Comic Memoirs

In a collection of personal essays that are “both rip-roaringly funny and sentimental, drawing natural (and justified) comparisons to David Sedaris and David Rakoff” (Esquire), longtime recording artist and actor Sam Harris recounts stories of friendship, love, celebrity, and growing up and...

This collection of audio selections from Murray Langston, aka the Unknown Comic, includes his revealing memoir and a laugh-out-loud book of jokes that takes aim at the Kardashians.

In this “necessary and beautifully told story of struggle, compassion and serendipity” (Forbes), the publisher of DC Comics comes to the rescue of a family trying to flee Nazi Berlin, their lives linking up with a dazzling cast of 20th-century icons, all eagerly pursuing the American Dream...

Political analyst and Democratic campaign veteran Mark Hannah and renowned New Yorker illustrator Bob Staake give Barack Obama the victory lap he deserves in this compendium that takes the president’s critics head-on and celebrates the president’s many underappreciated triumphs. Barack...

In the third drily hilarious volume of A Comic History Of England, we move forward to the thirteenth century, when a succession of Edwards and Henrys gain the throne and immediately use it to steal everything they can from the population, in order to fund attempts to conquer France (or pay their debts from conquering England). Along the way we get the fabled Black Prince, one of the greatest battles in English history, a queen far more powerful than her king or sons, and a consideration of the manners and condition of the English period up to this point in the history.

How do you land a sweet six-figure marketing gig at the hallowed record label known for having signed everyone from Led Zeppelin to Stone Temple Pilots? You start with a resume like Dan Kennedy's: Dressed up as a member of Kiss every Halloween Memorized Led Zeppelin IV at age ten ...

Actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and journalist Emily Kimbrough offer a lighthearted, hilarious memoir of their European tour in the 1920s, when they were fresh out of college from Bryn Mawr.

Follow comedian Gabriel Rutledge on an occasionally-uncomfortable, always-funny look at the life of a modern road comic as he continues his climb toward the middle of the pack. Equal parts incisive and intimate, Rutledge relates—in hilarious detail—the challenges and struggles of raising a family and pursuing a comedy career, all while battling the horrors of the comedy condo, the slow death of performing to a captive nursing home audience, and the nightmare of air travel with a fellow comedian who just can’t pick up on social cues.

An uncensored history of standup comedy in Miami, Florida, and how it was a microcosm of the regional live comedy scenes all over these United States, back in the days when free speech, hard drugs, and the mafia ruled the streets.

This illuminating biography focuses as much on Stan Lee's ideas as it does on his unlikely rise to stardom. It surveys his cultural and religious upbringing and draws surprising connections between celebrated comic book heroes and the ancient tales of the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. Was Spider-Man just a reincarnation of Cain? Is the Incredible Hulk simply Adam by another name? From close readings of Lee's work to little-known anecdotes from Marvel's history, the book paints a portrait of Lee that goes much deeper than one of his signature onscreen cameos.

In this insightful and provocative book, comics-industry veteran Danny Fingeroth explores the backgrounds of the most well-known superheroes and their creators—largely young American Jewish men from Eastern European backgrounds. These innovators include Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Will Eisner, and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In Disguised as Clark Kent, Fingeroth explores how the creators’ Jewish backgrounds helped make superheroes the most familiar popular-culture icons of all.

Michael E. Uslan, executive producer of the Batman movie franchise, offers an insider’s look at Hollywood and the process of how movies and television shows go from the drawing board to your screens. Continuing the delightful tale of his adventures begun in The Boy Who Loved Batman, Uslan draws on both his successful and less successful attempts to bring ideas to the screen, offering a helpful, honest, and breezily told guide to producing films.

Red Diaper Baby includes three comic autobiographical monologues by performer Josh Kornbluth: "The Mathematics of Change", "Haiku Tunnel", and the title piece. Together, and with the author's introduction, the monologues compose a bildungsroman that is both comic and poignant. Kornbluth shows a deep affection for the wild, eccentric characters who people his universe. With a few deft strokes he paints unforgettable portraits, as true as they are funny.

The compilation audiobook featuring Tom Bodett's most beloved stories...

Growing up with undiagnosed OCD sure isn’t easy, and here Pan Cooke shares his own experiences with that condition in a memoir that is as funny as it is powerfully candid and openhearted. Pan Cooke is ten years old when anxious thoughts begin to take over his brain like pieces of an impossible...

How Comedy Saved My Life is the brutally honest, darkly funny, and ultimately redemptive story of John Perrotta—a Rhode Island prison guard by day, stand-up comic by night. For decades, John lived two lives. On stage, he was a relentless crowd-work master, booking gigs with rising legends like Bill Burr, Lenny Clarke, Tammy Pescatelli, and Tom Cotter. Off stage, he was drowning in booze, gambling, and drugs, hitting rock bottom more times than he can count—until a near-death experience forced him to make the biggest comeback of his life.