Comedian Dane Cook took the stage at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles Thursday night and joked about the massacre at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater less than a week after it happened.

The shootings left 12 dead and 59 hurt at a midnight screening of the new Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises."

"So I heard that the guy came into the theater about 25 minutes into the movie," Cook says in a clip on YouTube. "And I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie, but the movie is pretty much a piece of crap ... yeah, spoiler alert.

"And I know that if, ya know, none of that would have happened, I'm pretty sure that somebody in that theater, about 25 minutes in, realizing that it was a piece of crap, was probably like 'ugh, (expletive) shoot me,'" Cook said.

A mix of groans from the audience turned into laughter and cheers before the audio clip ends.

Some commenters on YouTube tear into Cook for joking about the incident so soon, if at all.

"What a hack. He's trying to legitimize himself by do edgy, 'dark"' stuff, but he doesn't have the goods. Stick to your frat boy-slaying crazy dude persona, Dane," writes ChillyCheezItz.

Others defend the comedian and his right to joke about what happened.

"In his defense he was talking about the movie sucking ... Find humor in pain. I love his comedy. Always have always will," says TheSteffeec.

Last week, Playboy model Tricia Evans beat Cook to the apparent punchline with a tweet on the same day as the shooting. "I hear the new Batman movie is really 'to die for!' Too soon?" she wrote. Deadmau5, the electronic dance musician, was among those who later blasted Evans in a tweet of his own. A debate over the merits of her comedy ensued and Playboy finally stepped in to make sure no one thought the magazine was writing her material.

Backlash over Cook's joke also comes on the heels of another comedian feeling the heat for what he said during a stand-up act. Daniel Tosh, of Comedy Central's "Tosh.O", apologized earlier this month after getting slammed for a rape joke directed at an audience member, also at the Laugh Factory.

Last summer, actor/comedian Tracy Morgan famously went to great lengths to calm the storm after joking about how he would "pull out a knife and stab" his son if he was gay.

Update, 5:53 p.m. ET: Cook issued an apology on his Twitter feed, saying that he regrets telling the joke.

"I am devastated by the recent tragedy in Colorado & did not mean to make light of what happened."

"I made a bad judgment call with my material last night & regret making a joke at such a sensitive time. My heart goes out to all of the families & friends of the victims."

What's your take on Cook's joke? Should some subjects be off limits? Is it just too soon, or should people lighten up? Discuss on Facebook.

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Ian White / Comedy Central

Daniel Tosh.

Comedian Daniel Tosh apologized Tuesday after getting slammed for making a female audience member the subject of a rape joke last Friday, and while many seem to be shaking their heads at the "Tosh.0" star, the Laugh Factory owner seems to be on his side.

"Comedians sometimes tell jokes and sometimes they can be off color. I think Daniel Tosh is one of the funniest comics alive. He is one of the most caring people I know. He had no intentions of hurting anyone," Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada tells E! News.

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"I understand where she is coming from, but Daniel Tosh did not attack this young lady. I feel bad for her and I apologize to her. If you are a member of the audience and you start dishing out something to a comic and try to be funny, you better be able to take it," he said.

If you're wondering what the heck happened to cause all this controversy, don't worry, we'll explain.

On Friday, Tosh was performing his standup skit and proceeded to say that rape jokes are always funny. A female audience member disagreed with that statement and then things got a little ugly.

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"After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, 'Wouldn't it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her...' and I, completely stunned and finding it hard to process what was happening but knowing I needed to get out of there, immediately nudged my friend, who was also completely stunned, and we high-tailed it out of there," the anonymous woman wrote on her Tumblr.

"It was humiliating, of course, especially as the audience guffawed in response to Tosh, their eyes following us as we made our way out of there. I didn't hear the rest of what he said about me."

RELATED: Tracy Morgan Apologizes for Gay Jokes, but Is It Enough?

Tosh then linked to the post and tweeted, "all the out of context misquotes aside, i'd like to sincerely apologize."

