A dead body ups the comic effect quite drastically.
I'm reading
The Cider House Rules by John Irving right now and it is laugh-out-funny at some points. I am at the part where the gorgeous Wally and Candy drive to the orphanage. There is a dead body on the bed in the dispensary; outside, one of the orphans is sytematically scooping jelly and honey into his mouth; there is a dead featus reaching out of the enamel dish; a gleaming white cadillac among the squalar; Curly Day is having "a bad day" cos he wants to be picked by the pretty couple; Melony, the mean and biggest girl, does the first generous act in her life when she steals a book for Homer; the first quarrel between father and son; at the same time, an abortion and a live birth. Excellent stuff. It is like a crashing of life, ambition, hope and fear. Irving is a master at creating suituations full of pathos and intensity, but with just enough hilarity to tip it over so that it doesn't get overwhelming. It is somewhat like
Angela's Ashes I suppose - that delicate balance. I just can't can't get enough of it.
If I taught English, I would set this chapter as prac crit.
I also read
Bridget Jones' Diary over the weekend. Am reading so much cos trying to compensate for not being able to find a plot for NaNoWriMo - sulk. That was funny too - more light-hearted and irreverant. Her calling Daniel Cleaver and leaving a message she regretted, then homosexual friend Tom saying that he could call the number to get the code to delete the message, calls Daniel's place 12 times before figuring out the code, and on the 12th ring, Daniel picks up and Tom hangs up, making Daniel think that she called him obsessively, left a cheesy message, AND hung up when he picked up. Ha!
