When you tell it. If everyone looks at you and says, “Too soon Dude!” Boo! or they say, “LOL!”

It’s rather is the joke too late or not. Jokes about current events have to be topical or they are no good.

Me. I make the decision. (looks at watch) Okay, you can make jokes…. now!

</silly>

So to me, if a current event is non-tragic, even if it’s uncomfortable, you should be able to joke about it immediately. If it’s tragic, then to me it’s less about time frame than HOW you do it. Humor can be part of the healing process and I think out tendency to rule out difficult topics is counterproductive actually. But the joke teller needs to frame the joke carefully…but that need doesn’t change too substantially with time. A holocaust joke isn’t inappropriate because of time…but even today, you’d better frame it right.

How many laughs the joke gets shows whether it’s relevant or not.

Your audience.