I think that people in comedy should have the freedom to cross those lines and be offensive. Not to say that everyone should appreciate it, or that the material itself is even going to be funny enough to be appreciated, but I feel like comedians should have the ability to go "too far" if they want to. A lot of humor is saying what other people aren't willing to say, and kind of calling out the strangeness of life, and I guess sometimes that becomes controversial. It mainly bothers me when a joke is made offensive just for the sake of being offensive... that doesn't mean it's going to be funny.

One stand-up guy who was never controversial in his material (that I know of), but who makes me laugh more than anyone else I've ever seen in stand-up, is Mitch Hedberg: