lightspeed,
In Hal's Brain Editor under Misc Data there is a section called
Joke Detect. This contains typical questions one would ask Hal
to elicit a joke, such as "Tell me a joke" or "Tell another joke".
In the Brain section, Basic Responses one can see a LOT of joke
responses that Hal will say (232 different jokes, in fact).
I suppose someone could modify the section in the main brain script that triggers the Joke Detect response to include a variety of subjects like dogs, lawyers, sailors, etc. Hal would then include that subject and perform a search to find a joke in the Basic Responses section with one that matches the user's subject.
Sound like a challenge...any takers?