Let’s also not forget Charlie Chaplin’s portrayal of fascist dictator “Adenoid Hynkel” and his Jewish (!) stand-in in The Great Dictator, which I think was made in 1940.
And of course, long before this, Chaplin had been making brilliant comedy revolving around a certain diminutive character living in abject poverty, in a decidely unfriendly society, which by no means was an inherenty funny situation.