ITT: Patrician comedy

Are you implying stuff like this
is remotely funny?

You've only got yourself to blame if you consider Salinger "classic" or renowned. Do you really not see the humour in Melville, Gogol, Dostoevsky?

other guy, but whenever I've read Gogol I saw it was funny, saw how it was funny, it even was funny to me, but it always got grating after a while.