"I found every single laugh as Laertes that you can find and only realized later that you really shouldn't find any at all"

This quote by David Hyde Pierce is a reflection on the trouble of playing a comical function in a tragedy. Laertes is a character in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, and is a terrible figure. Despite this, Pierce discovered himself making fun of the lines he was provided to play as Laertes. He realized later that he ought to not have actually been laughing, as the character is a terrible figure and the play is a disaster. This quote speaks to the difficulty of playing a comical role in a catastrophe, as it can be hard to separate the comical elements from the tragedy. It also speaks to the power of funny, as it can be difficult to withstand chuckling even in the face of catastrophe. Pierce's quote is a suggestion that funny and tragedy can be intertwined, which it can be difficult to separate the 2.