The Punchline: The end. The final part of the joke and naturally the most important. This is of course where the audience is supposed to laugh. As important as everything else in joke structure is, without a strong punchline, the rest means nothing.

The atmosphere in the Laugh-O-Holics club was jovial as patrons chatted idly over drinks and rapidly prepared food, their voices a dull mummer as they waited patiently for the host of the night's event to re-take the stage and announce the next performer.

The layout of the club was what you would expect. The lights in the main room were dim. The only brightness came from a spotlight that shined down on a small, simple stage with blue curtains at the far end of the room. Round wooden tables sat on thin darkly colored carpeting, and the floor was elevated towards the back of the room for the courtesy of those sitting a distance from the stage.

Raven, after rescuing Beast Boy from his "kidnappers" had returned to the tower to find Robin, Starfire and Cyborg in the common room waiting for her. They each had shed their uniforms opting instead for more casual, more informal attire. Robin's outfit consisted of blue jeans and a black sweatshirt which sported the logo of his favorite gym, along with a pair of dark sunglasses (No one bothered asking him how he intended to see). Despite the cool weather outside, Starfire opted to wear an incredibly skimpy miniskirt with a bright pink halter top and a pair of open toed sandals. Cyborg's outfit was the most simplistic: a ordinary grey t-shirt and blue jeans brought to simulated existence by his holo-ring, which of course also completely hid from sight his robotic prosthetics.

It appeared they were not however ready to go as Raven was quick to realize that Beast Boy was not among them. After a quick inquiry as to where he was this time it was told to her that he wanted them to go on without him and that he would see them at the club. And so, with nothing else holding them back, the quartet left the common room and made for the club.

As soon as they arrived it was thought that perhaps their night would be over before it got started. The competition was not an all ages show and each of them was under 21, however they seemed to get in with no problem. It appeared to the team that despite their attempts to be discrete they were still recognizable enough. They entered the building with newfound hesitation; however once they saw the darkness of the main room it was figured that though they'd be sitting in the center of the room, they would still go largely unnoticed.

Raven had to admit, though she wouldn't go so far as to say she was enjoying herself, the overall experience was not quite as bad as she expected it to be. They had already seen about half the contestants already. All manner of men and women had taken their place up on stage, cracking wise about work, traffic, food, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives, movies, celebrities and sports. Some told humorous anecdotes, depending on their personality to deliver the laughs while others relied on wildly animated voices and body movements. Just like in style every performer also ranged in quality. Some were quite good and had the small but lively crowd in stitches throughout their routine; some were simply okay, gaining a smattering of chuckles here and there, while still others elicited not even the chirping of crickets as they fumbled to garner even the smallest reaction.

Each of her teammates, after a period of awkwardness was very much enjoying themselves. Cyborg was laughing his deep booming laugh and slapping the table with his open hand, often times having to catch himself before he smashed it to pieces. Starfire was laughing, though it was figured not entirely from understanding the jokes, but rather more from the fact that everyone around her was laughing. Even Robin gave a few hearty chuckles here and there. Naturally the only one in the entire room yet to laugh or even crack a smile was Raven. Despite the best efforts of all the performers she simply sat stone faced, drinking her ice water.

She was every comedian's ultimate challenge. If you could make her laugh you were something special.

The murmur of the crowd lessened and then disappeared entirely as the host for the evening once again took the stage. He was a short, husky man of about 40 with a properly coifed hairdo, wearing a black lounging suit, the shirt of which was unbuttoned two buttons from the top and was without a tie. When he spoke his voice was deep and scratchy.

"Okay, our next performer is a young kid from right here in Jump City. He's got a lot of ambition and a lot of talent. Please give a warm welcome to Mr. G. M. Logan."

The host applauded and backed away as from stage left came the next performer. The Titans shared in the audiences applause as a young, skinny, blonde haired man wearing a green collared shirt and blue jeans make his way to the microphone. No more thought was given to him than anyone else they had seen that evening. However, that changed as soon as the young man spoke.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you," he said again.

His voice, small and raspy with an all too familiar squeak. They had heard it countless times before and could recognize it even though it came from a different looking owner. It was without a doubt Beast Boy.

Looking at the other Titans, Raven could see they all shared the same thought as her.

"Is that Beast Boy?" asked Robin, who had taken off his glasses to get a better look.

"I believe it is," said Starfire.

"Well I'll be. That little sneak," said Cyborg suddenly coming to a conclusion. "He begged me months ago to make a holoring for him. He said it was so he could go to the movies without being bothered. But this must have been what he was thinking about the whole time."

