I think one of the basic tasks in life - one of the nice things we can do for each other - is to take things that are horrible and scary and make them acceptable and less frightening and, if possible, funny. It feels great to succeed at that.

Sweeney frames comedy as a humane, almost ethical practice: translating fear and horror into forms people can bear. The “task” is communal—something we do “for each other”—suggesting that humor is not merely self-expression but a social service that reduces isolation and panic. By adding “if possible, funny,” she acknowledges the limits of joking about pain while still defending comedy’s power to domesticate the terrifying. The final line emphasizes craft and responsibility: when a performer successfully reshapes dread into shared laughter, the relief is visceral and meaningful, because it converts private anxiety into collective understanding.