LAST LAUGHS.When journalist Judith Miller was behind bars, the Laugh Factory on Eighth Avenue got serious and put this message on its marquee. Then, after comedian and Wiz survivor Nipsey Russell passed away, this went up:



















I can't argue with the sentiment, but where's the funny? Don't you think a place called the Laugh Factory ought to be manufacturing better material, even when confronting the death of the man credited (by AP) with the following verse?

The opposite of pro is con
That fact is clearly seen
If progress means move forward
Then what does Congress mean?

So feel free to take a shot at memorializing Nipsey in verse. ("Roses are red" poems are acceptable!) Here's a try:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Nipsey's not dead,
So the joke is on you.

Need inspiration? Watch this video to see how the Monty Python gang jeers the Reaper.

Photo: David Marc Fischer