Bad taste? Nothing in bad taste shall be the subject of comment, publication, or humour - is that your view John? Without jokes in bad taste there would be no humour, and taste has never been a proper ground for censorship.

The point about the habit (semingly found in the USA and UK, but my other probings about langage and religion have not drawn comment) of joking about dire adversity is that it relieves or masks the pain. The frequency or local distribution of it is something we may well study to learn about the human condition.