Biography Humor

Award-Winning Finalist in the Narrative: Non-Fiction category of the 2020 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book FestIn 1988, a young, mid-level employee named Art Bell pitched a novel concept - a television channel focused 100 percent on just one thing: Comedy - to the chairman of HBO. The station that would soon become Comedy Central, with celebrated programs like South Park, Chapelle’s Show, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report, was born.

Bestselling children's author Andy Stanton has made a career out of writing differently—from the unconventional ‘hero' of his bestselling Mr Gum series to his penchant for absurdist plots, his children's books are anything but formulaic. When a friend introduces him to ChatGPT, the new large language chatbot, Andy is as sceptical as he is curious. Can this jumble of algorithms really mimic the spontaneity of human thought? Could it one day replace human authors like him for good? And are we soon to be ruled over by despotic robot overlords.

From a childhood spent making smoke bombs, killing wasps and carving soap in '70s Kent, Harry Hill then found himself in charge of hundreds of sick people as a junior doctor. Out of his depth and terrified, he chucked it all in to pursue his dream of becoming a stand-up comedian. Battling his way through the '90s comedy circuit, he quickly rose to become a household name and one of the UK's most celebrated comics, almost making it to the top of the showbiz tree.

A Flamingo Under the Carousel will make you laugh, cry, and feel a thousand emotions in between. The thirty short stories offer a unique view of the world through the use of various genres These previously published short pieces are presented together for the first time. Ranging from the literary to the apocalyptical, it is a journey through the themes of crime, 1960's culture, rock music, and love. From flights of fancy in a mystical underground world discovered by young children to a generational suite of immigrant stories, humorous travel adventures to sports tales, and finally on to ...

G-Is for String is the story of a gullible college girl who dreamed of being a dancer all her life. When her friends encouraged her to enter an amateur dance contest in Rochester, New York, she fell into the world of exotic dancing and stripping. She spent the next thirteen years of life perfecting her performance art in places where artistry was a pleasant surprise.

From the day she was born, Tamara Yajia entered the world on a wave of absurdity. She was the newest member of a family no one would call normal, from her grandfather the salami obsessed poppers salesman, to her mother, the OnlyFans model. Not only will her family try anything once, like moving to the United States and opening a food stand named Sexy Chicken; they'll try anything multiple times, like moving back to Argentina, then back to the United States, all while Tamara manages to achieve some success as a preteen child actress.

Acclaimed biographer Jem Roberts narrates his brilliant new biography of the Beatles and their relationship with comedy. Includes a foreword written and narrated by Kevin Eldon, who also voices George Martin throughout the audiobook. Fab Fools is the full, hilarious story of how John, Paul, George, and Ringo laughed their way to the toppermost of the poppermost in their classic films, cartoons, and even pantomime, not to mention their experimentations with audio comedy through Sir George Martin's Parlophone comedy classics series.

Von der Rechtschreibreform zur gendergerechten Sprache, von der Vogelgrippe zu den Metamorphosen des Covid, vom Vermummungsverbot in Zeiten der Startbahn West zur Maskenpflicht in Zeiten der Pipeline Ost - was haben wir nicht schon alles überstanden! Bei seiner satirischen Zeitreise durch unsere immer bunter werdende Republik setzt Urban Priol auf Humor statt Alarmismus. Gemeinsam mit Helmut Kohl betrat er die Bühne des politischen Kabaretts, seitdem knöpft er sich alle Regierenden bis zur Ampel vor.

As Viv Groskop knows from personal experience, everything that has ever happened to a person has already happened in the Russian classics: from not being sure what to do with your life (Anna Karenina) to being hopelessly in love with someone who doesn't love you back (Turgenev's A Month in the Country). In this sort of literary self-help memoir, Groskop mines these and other works, as well as the lives of their celebrated creators and her own experiences as a student of Russian, to answer the question, "How should you live your life?"

Hemma hos Martina handlar om hur Martina försöker få livet att gå ihop med tre barn, en miljard katter och Sveriges stökigaste man som bara snor ens strumpor hela tiden och en skådespelarkarriär vars höjdpunkter mest verkar bestå av provfilmningar för finskt diskmedel. Den handlar också om hur man försöker överleva trots att man lider av en ofantlig brist på glamour när man är gravid i tionde månaden och ser ut som Lennart Swahn (fast med hårspännen).

