Thank you for asking the question. I enjoyed reading these stories.
When you say that humor represents a critical aspect of intelligence I really believe that is true. I think humor is almost another learning style for my son. When he learns something, he often relates it to something else in a funny way.
For example, yesterday I was in the car with my daughter and 10 year old son when my son asked if we could stop by a fast food restaurant. My daughter didn't order a drink because she thought her brother would share, like he always used to when she would ask.
This time when she asked for a drink of his Dr. Pepper, he said "No, why didn't you order your own when you had the chance?" and "Is this the latest version of "Brother can you spare a dime" (a song that became the anthem of the Great Depression). I said "Just give her a drink." He said Oh, so I don't really have a choice here. Isn't this like some kind of socialism, which you say you don't agree with? I don't really own anything and no matter what I do or what they didn't do I have to share with them (I guess he felt that he had done all the work by being successful in talking me into stopping at the restaurant and his sister didn't "earn" her drink because she didn't bother to order anything).
His sister wanted to know what happened to the sweet little bubba she used to know. I told her he was starting to go through p-u-b-e-r-t-y and she wasn't exactly a sweet little kid when she went through it.
