Quote them exactly, and the very humor of what they say becomes funny. This can especially work with legal documents, such as the time a man who makes dog biscuits was threatened by a law suit. The question came up on the issue of how much a writer needs to sell an editor in order to write something funny. A sense of humor varies from person to person and editor to editor. Some are going to be more accepting than others.
Nothing is more subjective than humor.
Writers will probably find it helpful to talk over the approach to a story, and whether to use humor, with an editor before plunging into the writing. During the discussion period, the participants agreed that the line between humor and ridicule is often quite close. One can write something extremely straightforward and wind up ridiculing the main subject. The writers agreed they had to be careful, although the feeling was that less sensitivity had to be used with politicians and those who seek the public limelight. One has to be careful in using such terms.