RIP: Gilbert Gottfried, iconic comedian, dies at 67 after long illness.

Flashback: Gilbert Gottfried on His Infamous 9/11 Joke and ‘Too Soon.’

You can do jokes about the Lincoln assassination and the Titanic, and no one says anything because everyone involved is dead, and their grandchildren are dead. I actually think that’s in worse taste. You’re saying, “Screw all those people who died, I waited for it to become unimportant to us.” When I do a joke about September 11, or the Japanese tsunami, what’s funny is that it shocks the audience. They are responding to the fact that it’s tragic, and you’re acknowledging it.

With the Challenger explosion, or any other tragic event pre-internet, there were always a bunch of jokes that would come out immediately. Everyone was in a rush to tell their friends, everyone was laughing about it, and it was okay. Now, with the internet, it makes me feel sentimental about old-time angry mobs. In a mob you actually had to throw on your jacket, go outside, use your hands. Now you can join a mob sitting on your couch in your underwear. I feel like people who get outraged like that are patting themselves on the back. “You see, I was offended.”

Read the whole thing — the punch line is a riot.