Comedy Storytelling

Mark Twain's lifetime spans America's era of greatest economic growth. And Twain was an active, even giddy, participant in all the great booms and busts of his time, launching himself into one harebrained get-rich-quick scheme after another. But far from striking it rich, the man who coined the term "Gilded Age" failed with comical regularity to join the ranks of plutocrats who made this period in America notorious for its wealth and excess.

In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from Biblical times to the age of Twitter. Organizing his book thematically into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy - including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar - Dauber explores the ways Jewish comedy has dealt with persecution, assimilation, and diaspora through the ages. He explains the rise and fall of popular comic archetypes such as the Jewish mother, the JAP, and the schlemiel and schlimazel.

I was at my wit's end. I'd had enough of this job, this life, and my relationship had broken up. Should I eat chocolate, or go to India, or fall in love? Then I had a revelation: Why not do all three, in that order? And so it was that I embarked on a journey that was segmented into three parts and was then made into a major motion picture. Later, I woke up on an airplane with a hole in my face and a really bad hangover. I was ushered brusquely off the plane by my parents who took me to a rehab.

From Scandihoovian Spanglish to snickering chickens, New York Times best-selling author and humorist Michael Perry navigates a wide range of topics in this collection of brief essays drawn from his weekly appearances on the nationally syndicated Tent Show Radio program. Fatherhood, dumpster therapy, dangerous wedding rings, Christmas trees, used cars, why you should have bacon in your stock portfolio, loggers in clogs - whatever the subject, Perry has a rare ability to touch both the funny bone and the heart.

From Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold, the youngest comedy writers ever for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and masterminds behind the viral 2018 Yale graduation speech, comes a hilarious collection of short stories taking on coming-of-age, memes, sex, politics, relationships, and Goop, with satire, self-deprecation, and utter irreverence.

Based on the column of the same name that appeared in The Toast, Hey Ladies! is a laugh-out-loud listen that follows a fictitious group of eight 20- and-30-something female friends for one year of holidays, summer house rentals, dates, brunches, breakups, and, of course, the planning of a disastrous wedding. This instantly relatable story is told entirely through emails, texts, DMs, and every other form of communication known to man.

There are all sorts of idiots we have to work with every day. Every office has them. Fortunately for most of us, idiots in the work place are few and far between. However, Hogsbottom Plugs, "the home of bath plugs", has a higher concentrate than other work places, from the MD down to the cleaner, they're all Idiots. Hear the trials and tribulations of this idiotic workforce as they explain their recent life events through reviews of things they've brought.

Tickle your funny bone and master the art of humorous storytelling with this entertaining and enlightening guide! Mark Connolly invites you on a journey into the world of humor, exploring the everyday and the absurd, the mundane and the extraordinary, all in pursuit of that elusive comedic moment.

This sophomoric sophomore collection of doggerel by low self-esteemed quasi-celebrity cross-dressing debutant DJ Ass Maggots is guaranteed fun for the whole family, assuming that family consists of perverts, junkies, and hardened ex-cons.

In all my years of reporting on the human condition, this has to be the most bizarre, and (if true) history shattering interviews I've ever conducted. This story is told by Billy "Big Rig", a pseudonymous truck driver I met over sausage gravy and biscuits in the late 1990s when I was driving a truck to make ends meet. We struck up a friendship, although I think I maybe spoke 10 words to him the whole time I knew him. He did most of the talking. And the way he spun a yarn caused me to be transfixed.

As one of America's hottest female comedians, Lisa Lampanelli has earned critical acclaim across the country for her no-holds-barred style and ability to make people laugh at their own stereotypes and differences. Now, from the gutter-mouth comedienne who "talks like a truck driver but resembles a '50s housewife" (New York Times) comes her over-the-top, laugh-out-loud memoir, Chocolate, Please.

Remember the stories your grandfather used to tell you about way back when? Remember laughing out loud as the stories got deeper? If you like to LOL, then this really is a book for you. Here you'll find some observations on life in general and people in particular, as seen through a collection of newspaper columns, presenting skewed, offbeat, semiserious, and sometimes amusing views of the world.

Like a Jay Ward cartoon in audio, The Adventures of Tea Man, Volume Two is a hilarious, wacky collection of radio theater written and performed by Mitchell Pearson and the DQD Theater of Philadelphia and produced by Joe Bevilacqua. Get ready for two hours of comedy entertainment!

Spring break of 1990 is over. Richard Bowman has resigned to keep his head down and finish his sophomore year at Grafton High School the way he started it - academically fair to middling, socially mediocre, and romantically very much well below average. When the opportunity to befriend a group of senior guys lands in Rich's lap practically overnight, he steps out of his comfort zone.

This is the second volume in the collection of Chris Dabb's readings of Pete Sortwell's comedy books, containing More Village Idiot Reviews, More Office Idiot Reviews, and Bride and Gloom: sometimes love is better off blind. In More Village Idiot Reviews, Frederick has injured his nipples in a vicious moped accident while on his honeymoon and no longer feels like a man. Meanwhile, Ethel has discovered who made her shopping trolley explode last year.

Kiss & Tell: Stand Up & Stories About Love, Sex, Etc. is a breakthrough audiobook that combines the brashness of stand-up comedy, the intimacy of oral storytelling and the energy of a live audience to portray a compelling and hilarious take on modern relationships. Coproduced with Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat and hosted by Emmy Award-winning actress Rachel Bloom and Saturday Night Live alum Jay Pharoah, Kiss & Tell presents an incredible lineup of the funniest comedians unavailable in any other format or on any other platform.

A comedy of errors when four octogenarian Egyptology docents steal a mummy which has no value to find artifacts they know do not exist and are mistaken for a band of professional art thieves.

Comedy of Doom is a collection of essays, parodies, and true stories covering every major topic in geek culture. Including smart, funny takes on video games, Star Wars, vampires, Doctor Who, Jane Austen, a complete guide to emotional preparation for the zombie apocalypse, instructions for the new sport called Competitive Hugging, and more.

In What Would Susie Say?, Susie Essman sheds the crasser layers to reveal how she went from an anxiety-ridden, struggling stand-up comic to being one of the funniest women on television, playing Susie Greene on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Snack-sized, humorous journal entries about seeing the world from the perspective of a man whose favorite pastime is avoiding large groups of people. In this captivating book, Nick shares bite-sized observations gathered over his two decades on and off stage, delivering unexpected, funny, and heartwarming moments that will leave you in stitches.