[LAB] In John McGahern’s works, characters emerge in both comic and tragic instances, and their whole existence comes under the spotlight, as the writer uses mild, ironic or sarcastic touches, which have not been examined so far. In between automatisms and mobility often directed at dogmatism or mental stereotypes displayed by characters, clergymen, workers, teachers, writers or family members display their ignorance, occasional (lack of) manners, boredom or elevation, often imitating what seems to be ‘decent’ in terms of taste. Building on the three main approaches to humour (superiority, incongruity and relief according to John Morreall) yet refuting a monolithic interpretation. [PAR] This paper explores how class, gender and false pretences are ridiculed and exposed in both novels and short stories. Laughter moves from a classical Kantian playinstance to a Freudian-supported analysis of condensation and ambiguity as vehicles employed by a realist creator. The narrative often alternates  between family roles and poles of power, visible and invisible laughter, as natural and changing (or hybrid) as human nature. Examples extracted from McGahern’s novels, short stories, memoir and essays present differentiations in the actions of protagonists such as imitation or repetition as attributes of routine and failure, while fear and violence stem from a reactive, insensitive behaviour which the narrative exposes succinctly or at length. Shared by others, or not, such experiences nuance Irish identity, the mix of humour and realism opening itself to further reading, connecting, for instance, McGahern’s works to psychoanalysis, angelic versus demonic laughter or carnival laughter (Alfie Bown).