Why Gas Chambers are Hilarious
‘Veteran Hollywood comedian Mel Brooks has said he can find comedy in almost everything, but that he would never use “gas chambers” or the death of the Jews in the Second World War for humour.
The producer and director, known for his plethora of acclaimed comedy movies, added he believes “we have become stupidly politically correct” as a society.
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Brooks told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme when asked if there was anything he would not parody: “I personally would never touch gas chambers or the death of children or Jews at the hands of the Nazis.
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“We have become stupidly politically correct, which is the death of comedy,” Brooks said.
“It’s not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks.’ (1)
The problem with this is of course that humour is inherently transgressive and subversive. The idea that there are things that you can and cannot laugh at unless you wish to be awoken by the police smashing in your door is one that is inherently at odds with what comedy is all about.
The simple fact of the matter is that the ‘Holocaust’ is funny in and of itself. You have the claims of blood spurting out of the ground at Babi Yar, the Holocoaster, Masturbation machines and even a Pedal-Powered Brain-Bashing machine.
Yet it is more than just that; the idea that you cannot make fun of shoving jews into gas chambers and ovens actually renders it more funny not less. Since humour is transgressive and subversive in nature, because that is what people find funny within a social context. Comedy says that which cannot be said in such a way that it is difficult to clamp down on and offers an outlet from the rest of a life walking on eggshells around such sacred cows as the ‘Holocaust’.
That is why gas chambers are not only funny; they are absolutely hilarious.
References
(1) http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/mel-brooks-gas-chambers-everything-fine-for-comedy/