In even his bleakest works, however, there is a note of dark laughter -- the same note that sounds through Kafka, Céline and Beckett, who are Saramago's direct literary ancestors.
Jann S. Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone and vice chairman of the hall (and 2004 inductee), read the note, to laughter and applause.
An official transcript noted 42 occasions of laughter in the 28 minutes of remarks – the first three coming right away.
It is true that laughter and smiling decrease over time in most dementia patients, but it is important to note that not all forms of laughter and smiling are equally reduced.
"We were already so far ahead of the competition, I just can't… I can't see them in the rearviewmirror," Schiller notes to laughter from the audience.
There is an unmistakable note of panic in his laughter.
The 30 students in the class dutifully wrote them down, between bursts of laughter, then took notes on the answers, all of which were funny, too.
Writers over the years have noted the many forms and meanings of laughter: life-affirming laughter, laughter through tears, the laughter of resignation, pessimistic laughter, the laughter of defiance, the laughter of contempt, escapist laughter, and more.
(A law professor's 2005 study of "laughter episodes instigated," she notes, suggested that Antonin Scalia was the funniest justice, with Stephen Breyer coming in a faraway second).
"Compensation," shouted another, earning a snort of laughter from the CEO and some more theatrical note flipping to buy himself time.
