October 30 2006

Steve Irwin Jokes: Too Soon or Just Enough?

Filed Under Animation, Jokes

Last week’s episode of South Park featured a costume party for Satan featuring the attendance by the recently deceased Steve Irwin. Naturally this caused a small amount of press, but what’s not mentioned in the story is the joke is all about whether a Steve Irwin costume is “too soon.” Satan actually goes to tell the guy that a Steve Irwin costume is not cool since it’s a little soon, but it turns out to be, in fact, Steve Irwin. I can see where it offends people, but I think this is a very clever commentary on the inevitable “bad taste” Halloween costumes that we see every year.

Here’s the actual clip from the episode:

Comedians naturally have a smaller “time” on the “tragedy+time=comedy” equation, another example being Bill Maher, who actually wore a Steve Irwin costume to a party recently. The two sides of the argument probably go like this: “It’s only been a month!” and “It’s been a month!” I’m not really sure either is wrong. What do you think?

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Comments

Posted by Jack on 10/31  at  12:24 AM

Said it before, and I’ll say it again, yet another nontroversy dug up by a self-proclaimed media “watchdog” group or other such self-appointed arbiter of taste.

As far as seeing if something offends people goes, I’m pretty confident that anything will offend anyone.  And who cares? 

It amazes me that despite the fact there are more media choices nowadays than there have ever been before, yet somehow one small joke on one show can stir—or attempt to stir—the pot of “drama” and “controversy” with things like this.

Can’t these “watchdogs” just watch Internet porn in their sad little cubicles and call it a day?

Posted by Michael on 10/31  at  10:20 PM

Too soon? It only took 3 days in the company of the folks I hang out with.

Posted by Ben on 11/02  at  05:00 PM

Comedy will always offend someone. The problem with this country is we put too much importance on the someone. Being offended is a natural part of having a point of view, yet it’s treated as some sort of infringement on civil liberties. It’s just a joke, if you don’t like it… don’t like it.

Posted by None Such User on 05/05  at  11:55 PM

The man antagonized dangerous animals for a living in a manner deemed reckless even by his colleagues in the field (another example of a Southpark episode being either ahead of its time or right on time). I laughed WHEN he died. Why? Because a stingray got to be a stingray for once and not just some scared shitless kidnapping victim paraded around for everyone’s amusement. Hell, the whole reason people watched the show was to see how hilariously stupid Irwin could be in potentially life-threatening situations. When I heard the news, I belched out a besmirked “dumbass” the way Beavis and Butthead would. Huh-huh-huh. Then again, I thought the manifesto pictures of the Virginia Tech shooter were hilarious despite their deeply disturbing context, so maybe I’m a bit of cold, mean-spirited person. The joke in question was not. In fact, the whole skit is intrinsically aware of how sensitive people were/are to Irwin’s death. Yet, with the typical self-righteousness people vomit up in times of perceived tragedy, they can’t see how much Stone and Parker cushioned the blow to accomodate their feelings. For anyone who was offended by this joke, I prescribe my father’s favorite cure-all for everything (including the two seperate cases of Scarlet Fever I suffered while under his care)...

WALK IT OFF!

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