# What's up with morning DJ's using peoples deaths as laugh material every morning? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 27, 2002, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774 "2002-08-27T13:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/1 "2002-08-27T13:54:49Z")
I just don’t get it. Every morning I listen to the radio on my way home from work. All of the major radio stations in the area have their morning 10 minutes of “funny news” after the real news. Every one of these fuckers has at least 2-3 bizarre deaths that they joke about every fucking morning. People getting hit by lightning, run over by cars, falling off bridges, death by golf club, etc… They laugh and joke and make funnies about how these people died. Lots of giggling and what not. My question is what makes this shit so funny to them and other people? If someone died a horrible death that happened to involve a dildo or something, it doesnt mean that its funny. Bizarre yes. Funny no. I think it is very bad taste for dj’s to use peoples death’s, no matter how bizarre, to add humor to morning talk shows or radio shows. Just my 2 bits. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/2 "2002-08-27T14:02:50Z")
When I get a splinter, that’s tragedy. When you fall into a sewer and drown, that’s comedy. – paraphrased from Mel Brooks ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/3 "2002-08-27T14:16:08Z")
I agree **Stinkpalm**. It’s classless and just indicates the DJ has no original thoughts. Maybe if they stop they’ll start doing some of those wacky and equally original prank calls. I also had a friend in college whose stepbrother drowned in a triathlon. She was very close to him and was very upset. You guessed it, some local DJ’s decided it was uproariously funny to make fun of him for drowning. Talentless dickheads. ---
**Author:** ![RickQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@RickQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickQ)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/4 "2002-08-27T15:08:12Z")
While I am on the fence on joke about death (that is the basis for the Darwin awards), I hate those prank calls. They are so stupid and ceased to be original around 5 million years ago. The radio station I listen to calls people who are in the local news and asks them a bunch of dumb questions and tries to get them to say something which will make the person look like a fool. Rick ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/5 "2002-08-27T15:17:01Z")
Yes, I agree that for the family and friends, every death is tragic and not the stuff of comedy. however. when I heard the story about the guy in MI who built his own home made little cannon, then decided to test it out, using a golf ball. only when the cannon shot, it shot the golf ball into the man’s groin and he died. after acknowledging that it is indeed tragic, sad for the family - that’s just gotta be one of the most embarassing ways to die. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/6 "2002-08-27T15:38:04Z")
And embarassing means we should laugh at it? Hell, if anything that shoudl be _more_ reason to show respect. After all–we all know how it feels to be embarassed, and none of us likes it. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/7 "2002-08-27T15:40:51Z")
well, I laugh when I’m embarassed. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/8 "2002-08-27T15:45:55Z")
But you sure hate it when other people laugh at you when you’re embarassed, dontcha? ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/9 "2002-08-27T15:47:33Z")
I think we should distinguish between having a mild private chuckle over an especially bizarre or ironic demise, and going on the air to publicly mock a local, or even non-local, death. The first is human nature IMO, while the second is shamefully insensitive. bella ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/10 "2002-08-27T15:51:36Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by wring_ > after acknowledging that it is indeed tragic, sad for the family - that’s just gotta be one of the most embarassing ways to die. It might be embarrassing, but a DJ’s still a talentless hack for pandering to it. Some people die in strange ways. It doesn’t mean it needs to be broadcast and mocked over a 10,000 watt blower. When a DJ does that kind of thing it tells me he doesn’t have the talent to sustain a show without being a prick. Hell, in the example I gave the kid drowned. How funny or strange is drowning? I don’t dispute that people can be morbidly amused, but should a DJ also have a segment mocking the funny sounds developmentally disabled kids sometimes make? If DJ’s don’t have talent, I simply wish they’d have some discretion. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/11 "2002-08-27T15:54:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andros \* > \*\*But you sure hate it when other people laugh at you when you’re embarassed, dontcha? \*\* Since I’m right there laughing too, generally, nope. Sorry. I have a dark sense of humor. However, I will acknowledge that I generally keep track of the audience and wouldn’t go on the radio w/it. So, I believe that there are those of us who enjoy ‘dark comedy’ (the movie Harold & Maude for example, the “Darwin” awards etc.). However, I generally am sensative enough to not joke about it w/the victims family. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/12 "2002-08-27T15:57:15Z")
