It almost sounds like the setup to a bit. Within the last two weeks three comedians — Kathy Griffin, Bill Maher and Bill Cosby — have been making headlines, seemingly for very different reasons. Two out of the three have something more obviously in common that’s worth diving into here than the third, and no, I’m not talking about the fact that two of the offending parties happen to be men named Bill. Cosby, it’s well-known, is in the midst of an assault trial underway in Pennsylvania, having been accused of criminal acts far graver than the venal sins Griffin and Maher committed. Those two merely offended vast swaths of people because of what they said and did. Griffin and Maher, however, violated a crucial unspoken law dominating the American paradigm these days, and it is this: In a single moment, each of them careened off brand, and the way each is separately paying their misstep provides an object lesson in cultural hypocrisy. And yes, this is a story that can easily be explained by …