Crossing the line for a laugh?

[Laughing Ninja]

Would it be in bad taste to joke about the tsunami in japan?

[Mandeep]

Too soon. Should probably reserve your joke for company that would like it.

[greatbrumby]

Comedy is always a delicate balancing act. If you want to be taken seriously, even in the realm of comedy, there is a simple rule you should follow. The more traumatic the topic, the more you must think about the joke. For instance, some people think that Holocaust jokes are still too harsh, even though it has been almost 70 years. Now, if you have a specific audience, a Tsunami joke may not be horrible, but you have to consider the current audience and potential future audience.

All of that being said, if you have no desire to be taken seriously as a writer or comedian, then you can make all the jokes in the world, because what does it matter what others think.

[ChickenFreak]

Originally Posted by Laughing Ninja

Would it be in bad taste to joke about the tsunami in japan?

Almost certainly. I think that in theory, it's possible to joke about almost anything, but joking about tragedy needs to be a shared-pain joke or at the very least a sympathizing-with-pain joke or a whistling-in-the-graveyard joke, not a "ha, ha, look what happened to them!" joke. And you don't share that pain, so I doubt that you'd be able to create an appropriate joke - or even an inappropriate joke that would produce off-guard laughs. Right now, I think that all you can get is a blank stare.

ChickenFreak