Since happiness is an important matter in comedy […] it is worth pointing out that Characters (in the strong sense of the word) can be individuals who are not particularly happy: they are often paranoid, miserable, even bitter, constantly worried about their It, unable to trust anyone.

Yet this specific paranoid or overprotective passion in relation to their object reveals a more interesting configuration: the other side of the misery of the character's Ego is the happiness of his It[….] it is only their It that is happy. 'They' on the other hand, do everything and go to great lengths to make and keep the It as happy as possible; this can indeed put them in stressful and often miserable positions.

However, we should go a step further here and recognise that they do not really mind this misery at all. They might constantly complain, yet this does not indicate that they are not satisfied with things as they are. They do not feel unhappy because they are miserable and in a constant state of stress. On the contrary: they are quite content insofar as their It is content, and insofar as they manage to keep it content.

Alenka Zupancic, The Odd One In: On Comedy