A treadmill to oblivion

That's how Fred Allen characterized television comedy. He asserted correctly that you cannot be truly funny night after night. You can be ingratiating, which is mostly what you get. Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight, said Stephen Sondheim but it's really tragedy day and night.
Jay Leno is still telling Lewinski jokes and will probably be doing Tiger Woods jokes for years. He's not an actor, not a sketch artist like Johnny Carson, not a musician like Steve Allen, he's just an ordinary guy who works for a few hours in a business suit. Letterman isn't much better. My son-in-law is a comedy writer who did a stint on Letterman and certainly earned his $3500 a week doing gags and Top 10 lists. But gee, can anyone remember anything said on those shows.
I have been corrupted by cable that lets me surf aimlessly. I happened on a female comic who said, "When I was little my Mom and Dad slept in separate beds and I thought, Wow, Dad must have a long cock!" Funny? Sure, if you're 14 years old. But what if you're an educated, well read and well traveled adult. Well, there is a show for you. It's called The Simpsons.
The references are so dazzling and culturally erudite that I'm stunned with admiration. For example, Lisa plays a baritone sax, probably the coolest instrument in jazz. Her favorite album is "Birth of the Cool" (mine, too). In one episode her beloved "ax" (jazz slang for sax) is lost. She is 8 years old and brokenhearted. The background track is playing "Song for an unfinished woman" by baritone player Gerry Mulligan. Plenty of funny stuff there and no laugh track. If you want culture with your comedy, watch The Simpsons.
In any case we can always turn to the real wits and humorists: Noel Coward, Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker among others. It was Coward who said, "In London I performed for Cafe Society and in Las Vegas I performed for Nescafe Society." Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything but temptation" and Dorothy Parker said, "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses".
The late, great English comedian and writer Spike Milligan challenged his fellow comics with: "Can you tell a joke without a punch line and still get a laugh?" Not on television or the Improv.