The Last Laugh Page #4

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weapon of the weak.

- Think about the things

that we make jokes about.

- We make jokes about our

bosses. We make jokes about

death. You know, when I

was in the army we made

jokes about our commanders.

they could just order us to do

whatever they wanted us to do.

- Nazi jokes, easy.

- Making fun of bad people,

easy. Making fun of good

people,

or tragedy, thats whats hard.

So making a Holocaust joke

about the act of the Holocaust

in general, and the event,

is really difficult.

Do you have a Holocaust joke,

do you have a Holocaust joke

Gee, I dont know any

Holocaust jokes.

Do you know any

Holocaust jokes?

No. I cant go there. I cant

I personally,

who has done a musical

called The Inquisition,

with Jews floating around and

being dunked in

water and tortured

I cannot go there.

Well, to me, you dont

have a Holocaust joke.

You have a joke about dating,

you have a joke about politics,

you have... the jokes always

about something else

for me

the jokes always about

something else, and

then the punchline

is the shocker.

Thats when you mention

Hitler, or the Holocaust

or, you know.

Auschwitz is a funny punchline

not a funny topic, but

a funny punchline.

You dont want to walk

out on stage and go,

Hows your Friday night going

everybody?

Lets talk about Auschwitz!

Thats not gonna fly.

No ones getting laid

after that show.

A great joke

really does trump all rules.

But its got to

be a great joke,

and the higher the stakes

the higher the standard for

how good the joke has to be.

It has to be funny,

if youre going to cross the

line, you better be funny!

Of course it has to be funny!

Otherwise its not a joke.

A joke about a

mother-in-law can be

that good and pass muster.

But a joke about this

stuff has to be like,

you know,

youre ashamed that

you laughed at it,

but youre laughing

because its like,

you cant

help yourself.

So,

Ill never forget, I actually

did have this thought,

and comedians do have these

thoughts

that go really overboard, and I

thought,

Could I ever tell anyone this?

And Im thinking, If I

had this thought someone

else mustve had this thought.

But I was at

one point

watching footage

of one of the concentration

camps being liberated

on one

of the history,

you know, World War II

channels.

And so Im watching

this video of

a concentration camp

being liberated

and I actually thought

to myself, Now

If I was standing on line

naked for the gas chambers

would I hold my stomach in?

- I have a joke in

my act now about

making love to my girlfriend,

and shes so beautiful I always

have an orgasm too fast.

And I said, Well, what

if we had a code word,

something you whisper

in my ear to make me

forget about having an orgasm,

just to last a little longer.

And she said, Well what do you

want your code word to be?

And I just thought of the worst

thing I could think of and said,

I dont know, just

say, Holocaust.

And the next day were

making love in the morning,

and shes so beautiful and

so lovely after two minutes,

Im about to have an orgasm

and suddenly she

whispers in my ear,

she says, I cant believe

those poor six million Jews

who died in the ovens at

Auschwitz.

And I was like, What the

hell are you talking about?

I didnt want a Wikipedia

printout right now!

Oh,

this should be good, Sarah

Silverman

on the Holocaust

I always know when its

Hitlers birthday.

They announce it on

Entertainment Tonight.

Right before they go to

commercial you see a silhouette

and then they say,

This man is responsible for the

deaths of six million Jews.

Is it Ted Danson?

Patrick Duffy?

My lesbian niece, their

whole family is very Jewy,

and she called me up

and she was like,

Aunt Sarah,

did you know that Hitler

killed sixty million Jews?

And I

corrected her and I

said,

Ya know, I think, um,

I think hes responsible

for killing

six million Jews.

And she said Oh

yeah, six million,

I knew that, but seriously, I

mean, whats the difference?

The difference is,

sixty million is

unforgivable, young lady.

- Is six million forgivable?

- Well, thats the joke.

- I believe

that if black people were in

Germany during World War II

that the Holocaust would

have never happened.

I do. Or, not to Jews.

Maybe true.

Somebody might bring up,

how far

are comics

allowed to go?

Are they allowed to go as

far as Sarah Silverman?

AWARD CEREMONY AND

PEOPLE CLAPPING:

Finally, a Lifetime Achievement

Award for Mel Brooks.

Wow! What an elegant

way to say,

Hey! Lets wrap it up.

LAUGHTER:

She made a joke about

the Holocaust.

- What do the Jews hate

most about the Holocaust?

- What?

- The cost!

LAUGHTER:

SIGHS:

I couldnt, you know

SIGHS:

I couldnt believe it.

I did laugh, I have

to admit I laughed.

But maybe the time has

come

for that joke,

and it works.

I dont think that 25

years ago

that joke probably wouldve

gotten the biggest whoa!

of all time.

- Heidi Klum!

- Wooow

The last time a German

looked this hot

was when they were pushing

Jews into the ovens.

Wow,

wow.

Its funnyI

wouldntve said it!

I couldnt have said it!

It doesnt mean that it

isnt funny.

Even the rhythm is good. But, uh

you know, I dont want to

you know, its

its in terrible taste,

I mean its dreadful.

But

its funny! And

I admire her guts,

I couldnt do it,

I wouldnt do it.

I mean, she was kind of

making fun of the Germans,

I guess?

How about, like, its

just a funny joke

and youre allowed to laugh and

youre allowed to

turn the channel.

So if you dont want

this kind of humor

move along.

Ill take 20th Century

History, Adolf.

- The cause of the

sinking of the Titanic.

PING:

- Uh, what is an iceberg?

No, Im sorry! The correct

response is,

What were the Jews.

- Hello, Mr. Alexander

- This is really inappropriate,

his is offensive!

Im sorry, I cant I

cant follow this.

Im sorry, I cant go on.

- Didnt you do Nazi

stuff on Seinfeld?

That was an entirely

different situation.

I think Jerry Seinfeld

has been known to say

that Standards & Practices

helped him make

a funnier show because

you cant

go the easy route.

You were making out

during Schindlers List?!

Its harder to conceptually

contain yourself

within the boundaries

and still truly be funny

and Seinfeld to me is

the classic example.

Medium turkey chili.

LAUGHTER:

The one regret I do have

of all of the years

at Standards,

in terms of Holocaust humor,

is the Soup Nazi.

- I didnt get any bread.

- Just forget it, let it go.

I think the notion of Nazi

being used as a

very mild pejorative

does trivialize that experience.

And I had no clue at the time

that that would

enter the lexicon

the way that it has.

I dont see the

society collapsing

as a result of the Soup Nazi.

- No soup for you!

Thats Larrys skill, to be able

to find the way into a subject

that makes it

palatable to people.

So is that even a

taboo at that point?

You know, thats the question.

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