The disagreement between comedians (and their …show more content…
He continues to explain that his jokes are not to offend the survivors, but rather to show his disapproval and hatred towards Hitler and the Nazi Party. Mel Brooks was not the first to present this idea, and he will not be the last. Ezell (2012) explains that jokes were made about Hitler far before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and an early Captain America issue included the superhero attacking Hitler. Ezell continues to proclaim that “many jokes that use the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler as their subject matter attempt to find amusement through the disparagement of this group and person” (p. 14). There are points in which the line is crossed though with these jokes, and that is when they are in regards to those who suffered miserable deaths, the survivors, and about family members who are related to the victims or survivors of the Holocaust. In the cases that these jokes are made, Sarah Silverman (The Last Laugh) states that “it (the joke) HAS to be funny and that you never know how the audience will receive the joke” (Pearlstein, 2016). Ultimately, it is left up to the audience to determine for themselves whether the joke is funny, too offensive, or both. Something that seems to be disregarded by the comedians in The Last Laugh