I love this story simply because if you read the entire story and not the last line, it is worthless.

I also liked Fredric Brown's shorter, funnier (and earlier) version:

http://www.alteich.com/oldsite/answer.htm

(For some reason, I had thought this was one of Asimov's as well...)

That's great, I didn't know this existed! I had heard people retell Fredric Brown's version of this story and thought they were talking about Asimov's story. Thanks for the link.

I had always confused "The Last Question" with another Asimov work... "The Last Answer".

I had first read TLQ many years ago, and had recently tried to find the story online, only to come across TLA. As hard as I tried, I couldn't come across the original story about the Multi-Vac (which, of course, is TLQ). I became briefly convinced that I had never actually read TLQ, but had made the story up in my head... until I read this post. Turns out I'm not actually genius. Kudos!

http://destructionoverdrive.blogspot.com/2005/06/last-answer...

I like "The Last Answer" also. It says a lot about Asimov's religious views. My first exposure to Asimov short stories was Robot Dreams which has both The Last Question and The Last Answer.

Great story. I was trying to track down the name after reading the Clarke thread (though Asimov wrote it, not Clarke).

Oh man, yes. best ever.