TV

Too Soon? SNL and Daily Show alums look back on how comedy came back after 9/11

Comedians David Cross, Sarah Silverman, Marc Maron, Cedric the Entertainer, Aasif Mandvi, Nathan Lane, and more also reflect on making jokes after the attacks in Too Soon: Comedy After 9/11.

By Jolie Lash

Published on August 25, 2021 11:00AM EDT

There are several documentaries looking back on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, but a new documentary are looking back through a different lens — the comedy world.

Many thought comedy unfathomable following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. But shows like Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and late-night hosts were among those who found a way to bring comfort and laughter to a shocked and grieving nation.

In Too Soon: Comedy After 9/11, from Pulse Films, VICE TV, Hazy Mills Productions, and directors Nick Fituri Scown and Julie Seabaugh, comedians look back at how they processed the tragedy of the attacks, and attempted to find comedy's role and place in the days, weeks, and months after.

"A comedian's natural response is to try to find humor even in the darkest of situations," Nathan Lane reflects in EW's exclusive sneak peek at the film's trailer (above).

"How do you make a joke ever again now?" wonders Gilbert Gottfried.

The documentary also features Michael Schur, Chris Kattan, and Dean Edwards, who all worked at SNL at the time of the attacks, as well as David Cross, Marc Maron, Cedric the Entertainer, Sarah Silverman, former Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi, Janeane Garofalo, Matthew Broderick, Rob Riggle, Lewis Black, Doug Stanhope, Jimmy Carr, Russell Peters, among others.

Executive producers for Pulse Films are Dan Baglio, Thomas Benski, and Marisa Clifford, with Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner as executive producers for Hazy Mills Productions.

Too Soon: Comedy After 9/11 airs Wednesday, Sept. 8 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on VICE TV. It will also have a commemorative screening at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, as part of the Dances With Films Festival, on Sept. 11 at 2:30 p.m. PT.

Watch the trailer above.

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