Comedy category: 18107 books

Mike Myers thinks he was “a genius”, while John Cleese regards him as “a true cultural icon”. He was an architect of British comedy, paving the way for Monty Python, and then became a major Hollywood star, forever remembered as Igor in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. A writer, director,...

To consider comedy in its many incarnations is to raise diverse but related questions: what, for instance, is humour, and how may it be used (or abused)? When do we laugh, and why? What is it that writers and speakers enjoy - and risk - when they tell a joke, indulge in bathos, talk nonsense, or encourage...

"Get More Laughs From Your Laughs is worth more than all of the 30 other comedy books in my library. Great innovations, all very usable and adaptable!"-Barron Stringfellow "Your little book contains more practical information than the excellent books I already have by Eastman...

As the heady promise of the 1960s sagged under the weight of widespread violence, rioting, and racial unrest, two young men--one black and one white--took to stages across the nation to help Americans confront their racial divide: by laughing at it. Tim and Tom tells the story of that pioneering...

Highly entertaining account of a young man's first year as a rookie comedian. His comedy is focused on the world rather than the church, and he gigs regularly around the country ' average three times a week. He has a considerable following through the churches but also does a great deal of work through...

From one of Australia’s most successful comedians comes *The Cheeky Monkey, a practitioner’s guide to the art of comedy writing. Both insightful and practical, The Cheeky Monkey explains the principles of sitcom writing and guides the reader in how to apply them. Seeded with exercises to aid the...

The king of radio comedy from the Great Depression through the early 1950s, Jack Benny was one of the most influential entertainers in twentieth-century America. A master of comic timing and an innovative producer, Benny, with his radio writers, developed a weekly situation comedy to meet radio’s...

With a Foreword by John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight In celebration of the 50th anniversary of its BBC debut, a revised and updated edition of the complete oral history of Monty Python—an insightful, in-depth portrait of the brilliant and hysterically funny show that transformed modern...

The new book, Hot Chocolate For The Mind, is a collection of funny short stories and musings from Stand-Up Comedian Dwayne Perkins. Dwayne has traveled the world and luckily his sense of humor, keen observational skills, laptop and fingers were with him along the way. The native New Yorker, residing...

In 1958, former circus aerialist Dudley Riggs opened a Minneapolis coffeehouse with a stage for performers and created an American comedic institution. What started as a way to draw customers on slow nights became the Brave New Workshop, a comedy theater sinking its satirical talons deep into the...

Entropic comedy is the phrase coined by Patrick O'Neill in this study to identify a particular mode of twentieth-century narrative that is not generally recognized. He describes it as the narrative expression of forms of decentred humour, or what might more loosely be called 'black humour.' O'Neill...

Comedy is subjective and it’s pretty much all over the board. There’s clean comedy, dirty jokes, long-winded story jokes, silly jokes, funny sounds, pictures and words, there’s even humor to be found from the Bible and from the religious community. It seems there is no end as to where the funny...

The riveting, mega-bestselling, beloved and highly acclaimed memoir of a man, a vocation, and an era named one of the ten best nonfiction titles of the year by Time and Entertainment Weekly. In the mid-seventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert...

Dawn French is one of the greatest comedy actresses of our time, with a career that has spanned nearly three decades. Loved for her irreverant humour, Dawn has achieved massive mainstream success while continuing to push boundaries and challenge stereotypes. Here she describes the journey that would...