Brooke Shields balks at ‘dead’ gag

Brooke Shields can’t take a joke — at least, when it comes to gags about a slew of recently deceased celebrities.

The “Lipstick Jungle” star dropped in at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade theater over the weekend to be a panelist during a 72-hour marathon of improv comedy sketches, but “freaked out” when some jokes turned crass, says a spy.

“Everything was going great until three comics came out, each playing” a dead star, said the eyewitness. “One was playing Heath Ledger as the Joker, and he just kept listing prescription pills he had in his pocket. Another was playing Estelle Getty, and the third was Bernie Mac’s ghost.”

That’s when Shields’ smile faded. “She was so freaked out, her eyes welled up, and she actually bit her nails at one point,” says the spy. “When someone pretended to dump Estelle Getty’s ashes on [”30 Rock” star] Jack McBrayer’s head, Brooke got up and walked offstage. She watched the rest of the show from behind a curtain backstage, with a grimace.”

Shields’ spokesman said she left to talk to the writers before she was about to go on.

Not all the evening’s performers found humor in the unsavory topic. Comic Seth Morris started to make a Mac joke, but was quickly put in his place by “The Office” star Ed Helms, who was manning a puppet from behind a table. “Ed cut him off quickly and said, ‘I’d love to see how you’re going to make this funny,’ with his puppet,” says the spy. “It stopped Seth right in his tracks.”

(source)