It's hard to make a good joke about a nauseatingly terrible thing.
I know laughter can be cathartic. I swear, I do. I have laughed at jokes about national tragedies or terrible shit that's happened in my own life because honestly, at some point you just have to take a big breath, step back and laugh your ass off at the more ludicrous aspect of things. But sometimes it just seems that it's hard for some people to do that without sailing over the line and leaving a wake of collateral damage in their path. Yeah, you can say it's just "BECAUSE COMEDY." Or, you can put on your Big Boy pants and try to write some jokes that involve that a little more thought and effort.
That's what Conan O'Brien and his staff managed to do on Wednesday night. Prince getting caught at JC Penney's trying on chino pants is going to forever be my mantra during terrible moments of crisis. Watch the clip below (and BTW, this isn't the show's first brilliant takedown of the bullshit surrounding this story either.)
Image via Conan O'Brien/TBS.