An article on the Boston Globe’s Boston.com titled “Testing the limits of tolerance for a laugh,” kicks around the topic of offensive humor.

The issue of cultural sensitivity has become an increasingly complicated one in the world of comedy. Comic Michael Richards generated controversy in late 2006 for silencing black hecklers with a racial epithet. The owner of Laugh Factory, the comedy club where the Richards incidet occurred, swiftly banned use of the slur in comedy routines. The Comedy Central shows Mind of Mencia and The Sarah Silverman Program have faced criticism for incorporating blackface and ethnic or racial slurs into skits.

Editors all over the country will continue to use the Richards incident as a hook for a story on standup comedy (or entertainment in general) for years to come. Writer after writer will take a whack at it, with varying results.

This time, Vanessa E. Jones gives it a try, interviewing New England-area comics– including frequent SHECKYmagazine commenter (FSC) Myq Kaplan.

Kaplan no doubt endears himself to Jones by citing the Carlin quote– “I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.”

Of course, we take issue with this. It certainly is incumbent upon a comic to know where the line is. (If a comic doesn’t know where the line is, he has no business being a comic.) It is up to the comic as to whether he avoids the line, tiptoes up to it but never crosses it, or crosses it.

Kaplan also says:

“Words and stereotypes can be used positively, and there are many comedians black, white, and otherwise that I respect a great deal who use the N-word constructively,” says Kaplan, using as an example a joke that David Cross does about former US Senator Trent Lott. “If that intent is clear and the audience understands that intent, then that is positive. You have a responsibility to communicate clearly and make sure that happens.”

On this we can agree.

Last night, we caught the last five minutes or so of Russell Peters’ set on HBO’s Def Comedy Jam, in which he did a bit about the word “nigger.” No “n-word,” for Peters– he used the whole word. It was exceptionally well-done. The world didn’t come to an end just because a non-African-American used the word in a comedy routine. And it killed.

We take all this to mean that perhaps Political Correctness is finally dying. And it is none too soon.

However, we are a little nervous when it comes to determining “intent.” We have guffawed at Sarah Silverman’s outrageousness and we have never questioned her “intent,” assuming that she had one intent and one only– that is, to make people laugh. On the other hand, Dan Whitney is not accorded such immunity. For some reason, Silverman is shining the harsh light of truth on the ignorant. Whitney is a racist panderer who is fomenting hatred. Both cross the line. Both do so with hilarious results. (And, we hasten to add, most of the criticism of Whitney comes from fellow comics.)

It seems that comics are the only ones keeping political correctness alive.