Comedy Essays

A suite of poems that channels the legendary singer-songwriter Ritchie Valens to examine and question mid-twentieth-century conceptions of race and art, identity and desire Ragged and raging across the spectrums of cognition, race, and gender, Tarta Americana lyrically envisions forms of...

‘Divya writes of difficult times with candour and heart-rending simplicity’ Shabana AzmiCapturing the beauty of a mother–daughter relationship, Divya Dutta in this moving memoir celebrates her mother’s struggles to turn her into the woman she is today. Divya walks us through the most...

Love and hope often arrive in the strangest places and in the strangest ways. During his tour of duty in Iraq, LtCol Jay Kopelman of the U.S. Marines endured the emotional stress common for those involved in bloody battles for freedom. Although the rules forbid pets, Kopelman and his comrades...

In this classic novella, harried human explorers must try to figure out the lifeways and motivations of some extremely strange and enigmatic alien creatures on one of the strangest planets ever portrayed in science fiction - and do it all before the clock runs out...

A sharp, funny, delightfully unhinged collection of stories set in the dark world of domesticity, American Housewife features murderous ladies who lunch, celebrity treasure hunters, and the best bra fitter south of the Mason Dixon line. Meet the women of American Housewife: they wear lipstick...

A hilarious guide to life from a man who has "lived large and fallen hard--lost every job I ever had, messed up everybody I've ever dated, been kicked out of every institution I've ever been in"--and still survived; offering observations on courage ("Lots of guys brag they'd fight off anything...

Attention would-be paesans: Can’t distinguish “gabagool” from “pasta fazool”? Not sure how to properly accessorize your track suit with gold chains? Does the phrase “go to the mattresses” make you sleepy? Now Steven R. Schirripa, The Sopranos’ own Bobby Bacala, exposes the inner...

"Where did the name Radha come from?When did Christianity first come to India?What is the connection between sanskar and dharma? After the enormous success of the first two seasons of EPIC Channel’s Devlok with Devdutt Pattanaik, India’s favourite mythologist is back with a third instalment...

Jonathan Lethem's new collection of stories is a feast for his fans and the perfect introduction for new listeners-- a smorgasbord of fantastic, amusing, poignant tales written in a dizzying variety of styles. Lethem is a trailblazer fo a new kind of literary fiction, sampling high and low...

The star of Bravo’s new comedy Odd Mom Out and author of The Ex Mrs. Hedgefund and Wolves in Chic Clothing firmly believes in Woody Allen’s magical math equation: Comedy = Tragedy + Time. Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut is a delightful collection of essays and observations based on Jill...

Katrin Weber ist einer der hellsten Sterne am sächsischen Kabaretthimmel. Zusammen mit Bestsellerautor Stefan Schwarz plaudert sie aus ihrem Leben voller Missgeschicke, Pannen und Ungeschicktheiten, die sie bis auf die Bühne verfolgten - größtenteils ehrlich und umwerfend komisch. Sie werden lachen. Garantiert. Die kleine Katrin hatte es schwer. Zu dick, zu langsam, zu dusselig: Stehen, Laufen, Pubertieren, die Liebe.

Why are Americans so disinterested in politics? Because we can be. Democracy is voluntary. And our lack of interest hasn't happened overnight. It can be traced directly back to our ever-decreasing attention spans. We need anything politically important rationed out like Pez-small, sweet, and...

Another story of Roma Eterna. A Roman nobleman is sent in punishment to a remote corner of the Empire–the Arabian city we know as Mecca...

For news junkies and fans of the bizarre-but-true, here is an outrageous collection of all-real, all-weird news stories culled from the nation's mainstream newspapers!...

"Caroline is watchful and sincere, shy yet earnest. She seldom speaks, and when she does her lips scarcely part, so that sometimes Lewis must listen closely to distinguish her voice from the cycling of her breath. Her eyes are a miracle - a startled blue with frail green spikes bound by a ring...

"We must all hang together," Benjamin Franklin is reported to have said to his revolutionary peers, "or we will assuredly all hang separately." This is a sentiment that's even more appropriate, and more urgent, when you're lost between the stars in a crippled and out-of-control ship, your...

In this Martian adventure story, two men fly to the highest mountain on Mars, and in the process learn more about Mars and about themselves. Bova's work is premeated by the idea of space as a new frontier, and of SF settings as opportunities for explorers and entrepreneuers, the classic Heinlein...

A story from the collection FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES, a work of startling authority and imagination–an audiobook that is as wondrous and joyful as it is wrenchingly sad. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “Taut, edgy, sharply observed. . . . A revelation of the human condition.”...

A story from the collection FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES, in which Englander envisions a group of Polish Jews herded toward a train bound for the death camps and, in a deft, imaginative twist, turns them into acrobats tumbling out of harm’s way. FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES...

Karl Kraus gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Aphoristiker deutscher Sprache. Ob berühmte Schriftsteller oder die Presse - nichts und niemand wurde von der gnadenlosen Kritik seiner Feder verschont. Bekannte Künstler wie Stefan Zweig, Georg Trakl, Thomas Mann und andere zollten ihm Respekt, aber die Zahl seiner Feinde in Kunst und Gesellschaft war enorm. Als Vorleser hinterließ er aufgrund seiner Sprachgewalt und Persönlichkeit angeblich einen äußerst außergewöhnlichen Eindruck.