Writing/Performing Comedy. I also like Eating Food, Hilariousness, Being Alive, other things I should list in the future. Oh yes: riding my bike! I do enjoy that quite a bit. Hiking, camping. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy heckling hecklers while doing standup - sometimes that's more fun than actually performing.
I like people who don't let their means define them, people who challenge themselves - people who do what they say they're going to do. Steve Martin, J.S. Bach, John Cleese, Bob Odenkirk, Stephen Wright, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Raymond Scott, other people who know who the above-mentioned people are and enjoy what they do. Whoever made the Antikythera Mechanism -- I mean what the fuck?
Currently on the 'pod (in alphabetical-type order):
Beatles
Garrison Keillor
Incredible Bongo Bad
J.S. Bach
Kirsty MacColl
Modern Lovers
Nermal
Professor Murder
Scott, John and Chris (Pothead Princess)
Sigur Ros
Southern Culture On The Skids
Th' Legendary Shack*Shakers
The Stranglers
The Ventures
Wall Of Voodoo
I like films that inspire wonder. A few names: Peter Jackson, Wes Anderson, Terry Gilliam, Hayao Miyazaki, David Lynch, Ray Harryhausen, George Lucas, Tim Burton, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Dave McKean, Mel Stuart, Spike Jonze.
Also, I think I absorb comedy through my skin: The Coen Brothers, Jared Hess, Christopher Guest, Adam McKay, The Marx Brothers, Liam Lynch.
Then you have other folks: that Noah Baumbach / Sophia Coppola coming-of-age stuff, Stanley Kubrick, Robert Zemeckis (tell me you didn't like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"!), Jim Jarmusch (especially "Coffee and Cigarettes" - what the hell is going on with Bill Murray and the Wu-Tang Clan??)
MY TV is only hooked up to the DVD player and the closest I've come to watching recent television is through the Chapelle's Show DVDs, the Arrested Development DVD's, etc. Is Sullivan still on?
Currently reading Mervyn Peake's "The Gormenghast Novels".
I've really gotten into Tolkien lately - I have re-read the Silmarillion several times over the last few months. He truly was a creative genius.
Besides comedies, I like reading first-hand accounts of historical events and people (fellow history nerds click here )as well as anything related to myth.
Graham Chapman (not for the usual reasons, though - a liscenced physician who was also part of the greatest movements in 20th century comedy? This person could have done anything he set his mind to. A unique intelligence)
Teddy Roosevelt - A cowboy, a statesman, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, a boxer, a scholar, an author, a lieutenant colonel, a President of the United States.
J.S. Bach - His work is precise and orderly, and besides - the man composed and could play "Two Part Invention". (Psst - go learn about "Two Part Invention")
Steve Martin - Besides being voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy acts by fellow comedians Steve is also a great comedy writer, actor, juggler and an exceptional musician (specifically the banjo) and composer. An avid collector of modern American art and a great contributor to museums. He's written consistently for The New Yorker, penned several plays and authored two novels and at least two collections of short stories.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien - What can you say? He surpasses all else in terms of pure creative power. He created a consistent, working universe.
Others: Jacques-Henri Lartigue and his buddy Zissou. Fred Rogers. I'll finish this later.