in comments yesterday Jody macGregor drew my attention to this:
Jokes are funny. Picking them apart isn't. Witness my clown autopsy- Charlie Brooker -The Guardian- Monday 27 July 2009

In each case, brevity is key. I assume these gags stemmed from the (stand-up) comic in question making a passing observation (eg "I suppose you could argue that walls are intrinsically better than people at tennis"), remembering and noting it as funny, then trying to cram said observation into the shortest space possible. As demonstrations of condensed poetic skill go, they're as impressive – to me at any rate – as the works of, say, Raymond Carver, Cormac McCarthy or Kurt Vonnegut.
Not that they should be given equal recognition. No comic should, ever. It spoils the fun, somehow. That's why most articles on "how comedy works", including the one you're reading now, feel so antiseptically mirthless: they're like clown autopsies, but less amusing. (more at the link)

He's obviously another student of the great Professor Bean:


In other news:
Police give chase after seven-year-old speeds off in dad's car to avoid going to church