I don't know if I'd go as far as calling it a "welcome distraction for the normal monotony."
My worst was a DL 3-holer every seat full, landing at ATL at night - we slammed the runway so hard that we bounced maybe 30 feet back up - whereupon the cockpit firewalled it and we staggered - literally staggered up - sucking up the gear and landing flaps and went around. The cabin was full of teenagers - sports teams of some sort - and there was a lot of yelling and screaming while we were climbing.
When we finally deplaned, the cockpit was not standing at the door saying "bu-bye"