I disagree, on both counts.  I still find the humor that I study funny:
for me a major point of studying humor is to try to understand its
funniness, both as a process and a product.  And while human nature is
remarkably similar across cultures, different cultures choose different
objects of their humor and prefer different  approaches among the many that
are available.  Just as every normal child begins to speak with every
possible sound in his or her repertoire, but eventually specializes in
those required for the mother tongue and loses facility with the others, so
humor and jokes become specialized within their own cultural milieu, which
has a particular (though not necessarily unique) cast of characters,
situations, values, and history.

Judith Lee
Ohio University
Athens, OH