The US dollar falling below the Canadian dollar amused me until a few minutes ago. Then I opened mail from a Canadian publisher. There was a cover letter, a statement, and a check. The statement told me that I was owed $X. The check was for $Y, where X > Y. What causes the tragic difference between X and Y is the exchange rate.
This is of course an illustration of the difference between comedy and tragedy. When it happens to someone else, it’s comedy; when it happens to me, it’s tragedy.
When it happens to someone like W.C. Fields or Mel Brooks, it’s material. Each of these guys seems to be associated with the above explanation of the difference between comedy and tragedy. Actually, it’s more like material to me in this case, since the sums involved are so small.