If the United States were a comedy club, it would be as if everybody's aunt died right in the middle of the show. Two weeks ago, comedians didn't think anyone ever would be in the mood for comedy again. But in fact, recent audiences have been weirdly good.

"The laughs were hard laughs," Andrew Scarpati said about recent crowd reactions at a Comedy Cabaret in Philadelphia, part of a chain of nightclubs that he owns. "People really, really wanted to laugh. It was almost a ravenous laugh."

Same thing in New York City, when comedian Marc Maron took the stage on the first Saturday after the attack. People laughed wildly, and at all the wrong places, Maron said – laughter that would explode, then vanish abruptly. "It's like they were barely listening," he said.

And Comedy Central's ratings for Sept. 10 through Sept. 16 skyrocketed. Prime-time viewing by people age 18 to 49 jumped by 23 percent, though ratings at all other major entertainment-oriented cable networks sank. Overall viewership at MTV and VH1 was snipped in half.

Comedy writers, however, are searching for a direction. America, and therefore what Americans laugh at, has changed profoundly over the last couple of weeks into God-knows-what. The country may be heading for a very earnest but dark kind of humor – with an edge not possible for anyone who hasn't lived through a war.

For now, though, everyone is starting from square one.

"What was funny before Tuesday (Sept. 11) just won't play anymore," said Dick Blasucci, executive producer at "Mad TV."

Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" faces the same problem. "We know not to step over the line," said Paul Mercurio, a veteran writer on the show. "But no one knows where the line is."

So the initial instinct is to play it safe. "Mad TV," Blasucci said, may go for more traditional, "just-make-me-laugh type of sketches" – a softer, more escapist approach.

That also could be in the cards for "The Daily Show," to emphasize the lighter, oddball features that, until now, had been reserved for later in the program.

Comedy Central itself is reviewing all shows for references to terrorists, the president and airlines. "It'll be awhile before we're taking shots at the commander in chief," said Tony Fox, an executive vice president at Comedy Central. That's a tough loss, President Bush having been the best thing to happen to comedy since … well, since President Clinton.

Many nightclub comedians also are taking a softer tack. Terry Gillespie, a comic in Philadelphia, cut airline jokes from his act and relied on physical humor to carry him through his first gig after the attack. "I was even more resolved to help (the audience) escape," Gillespie said.

But Maron said the attack also could force comedians to take a political viewpoint – meaning an end to the 1990s habit of ironic disinterest. "Now a generation of narcissists has to figure out where they stand," Maron said.

And beyond that – probably off the radar of television – could be a return to the sort of black humor that people indulge in once they've gotten used to bad times. People laugh at unacknowledged truths, and the truth in war is that things fall apart and people die. Post-World War II brought us the original Mad magazine (which evolved out of horror comics), and Vietnam brought us National Lampoon. The news parody magazine The Onion already is pushing in that direction, with these headlines: "Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell," and "Rest Of Country Temporarily Feels Deep Affection For New York."

In the meantime, "Mad TV" is trying to nose its way back to satirizing the world as it currently exists, Blasucci said. Some sketch ideas have been about people trying to return to normal – maybe a group of lawyers going back to the proud business of taking advantage of everyone. And while "Mad TV," as well, won't be attacking Bush for a while, the news marches on with fresh material.

For example, Blasucci said, Jerry Falwell looks like fair game.