Biography Humor

‘I never once attended a Sunday morning church service in Stanford. There was always the feeling that they weren’t aimed at families like ours.’ Pam Ayres was the sixth child in a hard-up family who lived in a council house, her parents’ generation were harrowed by the war. Yet they lived by the green in the village of Stanford in the Vale, where everything you needed was within walking distance and the sound of motorcars was rarely heard.

Born in 1903, and until his death in 2003, Bob Hope was the only entertainer to achieve top-rated success in every major mass-entertainment medium, from vaudeville to television and everything in between. He virtually invented modern stand-up comedy. His tours to entertain US troops and patriotic radio broadcasts, along with his all-American, brash-but-cowardly movie character, helped to ease the nation's jitters during the stressful days of World War II.

In an intimate portrait penned by the close friend Terry chose to write his memoir, Seriously Silly is the story of one our greatest comedy legends. Taking in his major successes as well as his personal battles, it is the whole story, from his start as a war baby in the picturesque coastal town of Colwyn Bay, to meeting his lifelong friend Michael Palin at Oxford and the journey that took him on a convoluted pathway through revue sketches, anarchic children's shows, Monty Python, TV presenting and beyond.

When comedian and actor Vir Das found himself stranded on a pier in Cozumel, Mexico, watching his cruise ship sail away without him due to visa issues, it became a metaphor for his life: he’s always been, and will always be, an outsider. Standing on that beach, he took in the absurdity of it all—broke, hungover, dumped, jobless, trousers full of sand. He knew the best way to deal with the situation wasn’t to retreat. It was to laugh.

Both a hysterical tell-all memoir of the author's stumbles and triumphs in becoming mindfully masculine, as well as a practical drivers manual for navigating the twists and turns of mature manhood, Mindful Masculinity is a joy to read or to listen to. Scott Grace, once a prolific recording artist and stand-up comedian who opened for Robin Williams and many other legends, brings his comic touch to a very serious subject.

Bestselling children's author Andy Stanton has made a career out of writing differently—from the unconventional ‘hero' of his bestselling Mr Gum series to his penchant for absurdist plots, his children's books are anything but formulaic. When a friend introduces him to ChatGPT, the new large language chatbot, Andy is as sceptical as he is curious. Can this jumble of algorithms really mimic the spontaneity of human thought? Could it one day replace human authors like him for good? And are we soon to be ruled over by despotic robot overlords.

Va Pu Kale narrates funny incidents from his experiences in a very fruitful way.

Sewists, you deserve a good laugh. Beth is a former president of her local sewing guild and loves to sew. Rich has a lot of time on his hands after retiring early. Follow the humorous antics of these two as they adjust to his new found freedom. He wants to micromanage her days, and she just wants to sew! You’ll relate to their back and forth and chuckle at the anecdotes within. The only problem being how to put it down to get something else done, or finish work on a sewing project.

The stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul will encourage listeners to stay upbeat, because there's always a brighter way to look at life. This collection includes 32 Stories of Christmas humor, memories, and holiday traditions.

The myth of an epic, public life—its triumphs and tragedies—is a particularly American obsession. ROAR is a metafictional exploration of such a life and attendant fame of an extraordinary, and completely made up, man.

From the day she was born, Tamara Yajia entered the world on a wave of absurdity. She was the newest member of a family no one would call normal, from her grandfather the salami obsessed poppers salesman, to her mother, the OnlyFans model. Not only will her family try anything once, like moving to the United States and opening a food stand named Sexy Chicken; they'll try anything multiple times, like moving back to Argentina, then back to the United States, all while Tamara manages to achieve some success as a preteen child actress.

Comedian, monologist, and storyteller Mike Albo takes listeners along on his quest for love in the digital age in this insightful, funny, quirky audio original.

Even twenty years into marriage, Helen Ellis’s husband still makes her heart pitter patter. The New York Times bestselling author paints a portrait of true romance for our times in these surprising, sexy, and hilariously frank essays about love, marriage, and her last first kiss.

Have you ever been curious what happens when you take a leap of faith into entrepreneurship? Unfulfilled in her corporate job, and frustrated with dating app options, I Failed, is a humorous recounting of Whitney Linscott’s attempt to launch a dating app. This book pulls the curtain back on what it's really like to be an entrepreneur and has more twists, turns, and hair raising scares than a roller coaster at a carnival that was assembled by a drunk orangutan.

In this touching and witty book, award-winning presenter and comic Robin Ince uses the life of the stand-up as a way of exploring some of the biggest questions we all face. Where does anxiety come from? How do we overcome imposter syndrome? What is the key to creativity? How can we deal with grief? Informed by personal insights from Robin as well as interviews with some of the world's top comedians, neuroscientists and psychologists, this is a hilarious and often moving primer to the mind.

For half a century Ken Dodd has been sending audiences around Britain in to spasms of laughter and at the age of 80 he is still performing. How did this feather duster salesman from Liverpool become one of the greatest comic geniuses of his generation? In this entertaining biography we follow his life from schooldays in Knotty Ash to the top of his profession with the odd excursion through the courts and Shakespeare!

This fast-paced, high-energy collection of short works features today's most popular writers and illustrators on what it means to be a guy. Contributors include Chris Crutcher, Stephen King, Matt Groening, Daniel Pinkwater, Neil Gaiman, and many more.

Las caídas, errores, fracasos y sacadas de chucha son parte de la vida, pero también los aciertos, las veces que nos levantamos y lo que aprendemos. Carmen Castillo sabe mejor que nadie lo que significa superar la adversidad y conoce la fuerza que puede tener una frase. Con el humor y la franqueza que la caracterizan, en este audiolibro realiza una radiografía de su vida, desde sus momentos más bajos hasta sus mayores (y a veces inesperados) logros. Empápate de los diez mandamientos del shine, donde Carmen explica cómo ve y vive la vida.

Sin inmutarse por lo absurdo, Munroe consulta las últimas investigaciones sobre todo, desde la física de los columpios hasta el diseño de catapultas de aviones.

In Black Out Loud, Bennett chronicles the transformative history of Black comedy in America, drawing on research and interviews with the actors and executives behind some of the most impactful shows. This brilliant exploration traces the evolution of Black comics and provocateurs who reshaped the culture and ultimately became powerful agents of social change -- transforming the way America laughed along the way.