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His early novels are much more parody of fantasy tropes whereas the later novels are a reflection of our world. Also, as with any author, the writing improves, the characters gain depth and the stories themselves gain depth as the author gains experience. But the early novels are worth reading as background to Discworld, just be aware that they are nowhere near as polished as the later ones.
Personally my favourite line is the Watch, although the Tiffany books are excellent and Esme is one of my favourite characters. Definitely check out some of his non-Discworld books - I love Good Omens and Only You Can Save Mankind (but be sure to read Ender's Game first!)
I haven't found many other authors that come close - I've read Douglas Adams, Jasper Fforde, Robert Rankin and Tom Holt. I think Tom Holt comes closest, although I preferred his earlier works (Expecting Someone Taller, Here Comes the Sun) to his more recent stuff. I found Jasper Fforde a little too smug with the literary references - The Eyre Affair was quite good, but the joke was really only good for one book, not an ongoing series. Robert Rankin was ok, but just didn't grab me (though I still read several of them), and the obsession with the Milk Marketing Board (IIRC) was stretched too far, IMO. Douglas Adams was good, and if you can get hold of it, the original radio play of H2G2 is excellent, but it's a different sort of humour to TP.
Lately I've been going more for the snarky urban fantasy/crime novels of Simon Green and Jim Butcher. Green in particular has been taking aim at fantasy/SF tropes for years - Deathstalker, the Hawk & Fisher novellas, plus the first Rupert & Julia novel Blue Moon Rising.
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