# Topics that are never appropriate to joke about **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379 "2018-01-24T14:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/81 "2018-01-25T17:26:26Z")
Dana Gould on “Things that you should never joke about”: [“Let’s kick things off with an AIDS joke. a rape joke, and a joke about 9/11.”](https://youtu.be/x42sfF5B12w?t=1m8s) And I had the perfect context to tell the first one, too: I have a good gay friend who had gastric bypass surgery and lost a lot of weight really fast. I went through the standup bit with him, and he laughed his ass off. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/82 "2018-01-25T17:27:28Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > If you have to remove 90% of the pieces to make the game work, then you are not playing that game - and I would suggest Apples to Apples. Which is the same game without any cards at all that reference your parents having sex. This exactly. After all, CAH’s tagline is “a party game for horrible people.” On their [homepage](https://cardsagainsthumanity.com/), they expand on this: “Unlike most of the party games you’ve played before, Cards Against Humanity is as despicable and awkward as you and your friends.” And, I absolutely agree, if you want to play CAH without inappropriate humor, just pick up Apples to Apples. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/83 "2018-01-26T04:29:33Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Why bother? They’re just going to lie there. I think they’d be laughing on the inside. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/84 "2018-01-26T12:05:17Z")
I don’t think there are subjects that you can’t make jokes about, but there are definitely subjects that most people shouldn’t make jokes about. Let’s face it most people aren’t funny and their idea of making a joke is to merely repeat some hackneyed drivel from the last century. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/85 "2018-01-26T12:43:32Z")
Why is it that every time I reply, “your mom” it turns out the person’s mother recently succumbed to some horrid, drawn out illness? “What’s the name of the porn star who was just in the news?” “Your mom?” _ **SOB** _ ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/86 "2018-01-26T12:54:05Z")
You haven’t heard a thing until you hear a group of widows joking about their dead husbands. And yes, we do. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/87 "2018-01-26T13:03:29Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Why is it that every time I reply, “your mom” it turns out the person’s mother recently succumbed to some horrid, drawn out illness? Look, nobody forced you to be a mortician. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/88 "2018-01-26T17:25:31Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Look, nobody forced you to be a mortician. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/89 "2018-01-26T18:03:27Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I’ve definitely seen the “rape is never funny” claim on Facebook and elsewhere, multiple times. Not here though. So some people _do_ make that claim. Interestingly enough, it’s never “murder is never funny” or “war/genocide/beatings/torture are never funny”. Those are classic gallows humor fodder. But racism, sexism and rape are worse than murder to some people I guess. Oh, and it’s never mentioned explicitly, but it’s always rape _of women_ that is off limits. Prison rape jokes about Bubba and dropping the soap are a riot for the whole family. I suspect the reason for this is that murder, however horrible, doesn’t reach as many people as rape/pedophilia/sexism/racism. It’s about knowing your audience, your crowd. I doubt people who have lost their babies find dead baby jokes all that funny, but there are a relatively small number of them relative to people who have been sexually abused, raped, or made to feel inferior based on race or gender. A comic is probably taking less of a risk with his audience by making the dead baby joke. Don’t even get me started on the gross double standard of male rape. [My favorite rape joke](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/uykiqr/comedy-central-presents-subway-station-chase) by one of my favorite comics. Oh, and [the other favorite.](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/lhr7zi/comedy-central-presents-awkward-situation) Notice in both of these jokes, the storyteller is the butt of the joke, not the women. > [@madmonk](#): > > I don’t think there are subjects that you can’t make jokes about, but there are definitely subjects that most people shouldn’t make jokes about. Let’s face it most people aren’t funny and their idea of making a joke is to merely repeat some hackneyed drivel from the last century. My father in law, an otherwise fine person, has a terrible sense of humor. He jokes routinely about me beating my husband, and occasionally, my husband beating me. Domestic violence is normal in his family of origin and basically all of his brothers beat their wives, so I guess the joke, to him, is that we’re not like that. Plus I guess he thinks it’s funny to invert the trope by gender, since in his universe, it’s always the man beating the woman. But it pisses me off. I am not a violent person, I have violent women in my family, and even joking about me treating someone I love with violence rubs me the wrong way. Plus _I work for a fucking domestic violence organization._ Know your audience. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/90 "2018-01-26T18:12:31Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > OTOH if I should ever have cancer, I’m sure I’ll come up with a lot of material about it. I speak from experience, it frees up your material a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/91 "2018-01-26T18:24:50Z")
I have only one favorite rape joke: a dozen guys were trying to rape a German girl. She kept saying _nein!, nein!_, so three of them left. ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/92 "2018-01-26T18:41:15Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > People were making Hitler jokes before the end of WW II. Everyone from Charlie Chaplin to the Marx Brothers to the Three Stooges. Hogan’s Heroes in the 60s was nothing but one big Hitler joke. So was Mel Brooks’ _The Producers_. If you can joke about Hitler, it seems that nothing is really taboo. I think it was Jon Stewart who said that the reason Hitler jokes are fine to tell, is because when you make fun of something or someone you take it’s power away. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/93 "2018-01-26T19:00:36Z")
