Comedy Essays

An intimate memoir portraying a life spent trying to describe the indescribable—from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of The Hours and Day Go ahead. Try using language to slit the skin of mortality to see what’s on the other side. At the age of three, Michael Cunningham began obsessively...

Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show and one of today's most hilarious comedians and insightful social critics, pens a brilliant account of how she discovered her comedic voice. In this collection of autobiographical essays, Winstead vividly recounts how she fought to find her own voice...

There's good news for those that rage at the evening news, shake their heads at Washington's business-as-usual, or watch as politicians carom from social crisis to political crisis to economic crisis: Dennis Miller is back, and he means to shake the nation by its lapels. Miller...

Comedy writer and middle daughter of Al Gore, Kristin Gore has written a funny and moving debut novel about life on Capitol Hill as seen through the eyes of Samantha Joyce, a twenty-six year old health care analyst to Ohio Junior Senator Robert Gary. Hard working, idealistic, extremely competent...

In Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why, acclaimed satirist Alexandra Petri offers perfectly logical, reassuring reasons for everything that has happened in recent American politics that will in no way unsettle your worldview. In essays both new and adapted from her viral Washington Post columns, Petri reports that the Trump administration is as competent as it is uncorrupted, white supremacy has never been less rampant, and men have been silenced for too long. The "woman card" is a powerful card to play! Q-Anon makes perfect sense!

From leading critic and essayist Emily Eakin, a stylish personal history of French theory and its unlikely domination of American culture When Emily Eakin arrived at Harvard in the late 1980s, she fell under the spell of an eclectic body of philosophical texts by a handful of French authors...

“Tenderhearted and filled with sweeping magical adventures, These Kindred Hearts vividly captures the beauty of love, promising thrills, hope, and happily ever afters. From first kisses to second chances, every story in this anthology is a must read for romance readers of all ages. Truly...

In this witty, absurd, and surprisingly moving memoir-in-essays, comedian Alison Leiby unpacks the multitudes women are told to be—and the joy of refusing to pick just one. Have you ever frozen when someone asks, "So, tell me about yourself?" If so, take a page from I'm a Lot. Alison Leiby...

Most Anticipated Book of 2026: People "Take What You Can is so brilliantly, unbelievably good I have a burning in my heart.... Love is utterly bewildering, and nobody writes about it better than Naima Coster."—Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich From the New York...

From The New York Times bestselling author of a Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing comes an update of John Steinbeck’s trip in Travels with Charley, a cross-country journey exploring modern America with Lauren Hough’s signature observational wit, searing social commentary, and perspective as...

From the Emmy–nominated comedian who created “the best segment in late night” (Vulture) comes this hilarious and practical collection of advice for how to live your best life in love, at work, and in comedy. You’d think with a résumé like Jenny Hagel’s—being a writer/performer for...

“Vivid . . . These stories, in which class divisions form impassable rifts and submission to the status quo comes at great psychic cost, have much to say about our contemporary reality." —The New York Times Book Review “What a gift to have these stories translated, finally, into English...

A collection of short stories from The Big Garage on Clear Shot chronicles the offbeat lives of the colorful inhabitants of The End of the Road, a small town in Alaska...

Culled from Bodett's syndicated radio show, these interconnected stories captures the essence of life in America--especially Homer, Alaska, the sort of place where the keys are left in the snowplow in case someone gets stuck after hours...

"A decidedly skewed, hilarious collection of life reflections and colorful storytelling." — Kirkus Reviews An endlessly entertaining collection of wayward autobiographical tales about a search for a richer life thwarted at every turn by beagles, bureaucrats, and ill-advised love affairs The...

The bestselling author of American Housewife and Southern Lady Code returns with an “inspiring, hilarious, straight-to-the-point” (Entertainment Weekly) collection of essays on friendship among grown-ass women. "Ellis' prose is filled with so many laugh lines, you might want to go ahead and...

With this latest work of fiction, a collaboration with New York Times writer, John Tierney, Christopher Buckley promises to be every bit as hilarious and witty as in his previous audiobook, Thank You For Smoking. In God Is My Broker, Buckley aims his sharp humor at the self-help gurus; and the...

Donald Trump won the presidency by being a one-man wrecking ball against our dysfunctional and corrupt establishment. Now Ann Coulter, with her unique insight, candor, and sense of humor, makes the definitive case for why we should all join his revolution. The media have twisted...

The Best Opening Monologues from Politically Incorrect starring Bill Maher Featuring an introduction by Penn Jillette For everyone who's had their fill of politicians, TV trials and the daily events seen on the evening news, Simon & Schuster Audio offers some relief with POLITICAL...

For almost a decade, beloved storyteller E. Lynn Harris has welcomed you into his family with his passionate, warm and trail-blazing novels. Now, he invites you into the most intimate world ever--his own. Since his first book Invisible Life was published in the early 1990s, New York Times...