How would you make a funny sympathy card?

Go to a specialty card shop and look. There are some really good ones out there.
Also if you know the person you can tell them something you say often to each other. Like a catch phrase.
Or my very favorite is to buy a card and put one line through the reverant and feel good printed line and then to draw, write, or tape on a piece (writing or picture) from another card on to the page just below the cross out. It is great fun and makes me laugh too. It is also fun for the kids to do.

Make sure the occasion calls for a funny sympathy card. If you are sending one for a death in the familiy, a funny sympathy card would be in bad taste.

They really do exist. I’ve seen a couple examples online. A couple of examples:

You and I have been through so much together growing up. You are the funniest, happiest person I know. I am sorry for your loss. Let me know if you would like me to wax the casket.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I’m so happy it wasn’t you

Not sure who I’d send those to though. They seem to be in pretty bad taste.

Thanks folks. I’m trying to find the line of juxtaposing grief/humor with respect without being crass. I’ve seen people smile and laugh who just lost a loved one…trying to find out how to reproduce that effect.

Something like this maybe?
http://data1.blog.de/blog/k/kikita/img/SympathyCard.jpg

@crewger1, I think you’d be most likely to get that reaction with a personal note in which you recalled some endearing trait or favorite anecdote that was in no way mocking or ridiculing. Not every funny story that made you laugh when the person was alive makes a good condolence card. Above all you must be sensitive to the feelings of the bereaved loved ones.

For example, when my mother died, a story about how she played matchmaker between my uncle and his wife of fifty years was a good one. A story about how she tried a power move on her church’s music selection committee would not have been.

You can write your note on a conventional card (many of which come without religious-sounding blessings and instead just say “I feel your loss” or words to that effect). Or you can just write a note on notepaper or a blank card.

The difference is that it’s not something humorous about death but rather something about the individual deceased person that brings up a funny or happy memory. You can’t get that by way of mass production.

I’m definitely with @Jeruba on this one.

I really can’t think of any circumstance under which a funny condolence card would be either appropriate or appreciated. If you have seen people smile and laugh who have just lost a loved one it is most likely at a wake, a viewing or an after service lunch when people are sharing treasured stories of the deceased. I don’t think you would have any way to “reproduce that effect” with a card. But I am also with @Jeruba. You can buy a card that has a pretty simply preprinted message and add a handwritten note possibly sharing a story that might make someone smile or laugh at the memory of their loved one but it takes a certain amount of finesse to do that. LIke @Jeruba, I got some very sweet notes when my mother died with some sweet stories about her that made me smile. But there aren’t too many things that are less funny than the death of someone you love, so I would certainly err on the side of caution, in terms of sensitivity.