Use of proverbs is largely based on felicitous hits. Right timing and fitness are important in proverb use as well as in good jokes. This does not mean that proverb use always had connection to humor. There are much more functions of proverb use that serve other needs of social interaction.
If we listen to or read proverb texts as such we often find thumbnail descriptions of social situations or interpersonal (in fact most often interanimal) set-ups. They seem to be based on long experience but very often they are hyperbolas or otherwise exceptional in their wording. This makes them material for comics. Comics does not succeed without good timing. Similarly familiar proverbs come to situations that include some kind of tension and often release it. A proverb gives a new point of view, although it can be old as such. Traditional and social media give possibilities to find material for this study.