side note...the 'early' shaggy dog stories were notable in that the punch line had no serious point, and simply were designed to make the audience groan that they had listened, whereas one with a pun/word play at least makes you giggle or groan AT the atrocious pun. I'm not sure that there is a standard 'name' for these medium length stories with punny endings, but in sci-fi circles it is "Feghoots".