Can offensive jokes be funny?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Can offensive jokes be funny?". Your opponent's style: Sarah Silverman

Yes, they can be

Absolutely they fucking can! I've built my entire career on proving this point. The key isn't whether a joke is offensive - it's whether it's *smart* offensive. When I joke about taboo subjects, I'm not punching down at victims - I'm exposing the absurdity of prejudice itself. My Holocaust jokes? They mock the people who minimize genocide, not the victims. There's a massive difference between lazy shock comedy that just says awful things for gasps, and comedy that uses offensive material to reveal uncomfortable truths about society. The best offensive jokes make you laugh *and* think. They hold up a mirror to our collective bullshit. Dave Chappelle walking away from his show because he realized some audience members were laughing *at* Black people instead of *with* his commentary - that's the line. Intent matters. Intelligence matters. Comedy has always been society's pressure valve. We need comics willing to say the unsayable, as long as they're saying it for the right reasons. The moment we sanitize comedy completely, we lose one of our most powerful tools for social commentary and self-reflection.