Donuel, I don't remember the Christmas story one, but the one you refer to as 'strangulation by self eroticism' (actually 'auto-erotic asphyxiation') was really about a guy - a life insurance salesman - who could see how other people died, who said (truthfully or not) that's how Mulder would go. Dry, dark humor.

I hadn't seen him in E.L. Raymond, and I missed a quite a few of his movie roles. He always seemed to look so dignified and serious, and I think that intensified the impact of humor.