I think this discussion of Kierkegaard falls a little flat as an introduction to him for those who haven't already read him. One thing about his writing that is curiously missing in this piece is how /funny/ he is. He is witty, sarcastic, hilarious, and eminently readable. For example, here's a very short chapter from Either/Or (it's from the aesthetic perspective A)

http://sorenkierkegaard.nl/artikelen/Engels/145.%20THE%20ROT...

I wonder to what extent that's just a question of historical distance.

Off the top of my head and in no particular order of "greatness" or time: Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Donne, Thoreau, Kafka, and Melville are also, in their own ways, capable of really good comedy. We just see them as "classics" and thus they're stuffy and meant to be taken seriously.

+ cervantes - dox quixote shocked me with how funny it is. Like a three stooges novel.

Voltaire's Candide was pretty darn funny too. That's all I've read of his, though, so I'm not sure if all his writing is like that.

he was trying to be funny (and stick a knife in liebnitz), anyway. Voltaire's definitely got the "biting satire" down pat.

Seriously. Kierkegaard has been a long-time favorite, and he's never ceased to make me laugh while making me think.

A lot of philosophers really are quite funny; David Hume could be particularly sarcastic, especially when discussing religion.

Bertrand Russell is also a delight to read; as someone who made history of philosophy their portfolio, his 'deep cuts', as it were, are often quite quick and incisive. You can feel that wry smile of his.

"all people are boring" a little too on the nose.