When it comes to war, we focus more on the mainstream coverage of the event, rather than the event itself. People dying is never funny. Protest puppets are always funny.

Rocca contrasts the gravity of war’s human cost with the way audiences often consume war through the lens of media narratives—anchors, graphics, punditry, and the “coverage” as a spectacle. The line “People dying is never funny” draws a firm ethical boundary, while the pivot to “Protest puppets are always funny” points to satire’s reliance on symbolic, non-lethal targets: absurd props, pageantry, and the performative side of political dissent. The quote suggests that comedy can critique war culture indirectly by mocking the mediated rituals around it, rather than trivializing suffering. It also implies a public tendency to process distant violence via images and commentary, which satire can expose.