"Everything is funnier in retrospect, funnier and prettier and cooler. You can laugh at anything from far enough away."
"Funny Aneurysm" Moment is when events, either external or within a series, turn a joke into something disturbing, upsetting, or at the very least
really uncomfortable.
Harsher in Hindsight is when a tragic and serious event is even worse later.
This is the opposite. It's when a later event, such as a current event or something that happened in the series, contrives to make something
funnier than it originally was. This is what your literature teacher would call "
Life imitating Art". There's a decent list in this
College Humor
feature and another one in this
Cracked.com
feature.
Note this is
not merely something that seemingly predicts something else. For example, black US presidents in fictions are not this trope. A black US president in fiction who has an
Embarrassing Middle Name would be.
Also note that some examples that might not seem funny to one, might seem funny to another. It depends on attitudes towards
Black Comedy and
Gallows Humor.
Additionally, "hilarious" doesn't just mean "BLAH-HAH-HAH! gut-busting," either. If you go by the word's
original definition, it can mean "amusing" or "charming" as well. So
any belated lighthearted coincidence would fit under this trope.
Almost all examples of
Have a Gay Old Time are an example of this trope. Some examples of
Actor Allusion and/or
Role Association are.
Compare
Fridge Brilliance,
Heartwarming in Hindsight. Also compare
Narm if this happens immediately.
Contrast
"Funny Aneurysm" Moment (when something that was once amusing or awesome is now tinged with tragedy thanks to a
Real Life or in-story tragedy),
Dude, Not Funny! (when something is considered in bad taste to mock or even mention, no matter what the circumstance),
Hilarious In Flashback (where a glimpse of the characters' past contrasts amusingly with their established personalities and situation), and
Harsher in Hindsight (when something dramatic or depressing is now worse due to a
Real Life or in-story tragedy).
Sub-categories: