Comedian Steve Rannazzisi is in the midst of his 7th seasons starring on the popular TV show,“The League;” he has a one-hour special coming up on Comedy Central, and is increasingly in demand for commercial endorsements. How did he distinguish himself among the large pack of similarly young, edgy stand-up comics? Well, he’s good—but them a lot of them are good. He is, however, the only one who has a harrowing tale of being a survivor of the 9/11/2001 Twin Towers attack. For more than a decade he has been telling interviewers about his narrow escape, how he was working at Merrill Lynch’s offices on the 54th floor of the South Tower when the first plane struck the North Tower, and how he rushed  out of the building and into the street just before the second hijacked  plane slammed into the tower he just left. That was an epiphanal moment for Rannazzisi, he has said, and realizing that every second of life was precious and that he was saved for something more important than pushing paper, Rannazzisi quit his conventional day job to pursue a career as a comic.

That back story made Rannazzisi seem uniquely human, appealing, and on a mission. It wouldn’t have boosted his career if he didn’t have the talent to capitalize on it, but he did. To some extent, all of his success has been built on the foundation of the Twin Towers’ fall, so his fans and employers have a dilemma to face: he was lying. The New York Times checked out his account, and determined that the comedian had been working in Midtown on 9-11, never was employed by Merrill Lynch (which had no offices in either tower), and has been lying all these years. This week, Rannazzisi confessed and apologized, saying in part,

“I was not at the Trade Center on that day. I don’t know why I said this. This was inexcusable. I am truly, truly sorry….For many years, more than anything.I have wished that, with silence, I could somehow erase a story told by an immature young man. It only made me more ashamed. How could I tell my children to be honest when I hadn’t come clean about this? It was profoundly disrespectful to those who perished and those who lost loved ones. The stupidity and guilt I have felt for many years has not abated. It was an early taste of having a public persona, and I made a terrible mistake. All I can ask is for forgiveness.”

(Excellent apology: Level One on the Apology Scale.)

Now what?

I think some compassion and understanding is fair here. The scenario where a false story concocted on a whim metastasizes into a life-long ruse is old, common, and human. “Oh what a tangled web weave…” did not spring from speculation. In almost all such cases, the fabulist can’t figure out how to leave the galloping lie behind without suffering consequences that become more serious by the day. Of course, an obvious first step to redemption is to stop telling the fake story, and this, despite Rannazzisi’s statement that he “wished that, with silence, I could somehow erase” his initial falsehood, he did not do.  The Times points out that…

“…a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Rannazzisi was still relating a harrowing experience. In a 2011 interview on the podcast “Sklarbro Country,” Mr. Rannazzisi said that he had gotten a good severance package from Merrill Lynch and that he clearly understood that Sept. 11 was a sensitive topic. “I’ve spoken about it before,” he said. “I just don’t ever want to feel like, anyone, I am cashing in or anything like that.”

He was, it seems, like a junkie, hooked on his own invention, and despite guilt and self-loathing, unable to mount the courage and strength to give it up.

Where is the line where a comedian’s conduct is so despicable and depraved that he can no longer be funny? I’m not certain. For thinking people with a modicum of decency, I would say Bill Cosby has charged over it. Woody Allen has as well, though the waters there are a bit muddier. I used to find Bill Maher funny on occasion before he started calling women he didn’t agree with “twats.” As talented as he is, Alec Baldwin’s boorishness and obnoxious statements make it impossible for me to appreciate his talents at this point: I will laugh at toxic assholes like Baldwin, but not with them.

Yet most comics have flawed character, and a disturbing number are sociopaths.  Most have also been expert at keeping their dark sides hidden from public view, though that challenge is harder now than ever before. If a comedian’s talent is blazing enough, I am going to laugh even if I know that behind closed doors the guy was a freak, a bastard, a fool or a monster: Chaplin, Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Peter Sellers, John Belushi, Groucho Marx, Richard Pryor, Johnny Carson…it’s a depressingly long list.

The Times quotes a friend of Rannazzisi’s who defends him by saying that it’s not as if he’s a politician. That’s right: we don’t have to trust comedians and actors, we just have to be able to laugh at them. It’s easy to forgive Rannazzisi, I think. He didn’t hurt or betray anyone, like Cosby and Allen, and unlike them, he has acknowledged his wrongdoing. His credibility is damaged, probably beyond repair: Buffalo Wild Wings, which has employed him as a spokesman, said that it was “disappointed to learn of Steve’s misrepresentations regarding the events of September 11, 2001,” and was “re-evaluating our relationship with Steve pending a review of all the facts.” I’d bet that he loses that gig, and any future income that depends on his being believed is probably gone for good.

If Steve Rannazzisi can still make people laugh, however, he’ll overcome his shameful decade of lying. It depends on whether his talent is, in the end, more impressive than the lie was repugnant.

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Facts: New York Times