that's what misery loves company means. Social Science experts say comparing ourselves to people with worse situations than ourselves can be a temporary stress relief. That's why you see some people laugh at situations that would not be funny if they happened to you or someone you care about. In fact, some define comedy as tragedy happening to someone else. Some works who label themselves comedy do play on this troupe, using a character as the scapegoat for laughs, someone is the brunt of jokes and generally unfortunate throughout the story, etc.