I first heard this crack in Billy Wilder‘s One, Two, Three (’61), and for a throw-away line I’ve always found it hilarious. How so? Jimmy Cagney feels so pressured and anxiety-plagued that he prefers the broken-back-coupled-with-hellfire scenario to the one he’s currently experiencing. Any comedy that conveys this kind of over-the-top, kill-me-now despair gets my vote.
If I’d written the line, it would’ve been “I wish I was in hell with my back broken.”