# How soon after a tragedy/scandal do you hear bad jokes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 12, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731 "2011-11-12T21:59:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/21 "2011-11-18T16:01:27Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > _A cover-up like that – who the hell does this Paterno think he is, a Cardinal?_ > > I heard that about 2 days after the news. > > Years ago, I visited an 84-year-ols shut-in lady. She regaled me with about 15 minutes of Jeffrey Dahmer jokes. Finally I asked her how she had so many jokes so soon – that had only been on the news on that day. She said it was easy – just change the name in [Ed Gein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein) jokes. To your point, I’ve done some googling of Jerry Sandusky jokes. Most of them seem like rehashes of Michael Jackson lines. The ones that were most obviously composed as a response to the most recent tragedy (‘WE ARE! PEDO STATE!’) aren’t very funny IMHO. Either way, these kinds of jokes are getting old. Unlike those boys in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/22 "2011-11-18T16:02:43Z")
There was a study about the speed and geographical spread of the Chernobyl joke (“What has feathers and glows?” “Chicken Kiev!”) in those pre-internet days. I think they traced it to a financial trading company in Chicago, and it spread outwards from there via telephone and fax, on the day of the disaster. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/23 "2011-11-18T16:03:58Z")
I confess one of my first thoughts was “well, this’ll make everyone quit asking about why they never picked a starting quarterback.” Some of my coworkers were making jokes a few days later, but were mostly about Sandusky in prison. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/24 "2011-11-18T16:05:16Z")
We had a fire drill on the morning of 9/11. While we were still watching news coverage we had to evacuate the building and one of my classmates joked it was because the terrorists were going to crash into our school. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/25 "2011-11-18T16:09:36Z")
I heard a Michael Jackson joke before I heard he was dead. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/26 "2011-11-18T16:13:06Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > We had a fire drill on the morning of 9/11. While we were still watching news coverage we had to evacuate the building and one of my classmates joked it was because the terrorists were going to crash into our school. :rolleyes: A coworker told me a Gary Condit/terrorist joke sometime between first and second tower collapsing. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/27 "2011-11-18T16:15:48Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > There was a study about the speed and geographical spread of the Chernobyl joke (“What has feathers and glows?” “Chicken Kiev!”) in those pre-internet days. I think they traced it to a financial trading company in Chicago, and it spread outwards from there via telephone and fax, on the day of the disaster. Michael Lewis talks about this in Liars Poker. The Trading Floors and Sales Desks had the old Watts lines that covered the world. Don’t have my copy around here, but I think it was the Challenger explosion that had jokes on the phone within minutes at Morgan where he worked. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/28 "2011-11-18T17:43:35Z")
My very first thought upon hearing of John Lennon’s death was, “So much for the Beatles getting back together.” (During the 1970s, it seemed like there was another Beatles-reunion rumor every month or two.) > [@Eve](#): > > There was a study about the speed and geographical spread of the Chernobyl joke (“What has feathers and glows?” “Chicken Kiev!”) in those pre-internet days. I think they traced it to a financial trading company in Chicago, and it spread outwards from there via telephone and fax, on the day of the disaster. The Chicken Kiev joke I heard after Chernobyl was: Q. How do you cook Chicken Kiev? A. First, heat Kiev to 9000 degrees… **Peanuthead** - _Bobby Kennedy_ jokes? Gotta admit I didn’t hear any of those - and I was in my teens at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/29 "2011-11-18T21:59:19Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > **Peanuthead** - _Bobby Kennedy_ jokes? Gotta admit I didn’t hear any of those - and I was in my teens at the time. Within minutes of the shooting someone in the office said “Let’s start a pool to pick what time he dies.”:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/30 "2011-11-19T00:10:50Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Within minutes of the shooting someone in the office said “Let’s start a pool to pick what time he dies.”:eek: It was after midnight! What kind of an office is open that late? ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/31 "2011-11-19T16:08:57Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > It was after midnight! What kind of an office is open that late? Oops! Should have said withing minutes of arriving at the office in the morning as most of us didn’t even know about it till we saw the morning news. So I guess it would actually within hours of the shooting and before his death was announced officially. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731/32 "2011-11-21T18:07:35Z")
The fastest I heard/saw was on the same day. That includes seeing a calendar at work with a plane smashing into each of the 1s in 11, as well as others about other terrorist attacks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-soon-after-a-tragedy-scandal-do-you-hear-bad-jokes/602731.md?page=1)