In defence of comedy

P.G. Wodehouse once said: "I believe there are only two ways of writing a novel. One is mine, making the thing a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring real life altogether; the other is going right down deep into life, and not caring a damn."
As I write my own Dunces Anonymous books, I look on the great Pelham Grenville as a guide and inspiration: a master of creating silly characters, placing them in ridiculous situations, and making their dialogue crackle with comedic repartee.
So, although I would never dream of putting myself on par with P.G. Wodehouse, I do consider myself his disciple, and it surprises me when reviewers completely ignore his comedic criteria when judging the Dunces books.
I know it is considered bad form for an author to take her critics to task. Still, without naming names, I've noticed that some reviewers criticize my books for not being 'realistic' or 'believable' -- or, in the word of one reviewer, for having 'no classroom value.'
"Oh, really, Kate," I can almost hear them muttering while typing their lukewarm review of Dunces Rock. "Do you expect people to believe that three 11-year-old kids and a headbanging teenager would start a country band called Cousin Willy and the Wang-Dang-Doodles, in a desperate scheme to convince their honky-tonk principal to bring back the school's cancelled Drama and Music program?"
Those same critics might well have said to Wodehouse: "My dear old chap, do you think it quite credible that Bertie Wooster, a fashionable denizen of the old metrop., would climb up a ladder to a third-story window of Blandings castle, in the middle of the night, to pinch a cow-shaped cream pitcher as a favour to his Aunt Dahlia? And furthermore, that the window should mistakenly lead to the bedroom of the dewy-eyed Honoria Glossop, who has always believed that said Bertram worshipped her from afar? Where, my dear old top, is your sense of verisimilitude?"
To which P.G. would no doubt have answered: "My dear old bean, the question is not whether it is real, but whether it is funny."
And so, if I may make a plea to critics when judging comedy: please, judge it on whether the characters are fun and original; judge it on whether the dialogue sparkles and snaps; judge it on whether the plot twists surprise and delight you. Just don't judge it on whether or not it's realistic.
It's not real.
It's comedy