Entertainment Comedy

On December 22, 1953, Mort Sahl took the stage at San Francisco's hungry i and changed comedy forever. Before him, standup was about everything but hard news and politics. In his wake, a new generation of smart comics emerged - Shelley Berman, Mike Nichols, and Elaine May, Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart, Dick Gregory, Woody Allen, and the Smothers Brothers, among others.

Learning how easy improv is can be the hard part. There are important lessons in life that can lead to better improv scenes. And there are important lessons in improv that can lead to a better life. By putting improv techniques under an electron microscope of reason, The Tao of Improv: A Philosophy of Creating a Scene can improve the way we function, understand, and interact - on stage and off. Excerpts from the Tao Te Ching are woven into an overall philosophy of scenic improv acting.

'I have just had one of those absolutely mad mornings when you go out to have a browse at tagines and end up coming home with a brand-new gas ring expander. I think I was probably as surprised as anybody. Sometimes life is just like that, isn't it?' Award-winning food writer Damien Trench takes you on a journey through his childhood and his early inspirations - culinary and otherwise - with occasional diversions to the present.

The hilarious memoir from award-winning comedian Bridget Christie. When Bridget Christie walked into her local bookshop, she thought she'd come out with a book (hopefully like you've just done). And maybe a calendar of cute photos of cats (hopefully unlike you've just done). The last thing she thought she'd be leaving with was the need for a new wave of feminism and the start of an incredibly successful career.

Demonstrating once again why he is one of Canada's most loved jokesters, Black masterfully captures the laughter that often bursts out of the seams of everyday life. From an unexpected drag race to a Google search for a picture of the illusive "Arthur the Meek", you just never know when a regular day is going to turn into comedic genius. Black provides uproarious insight into uses a matador might have for a teacup, mango, or simply some paper towel....

Maggie Holloway is your typical teen girl. What happens when her parents force her to live with her troublemaker neighbors, the Gray Brothers, who are the hottest brothers on the planet?Five boys and one girl make for an exciting dynamic.Join Maggie on her journey in this crazy thing we call life. Her life won’t be the same.Warning: Mature themes and content with much humor.

This 16-episode collection includes the greatest comedy teams of the Golden Age of Radio and includes Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Abbott and Costello, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Baby Snooks and Daddy, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and Phil Harris and Alice Faye. You’ll laugh till your sides ache at these great comedy duos!

You read about Lucille and Grayson, Nate and Pat, and Nash and Maggie, then Lex and Piper. Now you’ll read about Lex and Piper’s five rambunctious boys. If you thought the original Gray Brothers, the Gray Brothers, and the Gray Sisters were crazy, you have seen nothing yet with this bunch. What happens when the boys get a house guest in the form of a girl? A lot of chaos and hilarity ensue as they trip over themselves to get her attention. The only problem is, the girl falls for one brother. Which brother? Read and find out. Sequel to The Gray Sisters: Family Matters

Lex and Piper are ready to settle down and have a family of their own. After celebrating the wedding of Michael and Lyric, something significant happens to Lex and Piper, which turns the Gray family upside down. Will they be able to get through this, or will they falter? With the help of The Gray Brothers and The Gray Sisters, Lex and Piper will learn the meaning of what it is to be a Gray. Love and humor go a long way for this family. Follow Lex and Piper on their journey as we find out if they can find their way back to each other.

Hello there! Hayley Morris here. Or you might know me as the Brain Girl, and don't be fooled...it's not because I'm outrageously smart. Just an avid overthinker. I'm on a mission to prove once and for all that You. Are. Normal. Running through imaginary arguments whilst showering or not knowing how to be a normal human when you have the plumber over. I've spent the majority of my life saying and doing embarrassing things that wake me up in a cold sweat at three a.m. as my brain reminds me of every minor detail.

Living with The Gray Brothers has always been a unique experience for Maggie. She had to survive countless battles with the brothers, school, and college, too. Wait until she must survive her final year in college and wedding planning. Join Maggie, Nash, and the brothers as they graduate college, get married and start families. With the Gray family involved, it won’t be anything but comedic errors for our favorite couple. These weddings are the ones you don’t want to miss. *Images belong solely to the original owner.

Tumbling from one love entanglement to another, 30-something teacher Izzy Comyn has a predilection for inappropriate men. Over the three hilarious series of Up the Garden Path, Izzy, played by Imelda Staunton, deals with the complicated ups and downs of her attempts to find true love.

***This book was part of a Christmas Box Set Collection, Mistletoe & Murder*** The festive season is in full swing, and the Old School Diner crew is eager to join in the holiday merriment. However, their joyful anticipation is punctured when a visiting news anchor is brutally murdered on the cusp of Christmas. The killer leaves a distinctive calling card - a candy cane, but this is no ordinary festive ornament. What hidden meaning does this unconventional murder weapon hold? Meanwhile, a touch of enchantment fills the air as Mercy and Junior discover a remote workshop, tucked away from the ...

Ade Edmondson smashed onto the comedy circuit in the 1980s, stormed The Comedy Store and, alongside Rik Mayall, brought anarchy to stage and screen. How did a child brought up in a strict Methodist household – and who spent his formative years incarcerated in repressive boarding schools – end up joining the revolution? Well, he is part Norse. Could it be his berserker heritage? With wisdom, nostalgia and uniquely observed humour, Ade traces his journey through life and comedy.

How to do really bad things! What's a woman to wear when she kills her husband? Or plays her detective for a sap? And ultimately, what's the appropriate ensemble for facing a firing squad? Who is the femme fatale? Since time began, every culture has obsessed about her; women have wished to be her, and men - the dumb clucks - have connived to control her.

In this book, Billy Crystal, currently starring in the new TV show The Comedians as an aging comic, gives a hilarious and heartfelt account of what it's really like to get older. Billy Crystal is turning 65, and he’s not happy about it. With his trademark wit and heart, he outlines the absurdities and challenges that come with growing old, from insomnia to memory loss to leaving dinners with half your meal on your shirt.

All war. No love. Madeleine’s been hurt too many times in the dating scene to let Byron beat her in some huge prank war. They’ve had their deserters, their POWS, their casualties, but no one can risk losing the battle of the sexes. Except now something strange is happening at the college...and it’s not just the students. Buried deep beneath the pranks is real danger, and the only other person who suspects is Byron. Should Mad join sides with him or does that mean forfeiting her heart to the enemy? In this fun-filled novel, Prank Wars invites the reader to experience a BYU culture rich...

In this musical romantic comedy, with actors, singers, and full orchestra, meet Emily who may or may not be with the right guy. She gets plenty of time to wonder about him as he haunts the pub where she works. Meet Ben, a twenty-something teacher who may one day find the courage to approach the miraculous beauty studying at the back of that pub. And meet Pablo, the handsome and awkward Spaniard, an unlikely hero who puts the pub back in post-puberty-based musical romantic comedies.

When The Flip Wilson Show debuted in 1970, Black faces were still rare on television, Black hosts nonexistent. So how did Clerow “Flip” Wilson go from Jersey City grade-school dropout to national celebrity, heralded on the cover of Time as “TV’s first black superstar”? Flip is a candid, entertaining biography of a consummate comedian who changed the face of American popular culture.

ご存知の大御所三遊亭圓楽、iTunesに堂々登場！平成10年のＮＨＫ「日本の話芸」からの放送音源。粋な語りと豊かな表現で聴かせる、圓楽ならではの話芸をたっぷり楽しめる。「死神」は、元はイタリアのオペラが素材となった古典落語。　(C)NHK（日本放送協会）