For as long as there has been entertainment, there has been discussion over whether or not certain topics should be addressed, or even included, in entertainment. Oftentimes, making anything less than a reverential comment on a sensitive topic may be frowned upon. If one were to make light of a recent tragedy, one can be expected to be confronted with cries of “too soon” or “inappropriate.” That is fair enough. One’s taste in entertainment is entirely a subjective matter, as is one’s tolerance for offensive or off-color jokes. The question that should be addressed, however, is whether or not it is healthy to limit one’s psyche to only entertainment that feels safe and wholesome. If one of the purposes of art is to challenge one’s way of thinking, then isn’t it counterintuitive to only soak in art that reinforces one’s current way of thinking? This is the topic that will be explored in this essay. There is no line to be crossed, therefore, it is impossible to cross the line.  
In the 2016 documentary Can We Take A Joke?,  Richard Pryor states that a comedian’s only rule is, “You can say anything that comes to mind so long as it’s funny.” It is, after all, a comedian’s job to make people laugh. The problem lies in the fact that a person’s idea of what is funny tends to vary wildly from one person to the next. Comedy films are similar to horror films in that way. They both elicit intense, involuntary emotional reactions from the audience, and what one person finds scary, another person may find cheap or boring. However, the stand-up comedian has one tool at his or her disposal that a comedy film does not. That tool is conversation with the audience. Without that conversation, the stand-up comedian is doing virtually nothing on stage. Without conversation, the comedian is unable to make any sort of point. The comedian is reliant on the audience’s attention and, in some cases, participation in what is happening on stage. A good comedian commands and keeps that attention by eliciting intense, involuntary emotional reactions. In other words, the comedian elicits laughter. Once the audience is relaxed with laughter and the mental defenses are down, this is when the comedian can attempt to insert some wisdom. For this reason, comedians can be thought of as modern-day philosophers.  
It should be noted, that this skill is not displayed by all comedians. There are those who may be described as shock-comedians. These comedians toss out sensitive or offensive words just to get a quick reaction, and it works for a moment. Saying these things does get the audience’s attention, for better or worse, but if the comedian doesn’t have anything of substance to say on the topic, then the audience’s earned attention will surely waver. It takes a real master of the craft to be simultaneously funny and poignant.  
Amy Alpine’s article, Comedy Therapy: Laughter Is The Best Medicine, talks of neuropathways, or “literal ruts in our brains which make it easy for us to fall into a pattern of behavior.” These ruts can cause people to become stuck in a certain way of thinking, making it difficult for one to see a situation from someone else’s point of view. Alpine continues, stating that “When people laugh it changes the experience … Pleasing chemicals are released into the brain such as Dopamine.” When this happens, the mind is relaxed and becomes more receptive to controversial or opposing ideas.  
