Comedy Performance

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of We Need to Talk About... Kevin Bridges.Aged 17, Kevin Bridges walked on stage for the first time and brought the house down. He only had a five-minute set but he discovered he really could earn a living from making people laugh.Kevin began life as a shy, nerve-ridden school-boy. Reaching his teens, he followed his true calling as the class clown.

This superb collection of Billy Connolly's greatest recordings spans 30 years of the comedian's genius. Not only is his work extremely funny, but it is and was quite groundbreaking. He tackled subjects no other comedian had performed. Previously taboo subjects were aired. Some personal, some purely observational, and all new and hilarious. Enjoy a great compendium of a unique talent.

When Kantkiss Neverclean replaces her sister as a contestant on the Hunger Games - the second-highest-rated reality TV show in Peaceland, behind Extreme Home Makeover - she has no idea what to expect. Having lived her entire life in the telemarketing district’s worst neighborhood, the Crack, Kantkiss feels unprepared to fight to the death while simultaneously winking and looking adorable for the cameras. Soon, her survival rests on choosing between the dreamy hunk from home, Carol Handsomestein, or the doughy klutz, Pita Malarkey....

Mark Twain delivered this humorous speech on taxation and morality at the Tuskegee Institute to commemorate its 25th anniversary. With his signature ironic wit, he told the audience woefully of the public vs. private morals of Christians. He says the Christian maintains the nation’s integrity 363 days a year, but the "other two days of the year he leaves his Christian private morals at home and carries his Christian public morals to the tax office and the polls, and does the best he can to damage and undo his whole year's faithful and righteous work."

The best-selling author of A Chip Off the Old Black, Black is the New Green, and many more is black for another round of gut-busting stories and essays. This time round, Arthur Black turns his critical eye and warped funny bone to the world beyond Salt Spring Island, lambasting the amateur ballplayer who sued because the sun was in his eyes, the craze for blood sports and our anachronistic fetish for suits and ties.

Berlin, Summer 2011. Adolf Hitler wakes up on a patch of open ground, alive and well. Things have changed – no Eva Braun, no Nazi party, no war. Hitler barely recognises his beloved Fatherland, filled with immigrants and run by a woman. People certainly recognise him, albeit as a flawless impersonator who refuses to break character. The unthinkable, the inevitable happens, and the ranting Hitler goes viral, becomes a YouTube star, gets his own T.V. show, and people begin to listen.

Are you tired of hearing the same questions being asked during drinking games over and over again? Want to add some originality? Everybody has their favorite drinking games! But let’s face it; they can get a little repetitive.... In this book, you’ll find three different drinking games with 1000 questions in total. We all love getting to know our friends a little better, right? So, here’s your chance to ask the questions you’d love to know the answers to....

At once endearing and hilarious, thoughtful and far-fetched, this third collection offers Ali at her wisest and wittiest as she delivers tips, pointers, and quips on a host of life's conundrums and sticky situations, including the funny, sometimes embarrassing yet unforgettable situations that have shaped her inimitable world view as a wife, mother, actress, comedian, and all around bon vivant.

P. G. Wodehouse gives us a delightful romantic comedy of two struggling artists who fantastically misunderstand each other.

If you're a man of a certain age you'll know there comes a point in life when getting a sports car and over-analysing your contribution to society sounds like a really good idea. With a good job in sales and marketing and a nice house in Manchester that he shared with his wife and kids, John Bishop was no different when he turned the dreaded 4-0. But instead of spanking a load of cash on a car that would have made him look like a senior stylist at Vidal Sassoon, he stumbled onto a pathway that ultimately lead him to become one of the nation's best loved comedians.

In Five Minutes to Kill, actor and comedian Fred Stoller tells the story of the Young Comedians Special in 1989. He and five other talented, then-unknown comics took the stage with the hopes that their five-minute sets would propel them to fame and fortune. Some, like David Spade and Rob Schneider, hit it big; others didn’t. By turns hilarious and heart-wrenching, Five Minutes to Kill is the bittersweet story of what happened to six of America’s funniest people after their first big breaks.

Dennis Miller is back, and he means to shake the nation by its lapels. Miller respects no boundaries. Whether the subject is dope-addled baseball players who can no longer swing their bats, do-nothing politicians who devote their careers to creating meaningful sound bites, or the nation's resigned acceptance of violence as a way of American life, these thematically arranged monologues are funny and angry. More significantly, they shatter the conventions of comedy by simultaneously making us laugh, think, and seethe.

Hosted by the peerless Sandi Toksvig, these 25 episodes take us through the highlights and lowlights of 2008, a year dominated by the global financial crisis and the US presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain. Scrutinising stories both world-shaking and whimsical are an esteemed panel of comedians, journalists and commentators, among them Andy Hamilton, Jeremy Hardy, Phill Jupitus, Francis Wheen, Kevin Day, Carrie Quinlan, Mark Steel, Hugo Rifkind, Justin Edwards, Sue Perkins and Robin Ince.

In Funny People, Steve Allen conveys by anecdote and example the unique genius of four of the great comedians who have delighted our lives: Jack Benny, George Burns, Milton Berle, and Jimmy Durante. Laugh along with Steve Allen in this witty and perceptive exploration into comedy and comedians. Steve Allen, who has written best-selling books on lots of subjects, has now written one in the field for which millions of Americans consider him to be the longest reigning authority.

Social media comedian Heather Land uses her trademark sassy, laugh-out-loud humor to remind us of the many ways that real life can be really funny. Heather Land has something to say about almost everything in life - the unbelievable, inconceivable, and downright frustrating - and why she “ain’t doin’ it.” In her first book, Heather shines a light on the (occasional) ridiculousness of life through a series of hilarious essays, dishing on everything from Walmart and ex-husbands to Southern beauty pageants and unfortunate trips to the gynecologist.

What Peter Biskind did for filmmaking, Richard Zoglin does for comedy in this meticulously researched and eminently readable account of stand-up comedy in the 1970s, when a small group of brilliant, iconoclastic comedians ruled the world and quite possibly changed it, too.

100 Quotes by Groucho Marx is a collection of quips, thoughts, and reflections by one of comedy’s greatest clowns. From the classic "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member" to lesser-known one-liners, it’s a superb read for anyone with even the faintest interest in comedic art. The perfect book for dipping in and out of, there are some wisecracks worth committing to memory, alongside some observations into the mind of the man behind the moustache.

Michael Krasny has been telling Jewish jokes since his bar mitzvah, and it’s been said that he knows more of them than anyone on the planet. He certainly states his case in this wise, enlightening, and hilarious book that not only collects the best of Jewish humor passed down from generation to generation, but explains the cultural expressions and anxieties behind the laughs.

Continue the tale of Ragged Dick as he becomes Richard Hunter in Fame and Fortune. Horatio Alger was once crowned "America's best-selling author of all time." His works are back and they read like never before. You will fall in love with these stories of success!

Stimulate your thinking process by completing and enjoying these challenging riddles - whether you use it for Sunday night family fun, a distraction for your kids, or want to solve a few while you’re waiting at the doctor's office.