Funny Biography

I never planned to write about my life with cerebral palsy (CP), but after years of absurd, frustrating, and hilarious experiences, I had to share them. This book is part memoir, part guide to navigating an able-bodied world when your body has its own agenda. From my mom almost being mistaken for a prostitute to a first date disaster in a movie theater, my life is full of bizarre encounters. Doctors talk over me, cops have been afraid of me, and strangers treat me like a sideshow.

Labor Day, 1969: Two recent college graduates move to New York to edit a new magazine called the National Lampoon. Over the next decade, Henry Beard and Doug Kenney, along with a loose amalgamation of fellow satirists such as Michael O’Donoghue and P. J. O’Rourke, popularized a smart, caustic, ironic brand of humor that has become the dominant voice of American comedy. Ranging from sophisticated political satire to broad raunchy jokes, the National Lampoon introduced iconoclasm to the mainstream, selling millions of copies to an audience both large and devoted.

Who almost turned down his iconic role on The Sopranos because he could not sing? Did Katharine Hepburn really build the Uris building? How did a simple handshake with President Kennedy almost end in disaster? In his debut memoir, Too Funny for Words, Jerry Adler reveals all for the first time! In his career as a theater director, producer, and actor that has spanned over seventy years, Adler has certainly had his fair share of laughs, and is ready to take listeners on a reminiscent journey of Hollywood tales past.

No Smiling Allowed is a comedic take on life in the former Soviet Union, as an immigrant in America. Julia Bendis has compiled many years of funny stories about her old-fashioned and traditional Russian parents, their understanding of how life works in the United States, their hilarious adventures, and her own younger generation's view of what it was like to blend in as a weird-looking kid from Russia.

“Jess Gutierrez has a one-of-a-kind talent for showing how hilarious and absurd life can be—and, lucky reader, she is ready to share her escapades with the rest of us. I couldn’t put this book down.” —W. Kamau Bell, comedian and author of The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell “Like...

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...

From the irreverent star of Fox News’s Red Eye and The Five, hilarious observations on the manufactured outrage of an oversensitive, wussified culture. Greg Gutfeld hates artificial tolerance. At the root of every single major political conflict is the annoying coddling Americans must endure...

When Angeline Jackson was a child, she wondered if there was something wrong with her for wanting to kiss the other girls. But as her sexuality blossomed in her teens, she knew she wouldn’t “grow out of it” and that her attraction to girls wasn’t against God. In fact, she discovered that same-sex relationships were depicted in the Bible, which she read devoutly, even if the tight-knit evangelical Christian community she grew up in believed any sexual relationship outside of marriage between a man and woman was a sin, and her society, Jamaica, criminalized homosexual sex.

The Funny Thing About Death is a hilarious memoir of two unconventional girls growing up in the 1970s. They didn't fit in at the Air Force bases they were raised on or the strict convent boarding school they were sent to. The Air Force was obsessed with communists and the nuns were obsessed with the Virgin Mary, neither of which were of interest to Jo or Annie.

When satirist John Clarke died, in 2017, many people mourned his passing as if they had lost a friend or a member of the family. Many of us felt we grew up with him. After all, for the best part of half a century, since he burst into our lives as Fred Dagg in 1974, he was a performer, an actor, a writer, a satirist and as a commentator in both Australia and New Zealand. In this fascinating memoir, Lorin Clarke tells the story of growing up with her famous father, her art historian mother Helen and her little sister Lucia. Much has been written about John Clarke, but this is the insider’s view.

For the last 25 years, Jeff Silverman has been the President of YukYuk's comedy club: one of the world's largest stand-up comedy chains. With a career spanning more than forty years, Jeff has helped launchthe careers of Jim Carey, Howie Mandel and Russell Peters, and started his business career with the 99-cent Roxy Theatre back in the '70s, showcasing cult underground movie marathons. He went on to run the New Yorker Theatre and Horseshoe Tavern music venues, bringing in bands like The Police and The Ramones for the very first time.

"Talk to the hand, ’cause the face ain’t listening," the saying goes. When did the world stop wanting to hear? When did society become so thoughtless? It’s a topic that has been simmering for years, and Lynne Truss says it’s now reached the boiling point. Taking on the boorish behavior...

A stand-up comedian beloved for her combination of feisty wit and Southern charm, Pierce knows all too well that life is funny—until it’s not. But she also knows that it will become funny again. She’s held on to that hope—and that promise—through tragedy and triumph. And now she’s finally ready to tell her full story. In Life Is Funny until It’s Not, Pierce recounts a preacher’s daughter’s childhood filled with heartbreak, including abuse, her parents’ divorce, and the sudden deaths of her two sisters in the span of two years.

The Noble Hustle is Pulitzer finalist Colson Whitehead’s hilarious memoir of his search for meaning at high stakes poker tables, which the author describes as “Eat, Pray, Love for depressed shut-ins.” On one level, The Noble Hustle is a familiar species of participatory journalism--a...

From the host of Fox News @ Night, a deeply personal book about finding purpose and growth amid life’s unpredictability. “What a gift this book will be to your soul.”—Lysa TerKeurst Whether it's her work today as a reporter and host for Fox News, her years in law school, or the time she...

For fans of books like Waiter Rant, and all those who have always wondered how the other half lives, comes this heartfelt, laugh-out-loud memoir from a New York City doorman with astute ears and a penchant for storytelling As an academically gifted Latino kid growing up in the Bronx, Stephen...

""The essay collection everyone’s talking about.""—New York A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024: Elle, The Millions, LitHub, Nylon, BookPage, PureWow, and more From the national bestselling novelist and essayist, a groundbreaking collection of brand-new pieces about the role of cultural...

*Vulture's Best Comedy Book of 2023* From the author of Generation Friends, featuring brand-new interviews with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, a surprising, incisive, and often hilarious book about the film that changed comedy, Anchorman. It’s been nearly twenty years since Ron Burgundy burst...

An improv comedian all his life, and a standup comedian for over 15 years, Dave Gutteridge combines his comedy experience with the latest scientific research on humor and the human brain to offer his take on what exactly it is that makes us laugh. Whether you're trying to get a little funnier, on stage or in daily life, or if you're just curious about humor and laughter, this book will provide insights not only on how and why we laugh, but on how we relate.

An entertaining and insightful homage to Tom Hanks, America's favorite movie star, from the New York Times bestselling author of the cult sensation The Tao of Bill Murray. Niceness gets a bad rap these days. Our culture rewards those who troll the hardest and who snark the most. At times it...