Dane Cook Jokes About Dark Knight Rises Shooting

Dane Cook likely expected a bit of audience pushback earlier this week at the Laugh Factory when he decided to make a Dark Knight Rises massacre joke, but it seems unlikely he knew the level of hostility that would come his way. The comedian was in the middle of his act when he brought up the film, complained about it and then joked if the massacre didn’t happen, someone likely would have asked to be shot.

The comment got more than its share of laughs but also some noticeable groans and a smattering of applause. You can take a listen, courtesy of The Daily Caller.

Comedians should be able to joke about whatever they want. People are easily offended, and if every comment was censored out of fear of who it might hurt, there would be nothing left to laugh about. That being said, comedians are still responsible for what they say on stage, and they’re still liable to absorb the repercussions, whether the outrage is justified or not. Cook has been bombarded by that backlash all day today, and it may well continue through the rest of the week.

Good comedy is sometimes edgy, but not everything that is edgy is necessarily good. Where this joke falls, I’ll leave you to decide.