"It made every decision slower, sometimes bringing levity because he could be comical about it, but sometimes bringing cries of frustration from the group," Ms. Kim said.

Friends and colleagues said Mr. Cohn's sharp sense of humor and repertoire of jokes could bring levity to the most somber of occasions.

They wouldn't have dared, in any event, but the tidings they had brought precluded levity.

Baseball brought relief and levity, but, certainly, there are trauma-related issues that will go on and on, like the survivor's guilt of those who emerged from the bus accident.

Mr. Rasmus's presentation brought both levity and a measure of reality to an event where the importance of magazine journalism is compared to everything noble short of world peace.

Mary Treen (March 27, 1907 - July 20, 1989) was an American film and television actress, a familiar face who brought levity to the screen.

Brian Shapiro, a Democratic legislator from Woodstock, said the music "brings levity to the beginning of a meeting, but it's not always effective once we get going."

Harrelson was reading the nominees for best picture drama, when he brought more levity to the proceedings.

But the band, including Pavement's Bob Nastanovich, who sat in on drums for a few songs, brought both heft and levity to his songs.

The is a heavy emphasis on the absurd, and how it can bring levity to depressing reality.