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How Soon Is Too Soon? (And Other Classic Questions And Conundrums About Comedy)

CHRISTEL ØVERLAND PRETENI
/
flickr creative commons

humor = tragedy + time

OK, but then the logical next question is: How much time?

If it's OK, at this point, to joke about, say, The Spanish Inquisition... what about, for instance, the Holocaust? Or AIDS? September 11th? The #MeToo movement?

...Derek Chauvin?

There's a line there somewhere, right?

Or are some topics just never going to be funny?

GUESTS:

  • Mike Bent - Teaches writing in the Comedic Arts program at Emerson College, and he’s a performing comedian and magician
  • Shawn Murray - A stand up comedian and writer and a host of Fantasy Filmball
  • Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer
  • Ferne Pearlstein - A documentary filmmaker who directed The Last Laugh
  • Caleb Warren - Assistant professor of marketing at the University of Arizona

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Catie Talarski, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired February 21, 2018.

Jonathan is a producer for ‘The Colin McEnroe Show.’ His work has been heard nationally on NPR and locally on Connecticut Public’s talk shows and news magazines. He’s as likely to host a podcast on minor league baseball as he is to cover a presidential debate almost by accident. Jonathan can be reached at jmcnicol@ctpublic.org.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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