At this revelation Robin felt himself slinking down in his chair. A large part of his reasoning for wanting Beast Boy to not participate in the show had been to save face with the city should his performance be disastrous. It seemed however that there was never a reason to worry. Beast Boy's identity was completely concealed.

Up on stage Beast Boy began his act.

"Hey, hello, how are you, hi there, how do you do, howdy, how are you doing, how's it hanging, what's going on, what's shaking, what's new, what do you think, what do you hear, what do you feel, what do you say, what do you know, que pasa, what's going down, what it is?"

He paused for a moment as a light chuckling spattered across the audience.

"I tell you we have a lot of ways to say hello, don't we? It's amazing. You know what my favorite one is though? How's your hammer hanging? I like that. Doesn't go too well with women. Unless of course you're dealing with a female carpenter. Then it's perfectly alright"

A warm bit of laughter sprang up from the crowd.

"Then there's one I never really cared for. "Are they keeping you busy?" As if someone has the right to come up and give me odd jobs."

More laughter, louder than before.

"We also have a lot of ways to say goodbye too. We have bye-bye, so long, see you later, take it easy, be cool, hang loose, stay in there. Just to shake things up every month I like to change the way I say goodbye. I used to say take it easy, but now I say farewell. Till we meet again. Peace be with you. May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house."

Loud laughter.

"That's a strong one, isn't it? People remember you if you talk like that."

More loud laughter mixed with applause.

Amazement was predominantly what Raven felt, and it was easy to tell the rest of the team felt the same way. Fighting through loud belly laughs of their own, Cyborg and Robin were in awe at the sight of the men and women around them actually enjoying Beast Boy. Though early, it was also easy to tell that this was not the same tired shtick they had come to expect from their shape shifting compatriot. There were no bad puns or juvenile wordplay, but rather humorous observations and musings. The changeling was essentially giving his own unique perspective on everyday life.

"You ever talk about a movie with someone who read the book? They're always so condescending, like "Oh the book was so much better." I'm always like, "Oh really? You know what I liked about the movie? No reading. Only took two hours."

Despite herself, Raven couldn't resist cracking the slightest smile at this, remembering that she was the one who said that exact line to Beast Boy months back. Though the style may have been different this was still very much a Beast Boy performance."

"You ever read a book that changed your life? Me neither."

After roughly twenty minutes of laughter and applause Beast Boy concluded his act to a warm ovation. Waving his hands and bowing the changeling made his way offstage and the host once again took the mic. Cyborg stood and clapped louder than anyone, Starfire nearly flew out of her chair as she let out a raucous cheer. Robin gave a more than modest round of applause and even Raven couldn't resist the urge to lightly applaud the changeling.

Finally after a the last few acts had gone it was time to announce the winner. The votes were tallied and the judges had reached a decision. Once again the host took the stage, a clean white index card in his hand. He asked for one more round of applause for everyone involved in the night's precedings, and then announced the winner.

"And this years Laugh-a-holics club champion is..."

"There he is."

Following Cyborg's outstretched arm the Titans quickly spotted Beast Boy, still in his holoring disguise leaving through the back entrance to the comedy club. Immediately there was applause and cheering. Starfire, throwing caution to the wind, flew over to the changeling and trapped him in a rib cracking bear hug.

"Oh dearest friend," she cried. "You did a most wonderful job at telling the jokes."

Beast Boy smiled though with great difficulty. "Thanks Star," he wheezed.

"Oh man," exclaimed Cyborg as he approached. "B, I gotta tell ya. That was great. I mean I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in all my life. You got robbed, man. You're act was way funnier than anyone else's. You should have won."

Again Beast Boy smiled and said thank you. "But it's not about winning," he said. "Did you see all those people laughing in there? And all because of me. That's really why I wanted to do this."

Raven, noticing Robin had yet to say anything, gave the Boy Wonder a quick nudge with her shoulder. Clearing his throat he too approached the changeling.

"Good job," he said. "That was impressive."

After he paused, Raven again gave him a nudge, this time harder and with her powers.

"And uh, I.. kind of..owe you an apology."

Cyborg, his face growing solemn, took his place beside Robin as did Starfire.

"We all do, B."

"Apology?" said Beast Boy quizically. "Oh you mean for going behind my back and trying to get me to stay away from the show because you all hated my jokes and didn't want me to lose face in front of Jump City or get horribly embarrassed? It's cool; I forgive you."

