More than a few essayists and researchers on science fiction have noticed that science fiction is a little lacking in the humor department. This isn't for lack of trying: humor in our supergenre of science fiction, fantasy, and horror fails mostly because either the writers are too close to their subject matter or because it's hard to drop a few great jokes into a 4,000-word short story without it distorting the plot. A few examples exist of brilliant humor in the genre, including Fritz Leiber's "Lean Times In Lankhmar", Harlan Ellison's "I'm Looking For Kadak", and Paul Di Filippo's The Steampunk Trilogy, but comedy writing requires a completely different attitude than that of any other form of literature. (This may sound as if I'm belaboring the obvious, but you would be amazed at how many feeble attempts at humor are attempted by otherwise excellent writers who simply don't understand the basics; they're like the folks who write children's stories without understanding what a typical children's story needs for success.) The first thing to remember is that humor is dependent upon two things: the audience's level of knowledge, and its attitude. For instance, the humor in the phrase "Whitley Strieber still hasn't caught on that `Klaatu barada nikto' really means `Squeal like a pig, boy! SQUEEE!'" depends upon the readership being knowledgeable of (a) Whitley Strieber and his claims of being rectally probed by aliens and (b) the movies The Day the Earth Stood Still and Deliverance. All three are necessary to make the gag work: a passing familiarity with the three is all that's needed, but lack of knowledge of one component causes the gag to lose most of its impact. The worst feeling a humorist can experience is that horrible facial expression implying "Should I be laughing?", and the more time spent explaining the basics means less time to finish the story. (This isn't always true: Arlo Guthrie's song "Alice's Restaurant" goes on for 25 minutes with the details of the notorious Alice's Restaurant Massacree, and every last element is essential to explaining why ol' Arlo's potential sojourn into the Army was compromised by a charge of litterbuggery. Take out even five minutes, and the whole thing falls apart More at...http://www.hpoo.com/errata/humor.html