From an interview with David Larible, “the first clown to headline the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus” from this week’s New York Times Magazine:

Fictional character he most identifies with: Wile E. Coyote. His is the only cartoon that makes me laugh out loud. It is genius for people who do what I do, because it is funny without any element of surprise. It is a reversal of all logic, because he is the coyote who is going to eat the roadrunner, but in the end you love the coyote and hate the little bird.

I just thought that was interesting. Comedy usually doesn’t work — maybe shouldn’t work — without some element of surprise.