Oh, the gag. The relentless, non-stop gags. The gag with in a gag.

Writing gags is a form of art. Having the ability to to draw from a humor well without making it go dry, or spoiling the water are essential. If you conserve the humor aquifer, it can supply indefinitely.

In the golden age of cartoons those who were able to lampoon and parody without harm endured. Using malicious humor to take down someone you disagree with is always obvious to the audience, and it isn’t universally funny. When some people do laugh at malicious humor, it is only funny to those who agree with the limited worldview of the one carrying the pointed poisoned stick.

Real humor is honest, and without bias. Real humor harmlessly lampoons and paradies real world circumstances, often reaching for the absurd. Real humor supplies an otherwise heavy world with a little levity. Real humor finds the absurd version of the real one and brings it forward.

Consider Billy Murray’s character Dr. Peter Venkman in GhostBusters when this little gem appeared.

Dr. Peter Venkman : [tickling piano keys] “They hate this. I like to torture them.”

Small, innocent, and thrown in during a tense filled moment. It is absurd, artful and funny. He continues to swing back and forth between serious dialogue and gags.

9 Rules of Chuck Jones

Perhaps Chuck Jones 9 Rules provide the best scaffolding for honest humor and gags. In this book Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, Chuck Jones claimed that these 9 rules governed the Road Runner and Wile E. cartoon development.

1. “The Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going ‘Beep-Beep!’” This only applies to direct harm. However, the Road Runner is able to indirectly harm Wile E. One of the most common instances of indirect harm was done with a startling “Beep-Beep” that ends up sending Wile E. off a cliff. Rule 1 was broken in Clippety Clobbered when the Road Runner drops a boulder on the Coyote after painting it with “invisible paint”, and has been broken in several CGI shorts from The Looney Tunes Show.
2. “No outside force can harm the Coyote — only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products.” Trains and trucks were the exceptions from time to time.
3. “The Coyote could stop anytime — if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: ‘A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim.’ — George Santayana).”
4. “No dialogue ever, except ‘Beep-Beep!’” Various onomatopoeic exclamations (such as yowling in pain) are seemingly not considered dialogue. This rule was violated in some cartoons such as in Zoom at the Top where the Coyote says the word “Ouch.” after he gets hurt in a bear trap, as well as in shorts such as “Adventures of the Road Runner” which don’t follow the standard formula.
5. “The Road Runner must stay on the road — otherwise, logically, he would not be called Road Runner.” This rule was broken in several shorts including cactus patches, mines, cliff edges, mountain tops and railways.
6. “All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters — the southwest American desert.”
7. “All materials tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.” However, there have been instances in which Wile E. utilizes products not obtained from Acme; in Rushing Roulette, the Coyote uses AJAX Stix-All glue. In Zip ‘N Snort, aside from the Acme Iron Pellets, Wile E. also had a box of AJAX Bird Seed. In Fast and Furry-ous, even though one item, the Super Outfit, was from Acme, for some reason the Jet-Propelled Tennis Shoes was from “Fleet-Feet”. On one occasion, he uses a manual: How to Build a Burmese Tiger Trap (though the publisher is not indicated), hoping to catch the Roadrunner. To his shock, the trap works precisely as promised, and actually does catch a Burmese tiger (“Surprisibus Surprisibus”).
8. “Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote’s greatest enemy.” For example, falling off a cliff.
9. “The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.”

The Influence of Vaudeville, Radio, and Silent Movies

From vaudeville and radio to silent movies, it is all discussed here in these two videos: The Art of the Gag | A Making of Looney Tunes and Chuck Jones – THe Evolution of an Artist.

Oh, and sorry Daffy. It was one of the few times we were late delivering a prop.
…and Jack did give us an ear full.
(12:56 min. into the Art of the Gag)