Comedian Dane Cook has come under fire from members of the public after making light of the deadly Colorado cinema massacre during a stand-up gig on Thursday.

The Good Luck Chuck star was performing at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles when he began telling a joke about last week's tragic Aurora shooting, which cost 12 film fans their lives and left 58 others injured when suspect James Holmes allegedly stormed into a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises and opened fire.

The stars of the Batman franchise, including Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway and director Christopher Nolan, have all offered their condolences to those affected by the tragedy as the city mourns the lives lost, but Cook decided to poke fun at the killings during his show, just under a week after the harrowing incident.

He told the audience, "So I heard that the guy came into the theater about 25 minutes into the movie... And I don't know if you've seen the movie, but the movie is pretty much a piece of crap... I know that if none of that would have happened, pretty sure that somebody in that theatre, about 25 minutes in, realising it was a piece of crap, was probably like, 'Ugh, f**king shoot me.'"

The insensitive material garnered few laughs and prompted some crowd members to groan their disapproval. Video footage of the gig has since been posted online, and now Cook's ill-advised quip has turned him into a target on Twitter.com.

One user writes, "Everyone that laughed at that tasteless 'joke' by Dane cook about the shooting should evaluate their life. Be ashamed."

Another tweet reads, "Nothing funnier than Dane Cook telling jokes about last week's tragedy & by nothing I mean everything. poortaste", while one blogger adds, "Good luck redeeming yourself after this Dane Cook."