The team was stunned. He knew. He had known all along what they were trying to do and what their intentions were. He knew. They were all ready with the same question but before any of them had a chance, Beast Boy spoke again.

"Listen, guys." he said. "You might think that I don't listen but I do. All those times where you guys groaned at my jokes or told me they weren't funny I was listening. I might have argued with you but I took what you said to heart. And you were right. My jokes weren't very funny. So, I started watching professional comedians. I saw what they did and figured out what they were doing different from me. I wasn't lying when I told you guys I'd been practicing."

For a moment everything was silent. Even the city itself seemed to have fallen into a hush.

"Beast Boy," said Robin finally, struggling to find the right words. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You never bothered to ask." Suddenly the smile returned to the changeling's face. "Besides I was kind of having fun watching you guys get all serious faced at something so stupid. Though I never thought you'd actually have me kidnapped. Which reminds me, how did you get my powers to stop working?"

Robin flushed with embarrassment as his shoulders slumped. "It might have been a little zap from borrowed tech from Ding Dong Daddy's power nullifier."

"Oh," said Beast Boy, slow and exagerated. "I see."

Starfire, after a moment, interjected herself in the conversation. "You were watching us?" she asked.

"Yup. Ever since I first made my announcement a few days ago. You gotta watch out for those green flies. You never know when they might be listening."

"Well," said Cyborg. "We're really sorry, B."

Waving his hand, Beast Boy swatted the matter aside. "Don't worry about it. Now why don't we all go for some late night pizza? I'm starving."

It was several hours later, after they had all returned to the tower when Raven heard a knocking at her door. Crossing the floor to her room, she approached the exit.

"Who is it?" she called.

"Beast Boy."

Opening the door, she found the changeling standing on the other side wearing a t-shirt and sleeping pants, a friendly smile on his face.

"Hey," he said.

"Hello."

A small silence filled the room before Raven firmly but politely asked if there was anything in particular that Beast Boy wanted. Flushing slightly and rubbing the back of his neck, the changeling looked down and chuckled. He then looked back up at Raven and said:

"Sorry. I just wanted to say thanks."

"For what?" asked the empath, slightly confused.

"For..you know..helping me out and..not going along with Robin's plan and for..you know, being a friend."

Raven nodded.

"It's no problem," she said.

There was another small silence before Beast Boy spoke again.

"So," he continued. "Did you enjoy my show tonight?"

"Yes."

"Did you laugh."

"No. But I did come very close. It was refreshing to see that you're humor has evolved somewhat."

"Thanks. You know I had a tough time picking out the right material for the show. I wanted my act to be fun and peppy, so some of it I chose to cut."

"Really."

"Yeah. I mean I had a great joke about a panther eating licorice in his apartment at night when the power goes out, but I worried it was too dark."

At that Beast Boy paused as the audible thud that was his joke dropped to the floor before he clutched his sides and started laughing hysterically the way he had done countless times before.

"You get it? Panther? Licorice? Black? Too dark?" Again he let out a fierce belly laugh and nearly doubled over.

"And thus he regresses back to whence he came," said Raven, taking a step back into her room and leaving the changeling to his laughing fit.

It was after closing the door, as Raven was making her way across the floor to her bed that it hit her. She had not laughed once all night. But now as Beast Boy's last bad joke rolled through her head she suddenly found the corners of her mouth tickling. She felt her insides becoming light. Maybe it was the accumulation of every small laugh she ever held back, but at that moment she suddenly found herself laughing harder than she ever had in her entire lifetime. Throwing a hand over her mouth she struggled to hold it in, but found she could not. Dropping to her knees and clutching her sides, she laughed and laughed unable to stop herself even if she wanted to. Laughing and laughing until her insides ached and she was without breath.

After several minutes, finally the tickling in her belly subsided and she climbed to her feet. Taking deep breaths she collected herself. She sighed heavily as she realized there was no longer any denying it. To do so would be an injustice to both Beast Boy and herself. Beast Boy was funny. He told great jokes. And she loved him for it.

End

A/N: Well that's it. As usual thanks to everyone thats favorited this story or left a review. These small gestures never go unappreciated. Just to let you know the content in Beast Boy's act is a combination of material from George Carlin's Playin With Your Head and Jim Gaffigan's Doing my Time. Anyway I hope you liked this story. I'll be back soon with something new. Cause if I don't write I die :) Until then, take care of yourselves. - Sir Alwick.