Not Anthony Jeselnik, though: The comedian tweeted out a joke soon after the news hit.
There are some lines that should not be crossed today, he wrote.
Especially the finish line.
Credit: Maarten de Boer/Getty Images
For anyone who is familiar with Jeselniks comedy, this wasnt surprising.
Read and Prayersand Jeselniks feelings on apologizing for jokes.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First of all, why San Francisco?
ANTHONY JESELNIK:I needed people to be a little upset.
Like, I couldnt have the audience cheering for every awful thing I did.
I wanted people to kind of be taken aback.
And sometimes I have audience members who will be like, Yeah!
and I didnt want that.
You know, if I was choosing between San Francisco and Tampa, Tampa is going to cheer.
And I wanted people to be a little against it.
In a good way.
Tell me about the nameThoughts and Prayers.
I tweeted a joke about the Boston Marathon.
And I thought it was such an empty sentiment, that I thought, let me attack this.
And I really just wanted to speak out about that.
How do you respond when something bad happens to someone you know?
Like, lets say Im your friend, and my dog dies.
What do you say?
Is there anything I can do for you?
Not those empty platitudes of like, Time heals all wounds.
You might as well say nothing at all.
I kind of venture to delve into other controversies that Ive been apart of.
Remind me of that.
A guy from New Zealand had been eaten by a great white shark.
It was this big song and dance number.
It was really over the top.
Like flipped out about it.
And so I kind of talk about that.
What I had to go through with that.
Just trying to almost explore why I became a comedian.
What it is about me that feels compelled to tell these jokes that upset people.
Whats your take on all that?
Do you think theres any case where someone should apologize for a joke?
I think no one should ever apologize for a joke.
I think if the intent is pure, youre okay.
If youre a politician, of course you should apologize for a bad joke.
If youre a comedian, thats not your job.
Your job is to upset people at times.
Oh, Trevor Noahs the new host ofThe Daily Show, what can we dig up on him?
Theres not that much out there.
Lets go through his Twitter, lets find these things and throw them in his face.
Or with Daniel Tosh, Lets find something he said onstage and lets come after him for it.
People see through it very quickly.
They did it with Trevor, they felt stupid afterwards, and they were done with it.
Do you feel like youre immune from it at all because that is so much of your persona?
In a way, yes.
In a way, Im immune.
But there are still a lot of people who have not heard of me.
There are still those people, and for them, it doesnt really help.
If they just think, oh, whos this guy saying this joke?
But what can you do?
Its just growing pains.
So yes and no.
Your jokes are known for being succinct.
What its like thinking up an hour of new material?That sounds so daunting to me.
It is incredibly daunting.
You just kind of start brick by brick.
You just start piling up rocks and eventually you got a house.
Im going to have to be telling more stories.
Because it is incredibly daunting to put that together.
But its rewarding too.
Can you talk a bit more about how youll change it up?
I think Ill just get a little bit longer.
Ill give a shot to tell more stories.
But its the same sort of style.
You mentioned your grandma.
Does your family listen to your comedy?
Oh, they love it.
They love it because they understand Im joking.
Even though I talk about my family a lot, Im not referencing my actual family.
Im talking about this fictional family Ive created just to do mean things to for the purposes of comedy.
So if you know me, you find it much funnier than if you dont.
Because then you kind of see the wheels turning, if you will.
Yeah, they love it.
Is there a specific audience you imagine youre writing to?
Im only doing it to entertain myself.
So my audience is me, but the crowd can filter it out.
Ive gotta kinda have a best of both worlds thing.
Because there are some jokes that I think are amazing that I cannot get anyone to laugh at.
And I dont understand why, I just kind of have to move on.
Do you have one off the top of your head?
This one I liked: I thought I was a father once.
But then they did the blood test on the baby, and the baby died.
[Laughs]
You laughing, thats the biggest laugh that joke has ever gotten.
But to me, its so funny.
I love that joke.
But no one else likes it.
You famously did cancer jokes in front of cancer patients onThe Jeselnik Offensive.
Is there any other group of people youd like to do something similar with?
I mean, the transgender community I think would be amazing.
I think that would be a dream to get to have that kind of opportunity.
But other than that, right now, I dont know.
That would be amazing.
I would love to make a group of them laugh.
Why should people watchThoughts and Prayers?
If youre a comedy fan, its going to be something you havent seen.
Its going to push the envelope of what you believed comedy could be.
Im one of the best at it.
Its like an evolution of me as a performer.
If youre a fan of mine, you want to see this evolution and see where Im going.
I hope that people really respond to that.
Im very excited to see how people respond to it.
But you aregoingto have a response.
I think a lot of standup comedy, you just kind of let it wash over you.
But this will be visceral.
And I think if youre a comedy fan, its a must-see.
And if youre not a comedy fan, maybe skip it.
Maybe dont make a big deal out of it.
Thoughts and Prayersdebuts on Netflix Oct. 16.
