Laughter levels in the Assembly's anti-agreement section usually provide a reliable assessment of the political situation in Northern Ireland. The louder they guffaw, the deeper the crisis, it seems.
At times yesterday we witnessed what looked like near-fatal outbreaks of hilarity on the DUP benches, and David Trimble's chances of victory lessened with every smirk.
But as the DUP flung insults and wiped away mirth-induced tears, an air of gloom descended on the Ulster Unionist Party, for which this was no laughing matter. A downbeat gathering of grey suits, red poppies and black looks, they huddled around their ruddy-faced leader or slumped back in their chairs.
The man who would be First Minister cut a lonely figure as he fidgeted with a brown envelope, his eyes darting around the Assembly Chamber as though searching for a last-minute reprieve.
At one point, he walked across the room to whisper something in the ear of the new Alliance leader, David Ford, who promptly left the chamber with him. For a few brief minutes, some speculated that maybe Trimble could persuade Ford to redesignate his party to unionist, thus creating enough cross-community support to re-elect the beleaguered UUP leader as First Minister.
In the end, Alliance did not take the same course as the Women's Coalition, who bore the full brunt of the anti-agreement unionists' unique sense of humour for their decision to redesignate in support of Trimble. They were called the cross-dressing party or "political hermaphrodites" (harharhahahar).
Even mild-mannered Ford got in on the act. "We will not be dressing up for Hallowe'en like the Women's Coalition", he sniffed.
When the division bells rang, the dissenters in Trimble's party, Peter Weir and Pauline Armitage, exchanged a few words before rising to seal their leader's fate by voting against his re-election. Cheers, backslapping and more laughter greeted the announcement that Trimble had lost by one vote.
Armitage allowed herself a smile and Weir couldn't help looking delighted at having got one over on Trimble, who had deselected him for nomination during the last general election.
In exuberant form yesterday, it was the maverick Weir who raised one of the biggest laughs in a morning punctuated by the helpless giggling of elected officials.
Speaking against the motion to allow the Women's Coalition MLAs to redesignate themselves, Weir said their move was tantamount to him waking up one day and deciding to call himself Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt. "I might succeed in deluding myself',' said the balding MLA, who is, as they say, no Brad Pitt. "But I doubt anyone else would be deluded."