor Bush". Then he elaborates his plan for retaliation through the use of "fart warfare".
One notable 9/11 joke was told by Joan Rivers in London in 2002. The joke concerned the widows of fire fighters killed in the attacks, who Rivers said would be disappointed if their husbands had been found alive as they would be forced to return money they had received in compensation for their late spouses. The joke received condemnation from Harold A. Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Fire Fighters.