The death of Fred Phelps was a chance to meet hate with compassion. As the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., Phelps upset lots of people for many years with such stunts as picketing soldier’s funerals with signs saying “God hates fags” – compounding the offensiveness of the sentiment with the offensiveness of inflicting a hateful message as an utter non-sequitur. He might as well have picketed about the quality of fast food beef at the Pentagon.

So Phelps’ death is a good time for people to show how much better they are than him and his stupid church, as fans of the singer Lorde did when they answered hateful Westboro Baptist signs with their own saying “Sorry for your loss.” (To which a church member sadly but hilariously replied, “I don’t even know what they’re saying.”)

To comedians, though, it’s like any other tragic event: A chance to see if there’s anything funny to say.

Niraj Shah, a Cantabrigian and regular at clubs such as The Comedy Studio in Harvard Square and ImprovBoston in Central Square (his website and calendar are here), had a try early in the news cycle:

John Tullar, a Somerville comedian, summed it up for lots of people:

Lots of news has upsides and downsides, even the simple news that Friday was the vernal equinox:

https://twitter.com/TeamSeanCrowley/status/446764314666737664

Jenny Zigrino, a standup comic and vintage clothing hoarder (her website is here) has even bigger things on her mind:

And how are things with Kevin Seefried, an Allston comedian and open-mic host attending his senior year at Boston’s Emerson College, and his self-esteem?

https://twitter.com/KSeefried/status/445561132422799360

And now a last deep thought for the day from Dan Crohn, a Boston comedian whose website is here:

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