which bit is best ?

[Dolly]

It would be nice to know which bit of T.M.I.A.B people find funniest.

The funniest bit I think is when J. and George return to the boat one evening to discover Harris had polished off their whiskey and let the boat drift off down stream, claiming he had been attacked by 18 (or was it 32) swans, who he had fought for 4 hours before killing them all and escaping.
More than 100 years on and MANkind is still getting smashed and talking inplausible nonsense (bless them!), and compared to some stories I've heard, Harris's story sounds perfectly rational and likely to me- I'd certainly give him the benefit of the doubt anyway.

My friend at work likes the bit where the maid servant, on being asked to examine an offensive and stinky cheese, takes a sniff and claims she can only detect a faint smell of melons. This cracks him up every time he reads it!

[sean wiles]

I have replied,three times, dolly, but it never appers on the site, shame cos my first two were quite witty, but now its run out.....(the wit has ,I mean)

[sean wiles]

ah! appear to have made it now, so, quickly before my luck runs out,what about when J accidentaly flicks G's shirt into the water after his improptu early morning swim??

[Esslund]

Favourite bit? Oh, don't get me started; there are so many...  

I suppose my favourite episode is the part in Chapter 8, where J. describes how Harris goes about making a complete fool of himself singing comical Gilbert & Sullivan songs at a party. Or in Chapter 13, on the true nature of terriers and Montmorency's conversation with a tomcat, or...

[maria martyris]

To me the funniest part has to be the part where the three try to open a tin of pineapple.

“We beat it out flat; we beat it back square; we battered it into every form known to geometry - but we could not make a hole in it.”

I laughed and laughed at the description of all they did to the pineapple tin.
 We had two selections from tmiab in school - "Packing" and "Fishy Stories - the stuffed trout". I am now rediscovering Jerome after 17 years.

[alien]

When I was a kid I laughed most at Harris singing comic songs. :-) I just couldn't stop myself laughing like crazy. :-) It's called fou-rire in French, I guess - this unstoppable kind of laughter.

I also liked the bit about Harris's adventures in the maze very much. :-)
Also the short episode when a cemetery watchman or someone of that ilk tried to convince J to visit some crypts and graves, and when J ran off in the end, he started yelling at him:
"Come and see the skulls! Do come and see the skulls!"
thinking he was doing a great favour to J., who wasn't at all inclined to see these gruesome things,  he just wanted to stand peacefully and enjoy the beauties of nature around.

I liked the Cheese Journey episode, too - especially when J's friend's wife came in, sniffed at the air and said:
"What's happened to my husband? Tell me the worst" or something to that effect. :-)