Is God a comedian?

What did Voltaire mean when he said, "God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh"? This renowned French writer and polemicist of the Enlightenment was known for his wit, so did he intend us to take this remark somewhat whimsically or not? Let's see what we can make of it.
       Voltaire was a deist. Believing in God was not a matter of faith but of reason. It was perfectly evident to him that there existed a necessary, eternal, Supreme Being. So in what sense was God a "comedian?" Perhaps because he created man. Or beyond that, the animal world (there are some strange looking creatures out there.) But let's stick with man. Man is a strange being. I'm sure that as Voltaire observed the customs of his day – the tendency of his fellow citizens to bungle the affairs of life, the self-destructive nature of human conduct – he must have thought either that God had made a mistake of tragic proportions or that it was for his own amusement.
       But what about man being "too afraid to laugh?" It is true that those who understand at some depths the current state of world affairs are not comfortable about the future. The dominoes of the last stage of history are all lined up and the first has already lost its balance. The only thing that could be "funny" about that is that man would be responsible for his own demise.
       My trouble with all of the explanations like that is that they make God less than good. I can see God as a comedian, but not at the expense of his own creation. That's not funny. The God revealed In Scripture is a God of supreme love. The gift of his Son as the atonement for man's sin rules out any possibility of him acting otherwise. I certainly have a lot of trouble seeing God as a comedian if we use late night show hosts as the model. But does he have a sense of humor? Of that I am certain because humor adds so much to life and, as John has it, Jesus came that we might have life "more abundantly” (10:10). 
       When it comes to man, are we "too afraid to laugh?" I believe that depends upon what segment of the human race we are talking about. I'm quite sure that many are "too afraid to laugh” because they can't do anything about it. Others are fearful, especially when age or disaster brings them face to face with eternity. Those who face the future with glad expectations are those who through faith have come to grips with reality; those whose faith rests securely in the hands of the One who on Easter morning broke the bonds of death and provided the way to eternal joy. They are the ones who meet life with a smile on their face.