How can anything be funny today?

Imagine being a comedy writer, being in the writers’ room along with the rest of the staff, rewriting a script that will be filmed tomorrow, and you get word of the Boston explosions.

Try being funny after that.

That’s what numerous rooms all over town faced yesterday in the wake of that senseless cowardice attack.

If it was not imperative that the script had to be finished that afternoon, I suspect most staffs adjourned for the day.

And if the script was to be filmed today, the showrunner explored pushing it a day. How much would that cost and would the studio okay it?

In some cases, as incredible as it may seem, the writers had no choice but to go right back to work.

And they had to produce. They had to be funny.

Even the writers who were able to take part of yesterday off are back at it today. How funny do you feel 24 hours after the tragedy?

This is the hardest part of this job. There are times when the last thing in the world you want to do is come up with jokes. And all of a sudden, the script you’re writing seems incredibly trivial. Still, you’re expected to not only deliver on demand but at the highest level. No one is going to give you a break in late May when the episode airs because the restaurant scene was written during Boston.

Television comedy writers are sometimes maligned for having easy jobs. We just hang out, crack jokes, and get well-paid. We also have to be funny when we’re sick and funny when we’re heartsick. I don't point this out to seem valiant.  It sucks!

Trust me, we feel like shit having to produce comedy on a day like yesterday or even today. We feel like ghouls. We all see the sick irony in what we’re being asked to do. But we do it the best we can.

And then we  all go to therapy.

My deepest condolences and sincerest prayers to the victims of yesterday’s unconscionable catastrophe.