Yes, this band so well-known for its aura of trauma and tragedy actually had some lighter moments.
- On tour in Amsterdam in 1979, Ian Curtis met one of his heroes, William S. Burroughs, who was reading from his latest book. Curtis tried to convince Burroughs to give him a free copy. According to Peter Hook, Burroughs replied, "Fuck off, kid!"
- Supposedly, how did Joy Division get on Factory Records? Ian sent a note to Tony Wilson with the words "Joy Division, you cunt".
- After the band's cover of The Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" on Still, Ian Curtis jokes that the audience should hear their version of "Louie, Louie". Hell, just the fact that a recording exists of gloomy, tormented Ian Curtis singing "Sister Ray" (a seventeen-minute ditty about drag queens, drug dealers and a police shoot-out, replete with lines like "Don't you know you'll stain the carpet?" and "She's busy sucking on my ding-dong") in his deadpan baritone is extremely funny.
- When attempting to shop out the EP An Ideal for Living to several record labels in London, the task was left in Terry Mason's hands to go dub and distribute demo tapes to ensure they got into the right hands rather than sitting in the post pile of the record label. A few days after this adventure to London with Stephen Morris, the band received a number of their demo tapes posted back alongside quite a significant amount of rejection/commiseration letters. Out of curiosity, the band put on one of the tapes to hear what was actually on it. What the tape consisted was apparently heavily muffled versions of songs from the EP, clattering of cutlery and plates, the nearby TV blaring Coronation Street and Terry's mum in the background telling him his food was ready. When quizzed, Terry apparently didn't properly dub the master tape to the blank audio cassettes as one would expect, he actually sat next to a speaker with a microphone in hand and recorded to each tape to a tape recorder picking up all of the background noise, and proceeded not to do a quality check before embarking to London with Stephen. The band were understandably horrified.
- Someone once posted on the band's Reddit a photo of Ian at his old work place of a party he attended. Where he was smiling. Ian Curtis smiling. His bandmates remember him having a wicked sense of humor, despite his dour reputation.
- The band fired early drummer Steve Brotherdale by having him get out of their van to investigate a suspected flat tire, then driving off.