Hitchhiker's Guide (the radio play is the best!). Monty Python. Princess Bride (best movie ever!). The completely unexpected punchline is the best -- the absurder, the better.

I once watched "Life of Brian" with a gang of male friends. Among them was my (now passed away, alas) friend Ed, who had a very quirky sense of humor. I sat back and watched everybody laugh at the obvious jokes, and then watched Ed laugh at the Ed-humor. By the end of the movie I was predicting (fairly accurately) which gags Ed would laugh at. By and large they were the ones I found funny too.

Humor is a very peculiar and fragile thing. While I don't think dissecting it makes it funnier, I don't think it hurts any, once the joke is over. And just talking about which things each of us finds funny seems completely harmless.

"Harmless."

"That's it? Just one word? Harmless?"

"Well the galaxy is a big place, and not many people had been to the earth before."

"Well I hope you've rectified that."

"YEs, I sent off a new entry, they had to edit it down a bit, but it is an improvement."

"What's it say now?"

"Mostly harmless."

Alex