Inside the 1st Amendment: Don't make me laugh, you might get sued

[BridgeTheGap]

What is it about humor that all too often results in situations that decidedly are not a laughing matter?

Free speech in comedy attracts controversy as well as belly laughs, and in the case of two “South Park” television episodes this season that attempted to feature the Prophet Muhammad, even death threats.

A quick review of this ironic “laugh track”: Lenny Bruce's run-ins with local police over his language in the 1950s and '60s; CBS' 1969 cancellation of the Smothers Brothers TV show, with its biting political satire against Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon; George Carlin's “seven dirty words” stand-up routine that wound up at the heart of a landmark 1978 Supreme Court case; and the post-9/11 flap over Bill Maher's wise-guy observation about terrorists and courage.

Recently there have been not-so-veiled warnings to “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone over episodes featuring Islam's most-revered figure. And just the other day a comedian successfully thwarted a lawsuit filed by members of her own family over jokes she used onstage about them.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100518/OPINION04/5180303/1054/OPINION/Gene+Policinski+|+Inside+the+1st+Amendment++Don+t+make+me+laugh++you+might+get+sued

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Something about being islam being stuck in the dark ages?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

2. Laugh In

The TV show Laugh In was another that fit in that category.