h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I find observational humour the funniest of all, incorporating irony, sarcasm and extended metaphor.
Monty Python made fantastic use of irony in their sketches, one which springs to mind is the sex education class headed by John Cleese in Monty Python's Meaning Of Life- anyone who can remember back to their first experiences of a sex education class will remember the embarresment felt by all on the opening of a subject which, until that point in their lives had been a taboo subject... the irony here is that the Pythons take it one step further with an actual practical demonstration. It's funny because we know how embarresed we were at the time...

Extended metaphor is used as an incredibly effective weapon by Eddie Izzard- he takes seemingly simple concepts, and extends them with perfect logic to the point where they seem completely absurd, which makes the whole subject seem absurd. A quick example of this is his idea of Hannibal coming over the alps on Elephants when skis would have been so much cheaper and more effective...

Billy Connoly's good too. Some people say he swears too much, but I think he uses foul language to good effect, in that it conveys a strong emotion (shock, annoyance, etc)- with appropriate intonation- in a fraction of the time that other methods use.

It has to be said that swearing in itself is no more funny than a book on Ring Theory, and it can ruin an otherwise entertaining piece of discourse- I have seen a few comdeians at my local comedy club who were just offensive rather than funny, and relied on laughs from their overuse of the English Language's four- letter- word selection.

Have I bored you all yet?

Political satire is another form of comedy I find very enjoyable- Rory Bremner and company use this to great effect when combined with serious- faced sarcasm and clever impersonation skills. It's only funny because it's exactly what everyone else is thinking, presented in a way which magnifies the absurdity of any given situation.

To end with... a mention of slapstick humour. Not a favourite style of comedic interpretation, but it can have you rolling on the floor if you're in the right mood. The only reason it is funny is because it's something nasty happening to someone who isn't you. It's more laughter of relief than enjoyment.
I should know. I fell head first down the toilet as a child, and got stuck. It still produces tears of mirth from my parents to this day...

TK

For that last paragraph, I meant to note Charlie Chaplin, and Laurel and Hardy as notable examples of slapstick humour.

TK

Satire can be extremely funny ( Bremner, Bird and Fortune or Private Eye) but doesn't stand the test of time well

Agreed. It's more short- term humour, with the exception of well- known events which remain in the public eye for a long time. I can't think of an example right now

TK