Hearing aids

What made the routine special, Nation's Newspaper of Record?

Because of a transcription error, an interview with the comedian Jim Norton on Page 36 of the special “Lives They Lived” issue this weekend quotes incorrectly from his comments about Joan Rivers. In discussing a Rivers comedy routine, he said in part, “It was AIDS jokes” — not “age” jokes.
 
Here's the paragraph in question, if you're wondering whether there should or shouldn't have been enough social-cultural context to raise the flag:

I went and saw her at the Cutting Room here in the city. And it’s the only time I ever watched her perform live. A hundred people was all it sat; it was a small room, and she’d work on her material. She had a few notes on the floor, just bouncing around ideas. And — I’ve said this before she died — it’s the most barbaric set I have ever seen a comedian do. And I mean more than Pryor, more than Kinison. It was AIDS jokes, it was 9/11, and I mean really, really harsh jokes. I loved her so much for that. There was not one moment when you watched her where it’s like, Oh, she feels bad about this. It was so pure.