I stopped watching Drawn Together because of moronic jokes about Princess Diana, also the Challenger disaster. I don’t know why I even watch Family Guy any more. Those types of jokes are just the tip of the iceberg. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/94 "2018-01-26T19:04:59Z")
“Know your audience.” A friend of a friend refused to watch The Drew Carey Show. Said the character of Mimi reminded her too much of her mother. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/95 "2018-01-26T19:14:05Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > …My father in law, an otherwise fine person, has a terrible sense of humor. He jokes routinely about me beating my husband, and occasionally, my husband beating me. Domestic violence is normal in his family of origin and basically all of his brothers beat their wives, so I guess the joke, to him, is that we’re not like that. Plus I guess he thinks it’s funny to invert the trope by gender, since in his universe, it’s always the man beating the woman. > > But it pisses me off. I am not a violent person, I have violent women in my family, and even joking about me treating someone I love with violence rubs me the wrong way. Plus _I work for a fucking domestic violence organization._ Know your audience. That’s why people started saying that there are certain topics that you shouldn’t joke about: clueless bores. It’s a drag to try to socialize an adult who should already know better, it’s easier to just tell him there are rules. Joking is just like any other skillset: the ones who are good at it can break the rules. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/96 "2018-01-26T19:37:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > _Daniel Tosh is an insult comic_. Category error. Suggesting that a member of your audience be raped isn’t an _insult_. A reminder that she’s vulnerable to that sort of attack, yes. Insult, no. > [@](#): > > Going to a Daniel Tosh event and expecting to be treated reverently and politely Rather large excluded middle, don’t you think, between treating someone politely and suggesting that they be raped. It’s surely possible for a comedian to be rude and insulting to someone in funny ways without suggesting that they be sexually assaulted. Just a hunch. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/97 "2018-01-26T19:39:15Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Why’s it always gotta be about color? Great username/post combination. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/98 "2018-01-26T19:47:30Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Joking is just like any other skillset: the ones who are good at it can break the rules. And that’s what really gets some people: It’s elitist, it’s a meritocracy, and some people are going to be able to get away with stuff you couldn’t even dream of doing because they, through some combination of innate talent and socialization and practice, are _better than you_ and always will be. And if you feel that those people are making hay out of your misfortune, well, there’s really nothing you can do unless you have enough clout you can force them to be silent… in which case, they’re the ones punching up, now, aren’t they? Sometimes, you have fun, and sometimes, the fun has you. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/99 "2018-01-26T20:51:30Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Compare to Bill Burr’s [genius rant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNnkDjMVJqE) at the citizens of Philadelphia when they wouldn’t stop heckling him. The audience was acting like drunk, heckling assholes so he spent the remaining 12 minutes of his set absolutely annihilating them. It’s insanely offensive but as he’s referring to the audience as a collective, and not punching down, I find it more funny than offensive. YMMV. > > ETA: This is a really good example of how subjective humor is, and how weirdly based on context it is. Because I can’t really fully explain why I don’t find Burr’s bit offensive, but I find Tosh to be an unfunny piece of shit. I suspect if this were a regular set of his, I wouldn’t be loving it, but something about the organic nature of his rage is pretty satisfying. God I hate “punching down.” A comic can punch up, down, left, right, himself, the nun in the front row… it’s about funny not justice. Tosh’s anti-heckle wasn’t good because there was no humor in it not because he is punching down. I don’t consider going after a heckler to be punching down anyway. It’s a disturbance that needs to be dealt with and swiftly. Very often brutally because that’s all that will work. Last weekend I watch Ben Bailey screaming “Shut the fuck up!” At a woman in the front row. There was a lot more that led up to that which was quite funny. There’s a lot about the circumstances surrounding the Burr rant that made it unique and hard to compare to anything else, especially to a set in a comedy club. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379/100 "2018-01-26T20:52:48Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Category error. Suggesting that a member of your audience be raped isn’t an _insult_. A reminder that she’s vulnerable to that sort of attack, yes. Insult, no. Rather large excluded middle, don’t you think, between treating someone politely and suggesting that they be raped. > > It’s surely possible for a comedian to be rude and insulting to someone in funny ways without suggesting that they be sexually assaulted. Just a hunch. Ayup. There’s a qualitative difference between ‘‘GTFO you ugly shrieking harpy’’ (or whatever) and "I hope you get raped.‘’ The first is a comic (understandably) lashing out at some rude asshole at their show. The latter smacks of a man trying to put a woman in her place. Whatever, I fucking hate that guy. I despised him before this happened and I will go on despising him. Treating people like shit is not ‘‘comedy’’ to me. Another kind of comedy I hate is ‘‘we’re being terrible to people ironically, so it’s okay’’ which almost never comes off as truly ironic. It’s what Family Guy has devolved into. It’s too bad. Family Guy has some classic bits. I suppose the conclusion is that I like dark humor, but not mean humor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/topics-that-are-never-appropriate-to-joke-about/807379.md?page=6)