"What do Haliians find funny?" Data asked.
Soriana accepted her kombucha from Guinan and took an appreciative sip before answering. "The same as most races, mostly. Humor is the subversion of expectations. Taking something known, and presenting it in a way that causes surprise."
"Can you provide an example?"
"Well, many Haliian ceremonies and holidays involve songs. A common source of humor is taking an existing song and altering the lyrics to something else. Often something viewed as inappropriate or that is widely disliked."
"This is not considered offensive?" Data inquired.
"Oh, no, it often is considered offensive. Because surprise is an important element of humor, shocking your audience with something that provokes a reflexive negative reaction is common."
*****
"What do Klingons find funny?"
Worf growled and gulped down his synthetic blood wine. "I… do not really know. I grew up around humans. Klingons take the written word very seriously; most humor, as I understand it, is shared orally rather than written down."
"Klingons do not have a written tradition of satire? Or parody in opera?"
Worf shook his head. "Some commentators have pointed to specific lines in the dramatic epics that they claim should be read ironically, but I… don't see it. I'm sorry, sir, but I'd rather not continue this subject."
"As you wish."
*****
"Molière, definitely," Picard grinned from his captain's chair. "Humor is all about juxtaposition of opposites. No one could make one line have three contradictory meanings like he could. Although Shakespeare is quite clever as well, for an Englishman."
"You prefer the written word to spoken humor, then, sir?"
The captain nodded in acknowledgement. "Absurdist performance humor, like Monty Python, can be quite amusing. But no one has surpassed the old masters, Mister Data, because each time you read them, you laugh for a different reason."
*****
"I am exerting myself to further improve my performance," Data said, and Yar laughed out loud. He also noticed her cheeks were red, and she looked around Ten Forward as she expressed her amusement.
"Tasha, did I just say something amusing?"
Her smile widened. "It was a double meaning, Data. We were talking about our… 'date' last night, and you made a comment about improving your social subroutines… but it could also be interpreted as referring to other subroutines."
"Our physical interaction?" At her agreement, Data pressed, "And that's funny?"
She nodded, biting her lip. "It's unexpected, and typically inappropriate to say out loud. That makes it funny."
"Ah. Then I shall endeavor to… plumb the depths of our relationship further." He paused. "You did not laugh."
"That one wasn't funny; just vulgar." She blushed, standing without letting go of his hand. "Not that I object to the sentiment. How much time do we have?"
[Author's Note: The "A" plot line of this episode works fine as-is, in my opinion. But the "B" plot line of Data asking his friends about humor was particularly neat, so I added a few more examples.]