Masada told us that the woman complained to the manager and was offered a full refund, but chose to take two complimentary tickets to the club instead.

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Gus Ruelas / Reuters

Louis C.K.

Ticketmaster? Louis C.K. doesn't need no stinkin' Ticketmaster (or any ticket-selling site, for that matter). Not when he has his own website on which to sell tickets for his upcoming comedy tour. And after just two days, according to the stand-up star of FX's "Louie," his decision to forgo a ticket-selling middleman has paid off. 

"well. after 45 hours, my tour has sold 100K tickets, box office gross of 4.5 mil $ (not all mine). I guess it was a good idea," he tweeted Wednesday.

Prior to the tickets going on sale, C.K. wrote his mailing list and explained that he was tired of the fees and scalping that goes along with online ticket sales. Scalpers still bought his tickets when he charged less, and the sellers were still making nice commissions. So he decided to organize his own tour. He is paying the sales tax on each ticket, which means the cost to the fan is $45 everywhere, and he had to consider venues that were perhaps smaller or not on the same level as those that deal with online agencies.

The comedian is no stranger to forging his own professional path via the Internet: In 2011 he sold downloads of his "Live at the Beacon" special directly to fans through his site for $5, and made over $1 million in 12 days, much of which he's donating to charity, according to Entertainment Weekly. 

As he told EW, "I don't do this for money. To me, it's the number of tickets I sell that's satisfying. I like knowing we sold out Chicago in an hour. That's a good feeling. This year I'm going to have the lowest tickets on the road. I'm going to be the cheapest comedian ever!"

Are you going to see Louis C.K. on tour? What do you think of his ticket-selling strategy? Let us know on Facebook.

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Playing a fake news reporter, comic Dan Hodapp interviews an unsuspecting New Yorker in Washington Square Park,

Proving not only that people will believe anything a reporter says, but also that a lot of folks don’t pay much attention to current events, one fake journalist has fooled New Yorkers into buying some pretty fanciful stories.

“Kim Kardashian has announced her candidacy for the California State Senate, what do you think about that?” supposed reporter Mike Holland, played by comic Dan Hodapp, asks one man.

The man, surprisingly, retorts, “I’d vote for her if I was in California.”

Holland later informs another man that President Obama has “fired the U.S. Senate,” and asks for thoughts on the matter.

“Actually, I hadn’t even heard that, embarrassingly enough,” the guy responds.

The show, titled “Fake News Prank,” is part of a larger series known as “Prank News Network” on humor site Jest.com. According to editor-in-chief Jeff Rubin, his team came up with the idea to dupe uninformed New Yorkers  when they saw how little people actually knew about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

"During one of our writing meetings, we were discussing how most people probably have a strong opinion on Occupy Wall Street, even if they've lost track of the story and no longer know what's actually going on,” Rubin told msnbc.com. “That seemed inherently funny to us. We talked it through for a while, and ultimately ended up with the idea of asking people for their opinions on stories that they couldn't possibly know anything about -- because they were fake -- and seeing how they responded."

Subjects on the show range from pop culture nonsense like the Vatican granting football quarterback Tim Tebow sainthood to faux breaking news that Germany invaded Poland. Rubin says a few people were initially skeptical, but became convinced by Holland’s straightforward demeanor.

As evidenced in the final cut, people fall for the fake news often. Some targets even pretended that they were previously up to speed on the invented situations.

“The Germany and Poland thing is still pretty fresh,” a young woman observes. “I guess we’re going to see how it rides out.”

Rubin says the show isn’t intended to be a criticism of the media, though he realizes people might interpret it that way. More so, it’s an aim to create original and imaginative online entertainment that relates to viewers and the issues being discussed in the social community. The videos provide a quick and witty spin on daily news, and are often produced in less than a day’s time.

“That's about how long you have before people have moved on from that story and onto something else,” Rubin added. "There are so many choices for online entertainment that it's not enough to just be funny, you also have to make sure that your content has a point of view that people relate to and will want to share with friends.”