When the legendary comedian Barry Cryer died in January 2022, there was a vast outpouring of grief, appreciation and anecdotes – from the general public and fellow comics alike. Now, his son, Bob, is doing what Barry’s humility did not allow: revealing the story of the man behind the jokes. This book is an ode to both Barry’s incredible life and to the lessons he so generously imparted on the art of comedy during his sixty-year career.

Like Kofi Annan, Larry Miller is one of the most irresistible comic personalities working today. Known for years as an actor, writer, comedian, and sexual pioneer, he's gained a new following as a cultural commentator and frequent guest on political shows. Now, in Spoiled Rotten America, he fixes his gaze on what's funny about our daily lives; which includes, roughly speaking, everything.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Where Have All the Bullets Gone?, written and read by Spike Milligan. Back to those haunting days in Italy in 1944, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, with lava running in great red rivulets down the slope towards us, and Jock taking a drag on his cigarette and saying, "I think we've got grounds for a rent rebate."

C’est l’histoire d’une petite fille trop sensible nommée Mariana, mais aussi un touchant hommage à l’univers qui l’a définie : le quartier où elle a vécu, les familles immigrantes qu’elle a côtoyées, les enseignants qui l’ont inspirée, et aussi les lieux enchanteurs (pour une enfant) qu’elle a fréquentés, tels le Club argentin, le cinéma Langelier et le marché aux puces Cinq étoiles. Fille d’immigrante, Mariana Mazza brosse un portrait de son enfance dans le Montréal-Nord des années 1990 à la fois sombre et lumineux, chaotique et chaleureux. Sa mère s’en mêlera, comme d’habitude.

Years ago, Steve Hannah’s chance detour through the Midwest cut short a planned cross-country trip. He found himself in Wisconsin, a distinctly different place from the East Coast, where he was born and raised. Charmingly beautiful and full of welcoming people, America’s dairyland would soon become his home. Dairylandia recounts Steve Hannah’s burgeoning love for his adopted state through the writings of his long-lived column, “State of Mind”.

Ten years ago, when Chris Duffy was an exhausted fifth grade teacher, he taught the funniest person he's ever met: 11-year-old Gary C. Gary was the school newspaper's official food critic, blasting cafeteria pizza for looking like cardboard and alleging that the baked beans weren't "beany" enough. These days, Duffy is a comedian and the host of a podcast with millions of listeners, but he's never forgotten the joy of laughing with Gary during that bleak Boston winter. Gary taught him that a life without a sense of humor isn't much of a life at all.

For anyone who loves American comedy, the long wait is over. Here are the never-before-told, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and remembrances from a master storyteller, filmmaker, and creator of all things funny. All About Me! charts Mel Brooks' meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts.

In God’s Got Jokes, author Neosho C. Ponder, allows the listener into the most personal and vulnerable parts of her life. As she battled the hardships of cancer, she learned that some of those who supported her succumbed to their own battles of cancer. You will hear stories such as: Being evicted during chemotherapy, which finally led to her seeing the humor and not choosing to give up. The financial adversity that affects cancer patients too sick to work, those undergoing treatments, and multiple surgeries.

A journey in time through the author’s career with Staffordshire Police – from cadet to inspector – from schoolboy to man. ‘The practical jokes and camaraderie kept us sane.’ The book presents a cameo of some of the events which went on behind the scenes of policing in the seventies, eighties and nineties. A lifetime of side splittingly funny tales are mixed with some sad and tragic stories which made up the ‘policeman’s lot’ along with the black humour which often served to temper the emotions and relieve the stress. Snippets of social history – now long forgotten are ...

In Destined for Destiny, "George W. Bush" offers listeners an intimate, plainspoken, and sometimes articulate look at the character-shaping achievements that led to his inevitable rise to the office of president of the United States. Written from the heart, not from the brain, this definitive autobiography takes listeners on a journey through the 43rd president's life.