There is humor in the specter of the worst disaster in our nation’s history. All I have to do is sweep away the debris of shock to find it.

Durst frames humor as something that can coexist with catastrophe, but only after an initial period of stunned grief. The “debris of shock” suggests that tragedy leaves emotional wreckage that must be cleared before comic perspective is possible. The line also hints at a comedian’s professional compulsion: even the “worst disaster” becomes material once the mind can process it. Rather than trivializing suffering, the quote can be read as describing gallows humor as a coping mechanism and as a way to restore agency—finding a human, even absurd, angle amid events that otherwise feel overwhelming and unspeakable.