Would you be fooled? Tell us on Facebook.

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Hollywood glitterati met Washington elites at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday, and the joke was certainly on the night’s guests. Both President Barack Obama and featured comic Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at each other and their audience, with the lasting gag of the night being a bizarre quip on eating dogs.

"Last week we learned that the president's two favorite steaks are rib-eye and seeing-eye," Kimmel remarked during his half-hour stint. It was a pun made in reference to the revelation that Obama ate dog meat as a child in Indonesia.

Obama also took cracks at himself and the dog-eating story.

"What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?" he asked. "A pit bull is delicious."

Deemed the “chaperone” of the evening by the president, Kimmel began his act with a special edition of “This Week in Unnecessary Censorship,” a weekly parody used on his late-night talk show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Following the video montage, the comedian entertained the audience with jokes about the Secret Service, Newt Gingrich and, of course, Kim Kardashian.

On the reality star, the comedian pointed to her table and said, "If you're looking for the greatest threat to America right now, she's right there. She's Kim Kardashian. When (Obama) took office, the Kardashians had one reality show. Now they have four. This is not a good trend."

Kimmel didn’t let anyone off the hook, including the Commander-in-Chief, mocking Obama’s large ears, comparing his thin frame to the Kenyan winner of the Boston Marathon and highlighting some of the struggles he has faced during his years in the Oval Office.

Slideshow: Stars at the 98th White House Dinner

Nicholas Kamm / AFP - Getty Images

Launch slideshow

"Hey, Mr. President, do you remember when the country rallied around you in hopes for a better tomorrow?" the comedian asked. "That was hilarious."

Kimmel also took a stab at Republican governor Chris Christie of New Jersey: "You might be misunderstanding the New Jersey state slogan. It's not the 'Olive' Garden State."

Additionally, the comic commented on the death of the printed word, a jest that didn’t earn so many laughs from journalists in the room, though Obama’s own quips on the Huffington Post’s Pulitzer Prize earned a rousing response from the audience. The president, who did the introductory routine before Kimmel, played upon the website’s achievement.

Congratulating Huffington Post, Obama said, “There’s no one out there linking to the kinds of hard-hitting journalism that HuffPo is linking to every single day. And you don’t pay them -- it’s a great business model!”

The president ended his routine commenting that while he did have more material, there simply was no time to use it. “I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew,” he joked.

Originally a fanfare for journalists and politicians, in recent years, the WHCD has become more a celebrity-infused night of revelry, hosted each year by a popular comedian. Saturday’s event was attended by the likes of George Clooney, Goldie Hawn, Reese Witherspoon and the cast of “Modern Family” joining the nation’s journalists in a night of eating, networking and poking fun at, well, everyone.

Did you watch the festivities? What did you think of the jokes? Tell us on our Facebook page.

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TODAY

Just days after being released from treatment following a heart attack and a medically induced coma, comedian Gallagher suffered a second heart attack Sunday.

His rep confirms to E! News that the 65-year-old funnyman is now awake and resting in an Arizona hospital.

READ: Gallagher released from hospital after heart attack

The sledgehammer-wielding comedian was not feeling well Sunday and was taken by his son to the hospital. While there, he suffered a second heart attack.

"He had another minor heart attack today, but is resting well in a Sedona hospital," his spokeswoman tells E! News. "He was trying to gets a refill today, but nevertheless he is with family doing OK."

His family and friends are hoping he takes it easy and gets some rest, but apparently, the comic doesn't like the sound of that.

"Gallagher doesn't like people telling him what to do, but he just needs to rest," his rep continues. "We're just praying he'll listen."

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The inventor of the Sledge-o-Matic has hinted that he'll soon give up touring, recently saying, "I'm sick and tired of it." However, he doesn't plan on retiring from show business completely. This change would provide the comedian some much needed R&R and allow him to focus on his other passions: screenwriting, creating graphic novels and other projects that don't require such taxing travel schedules.

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