Comedy, as has been noted before, ain't pretty. John Cleese once noted, when talking about Fawlty Towers, that comedy is very much like Tragedy, the only difference being that comedy lacks sympathy towards the character. This is often because the character in question does not particularly merit sympathy; Basil Fawlty, for example, lives a life full of hardships, annoyances and general misery, but because he is antisocial and offensive towards his guests and staff often with little provocation (and that most misery is caused by his own actions), you find yourself laughing at him rather than mourning his misfortune. If Basil Fawlty were a decent person rather than an Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist, Fawlty Towers would be a depressing exercise in watching a man tortured undeservedly.