There have been/are so many comics that it's impossible to say. You don't have to be tortured to be a good, or even great comic, but in my experience, it seems to help. Wanting to make strangers laugh is a weird compulsion, though there are those who care little for the audience and wish only to impress a select few (some of The Simpsons' writers fit this description). For most it's a form of seeking acceptance, and I've seen comics so desperate for acclaim that, onstage, they turn their personal lives into an unflushed toilet: "I'm much worse than you! My life's a fucking freak show! Laugh at me!"
But then, those are the artists. The rest could be selling shoes, and in many cases, should.
Dennis