Steven,

Humour is an excellent medium through which to transmit a deeper message,
John Mortimer knew that, and Rumpole is a character who unceasingly undermines the establishment by mocking it.

Stewart and Colbert are capable of infinitely more astringent attacks on the neo-cons due to the use of sharp topical humour.

The final episode of series 4 of Blackadder (in the trenches during WWI) concentrated on the characters coming to terms with the fact that they were all destined to go "over the top". The poignancy of that moment and the message it contained stood alone, and wasn't overshadowed by the humour that preceded it.

Dear Steven,

I don't fully agree that Hitler's not funny. He can be made
to be.
Take the musical (and later film) by Mel Brooks, "The Producers."
The scene, "Springtime For Hitler," was very funny. As was
"Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band?" and "Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop."
I thoroughly enjoyed both the film and the musical. Comedy is
subjective, of course.

As Mel Brooks stated, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger.
Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."

Dear stevenlmeyer,

I recall an essay on humour in one of Arthur Koester's books, from memory either, Age of Longing or The Ghost in the Machine. 

He told of a joke doing the rounds in Hitler's bunker as Berlin came under siege. I have heard versions since but this is my earliest reference. It went something like...

There was an executioner of great renown in the court of a powerful Chinese king. He was famed for both his dedication to his craft and his humanity. It was his practice to behead from behind those destined for the block as they had climbed the final step rather than prolong their terror. It was also his practice to strive for the cleanest stroke with a razor sharp sword that had been handed down over the five generations this role had been assigned to the eldest in his family.

As his ruler was a powerful king with many enemies years of constant and frequent practice were afforded the executioner, but still he trained, honing both body and blade, striving for a perfection only he could comprehend.

Then one day he achieved it.

An errant nobleman had reached the top step and turned to the executioner gently chiding him, "Your fame with your blade and your compassion are known throughout the kingdom yet you have failed to afford them to me, why was I not deserving of your pity?"

At that moment the executioner knew his life was complete. He said in a quiet, differential voice "Kindly nod please".

That phrase was said to have been a common saying with the officers in the bunker during the final weeks of the war.

Koester was of Jewish heritage yet he flagged this as having deep humour. I would agree but I also acknowledge the pathos which makes it complete. Perhaps really good humour needs it, something I credit Chaplin with understanding.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that humour often doesn't work very well between cultures. Some jokes just aren't even seen as funny, or can even be inadvertently offensive. On the other hand some cultures find stuff funny that others just don't 'get'.

I fully understand what stevenlmeyer says about 'Hey Hey' - as an educated young Aussie I used to find the original show cringeworthy, but my Mum loved it and watched it religiously. Over the years, I sat though enough of Darryl and Ossie with Mum that I developed an affection for it, though I never found it side-splittingly funny like a good episode of Fawlty Towers or Mr Bean... or even the Young Ones.

Anyway, since people are contributing jokes, this one's a classic, IMHO:

>< There’s an old joke about a comedian convention where the celebrity comics are scheduled to tell jokes at the event’s big banquet. Everyone in the audience knows all the jokes already because the jokes have been catalogued for the convention. To save time, the speakers decide to just say the joke’s number instead of telling the whole joke. The first speaker is a star, a legend in the business. “Forty-seven!” he calls out to laughter all around. “One-hundred and sixty-two!” The audience explodes with deep belly laughs and leaps to its feet in an ovation.

The second speaker, a newcomer to all this, thinks, “Wow, this is easy.” When it’s his turn, he strides onto the stage and in his best stage voice proclaims, “Twenty-six!” Silence. Undaunted, he tries again: “Eighty-four!” Silence again, and the audience is now shifting uncomfortably in its seats. With a mighty roar the newbie lets loose with his finale, “One hundred and thirty-five!!” Crickets. After his ordeal, the shaken comic approaches a veteran and asks, “What happened? I did everything the guy ahead of me did. But I bombed. Why?” The old comedian puts his hand on the younger man’s shoulder and says gently, “Kid, you just didn’t have the timing.” ><

Well here’s a joke from Apartheid era South Africa. We are back in the days of President PW Botha.

The cabinet meets. The first item on the agenda is prison reform. It is proposed that all the old prisons be replaced with modern new ones. Instead of cells the new prisons will have luxuriously appointed self-contained suites complete with colour TV, private bathroom and minibar.

All prisons will employ cordon bleu trained chefs.

The prisons will be located in rolling parklands next to beaches where the prisoners can swim or loll about in the sun.

Prisoners will enjoy unlimited “conjugal visits” with partners of their choosing.

Prisons will have cinemas showing the latest movies. They will also have night clubs featuring top line entertainers.

The estimated cost of the program is 100 billion rand.

The cabinet approves the prison reform program unanimously.

Next is an education bill. The young newly appointed minister for education, his name is Barend, requests 50 million rand to repair some leaky roofs and do some much needed maintenance on old school buildings. The cabinet rejects the request.

Surprised Barend asks why his colleagues are prepared to be so generous towards criminals and so stingy towards schoolchildren.

President Botha looks pityingly at his young colleague and says, “Barend, when Mandela takes over he’s not going to send us to school.”

nd then there was the one about young Beethoven. He had a music shop in his home town. When he had to go out, he would put up a sign in the window:

"Gone Chopin, Bach in a minuette"!