: Balancing character levity in a serious narrative I am looking for examples of authors who manage to have sarcastic/funny characters exist in a very serious, end of the world type of scenario.

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I think one of the best examples is Jaroslav Hašek's masterpiece The Good Soldier Švejk.

The novel is set during World War I in Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic
empire full of long-standing tensions. Fifteen million people died in
the War, one million of them Austro-Hungarian soldiers of whom around
140,000 were Czechs. Jaroslav Hašek participated in this conflict and
examined it in The Good Soldier Å vejk. [..] The character of Josef
Å vejk is a development of this theme. Through possibly-feigned idiocy
or incompetence he repeatedly manages to frustrate military authority
and expose its stupidity in a form of passive resistance: the reader
is left unclear, however, as to whether Å vejk is genuinely
incompetent, or acting quite deliberately with dumb insolence. These
absurd events reach a climax when Å vejk, wearing a Russian uniform, is
mistakenly taken prisoner by his own troops.

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I'm thinking of Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride." It's funny in a sad way how he fixates on wanting to say, "Allo. My name is...[etc]." Then in the castle fight it's pretty funny. And finally his "punch line" to his "joke" at the end. That was powerful, because there was humor, hatred, rage, helplessness, and vengeance all mixed up. You cheered for him, high-fived him for the cleverness, and yet mourned with him that satisfying his vengeance still left him empty -- he could never have his father back.

My point: Jokes don't always have to be "haha" funny to be effective. In fact, during the worst times, the crisis moments, they really shouldn't be "haha" funny. At that point, re-use an often-repeated joke -- only now it's not funny.

You could also study "Stargate SG1." That's a TV show, not a book, but Jack's character is, IMHO, a great example of what you're talking about.

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Why is it an issue? Don't you know anyone with a black sense of humor? People crack jokes, particularly sarcastic ones, in the darkest of hours. I wouldn't find it problematic, particularly if you've established that the sarcastic character is a wiseass who uses humor to deflect or to ratchet down emotionally intense situations as a character trait.

I'd read true-life cop stories or military memoirs for something like this. First responders develop "gallows humor" to help cope with the stress of the job. Try the BBC documentary series Inside Afghanistan.

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One method I have seen was where a character was constantly making smart remarks (many of which were very funny), In scenes where the author wanted a more serious tone, the jokes told were not as funny, as if the character was trying to break the tension, and not doing a very good job.

Another method is to have a running joke that is more sad or touching at a climatic scene. this is often seen where a character jokes about being a hero while acting cowardly until the climax, where he lays aside the cowardice and saves the day.

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