I have among others, a weakness for being unable to enjoy anyone else's misfortunes. I used to be miserable when my mother took me to Harold Lloyd movies. I stopped watching when he deliberately did something stupid to get a laugh. Same with Red Skelton taking potentially painful falls to make people laugh.
Incidentally, the article about Bulwer-Lytton made it clear that he was not a clown. His historical research was better than any of his more popular successors who copied much from him.