Death scares the Shit out of me. The only way I know to cope with it without constantly screaming like Homer did in last Sunday’s Simpson’s is to make light of it or laugh at it. It is cruel but … well it beats going insane. At the same time I steer away from the death of kids because that is never funny! Nor would it help my unstable mental state. Children just shouldn’t die and the fact they do brings my mortality crashing closer to home. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/13 "2002-08-27T16:04:24Z")
Fair enough, **Wring**. You’re one of the few people I’ve ever encountered who doesn’t seem to mind being mocked. Me, I hate it. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/14 "2002-08-27T17:05:02Z")
crap. if this double posts, it’s not my fault (but I’ll laugh along w/you). **Zoff** for the record I found nothing funny about your friends death. Anyone, even an experienced athlete/swimmer can drown. And it was the height of insensativity to laugh about it on local radio (which I also mentioned in passing in my prior posts) **Andros** - the key for me is **my** action. If I’ve done something idiotic, I will indeed be the first in line to laugh at it. (my burn story is pretty funny). there are other things, tho’ that I wouldn’t appreciate being mocked for (deeply held poltical beliefs for example, protective feelings for my child, for another) But when I tripped going **up** carpeted stairs, and ended up w/ a bruise the size of a 3 for a buck grapefruit below my knee, that caused $500 in medical bills, infection + scar tissue, you bet I laughed. Hell, I dressed to match it (gee, it’s kinda purple today… ) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/15 "2002-08-27T17:12:50Z")
Remember those talentless hacks in the mid-90’s version of Saturday Night Live having so much fun with the OJ murders? Things were a little different to them when Phil Hartman got offed. It’s just an easy way for the lazy and uncreative to get a few laughs from the unintelligent. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/16 "2002-08-27T17:12:55Z")
My local wacky dj’s make fun of any misfortune, and not in a joking way. Remember when the female doctor at the South Polar Naval Station diagnosed herself with breast cancer and they arranged a medivac for her? The local radio idiots (a show called “The Regular Guys” in Atlanta) kept calling her a “stupid bitch”, for no apparent reason, and saying she should be left to die. (I think it may have been because she was a woman.) Actually, the whole show is a celebration of ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/17 "2002-08-27T17:20:18Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by wring_ > Zoff for the record I found nothing funny about your friends death. I didn’t intend to imply that you did. Sorry if I wasn’t clear. I used the example to illustrate the “talentless hack” prong of my argument. They used a death that didn’t have even an arguably funny element to it and joked about it. ---
**Author:** ![Sgt.J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sgt.J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sgt.J)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/18 "2002-08-27T21:35:06Z")
“talentless hack”? As somene who works in the industry I would like to point out one fact you’re overlooking: You’re the dumb fuckers who perpetuate this kind of entertainment. The DJ’s would be gone after the first book (Arbitron Rateings) if people didn’t listen. It’s right there in the OP > [@](#): > > Every morning I listen to the radio… It’s like blambing McDonnalds for making crappy food. HELLO- everybody consumes it or there wouldn’t be a market for it. The real problem isn’t that DJ’s are “talentless hack’s”, it’s that your friends and neighbors are “inbread mouthbreathers” who flock in droves to LCD entertainment. It’s not as if the entire broadcasting industry got together and decided to put on this crap “in spite of the wishes of the public”. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/19 "2002-08-28T02:20:19Z")
Let me tell you about a couple of amazing buttons. One changes the program to something else, and the other turns the device off completely! ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774/20 "2002-08-28T03:04:24Z")
I agree they are not funny. Unless of course they use a lot of those **hilarious** soundeffects. I mean thats fucking comedy gold right there. I always used to be bored with the CBC(our national public broadcaster) until I realized they don’t have these moronic morning shows. Now its the only station I’ll listen to. To **Sgt. J** I just have to say, when every morning show sounds the same how do we vote with our dials? Dissentors just become part of the “don’t listen to radio” demographic and drop off the programmers’ radar. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-morning-djs-using-peoples-deaths-as-laugh-material-every-morning/125774.md?page=2)