You can make fun with Saddam Hussein jokes ... but you can't make fun of, say, the concentration camps. I think my target was not so much evil, but benign stupidity people doing stupid things without realising or, instead, thinking they were doing good.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the difference between making light of serious issues and poking fun at benign ignorance.
Tom Lehrer expresses that while humor can be directed at figures like Saddam Hussein, some topics, such as concentration camps, are too grave for jokes. His intent was to criticize the foolishness of individuals who act without awareness of the true consequences of their actions, even if they believe they are doing good.
In practice
In a comedy club, a comedian might use this quote to highlight the absurdity of certain political situations.
All books can be indecent books, though recent books are bolder._x000D_ _x000D_ For filth, I'm glad to say, is in the mind of the beholder._x000D_ _x000D_ When correctly viewed, everything is lewd._x000D_ _x000D_ I could tell you things about Peter Pan_x000D_ _x000D_ and the Wizard of OZ, there's a dirty old man!
Political satire became obsolete when they awarded Henry Kissinger the Nobel Peace Prize.
But in the new (math) approach, the important thing is to understand what you're doing, rather than to get the right answer.
You can't be satirical and not be offensive to somebody.
In my youth there were words you couldn't say in front of a girl; now you can't say 'girl.'
This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.
Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.
My first words, as I was being born [...] I looked up at my mother and said, 'that's the last time I'm going up one of those.
People say satire is dead. It's not dead; it's alive and living in the White House.
If my mother hadn't laughed at the funny things I did, I probably wouldn't be a comic actor. After she had her first heart attack, the doctor said, 'Try to make her laugh.' And that was the first time I tried to make anyone laugh.
In the words of the philosopher Sceptum, the founder of my profession: am I going to get paid for this?
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