Short Stories Humor

Get ready to relax, laugh, and shed a tear with down-home tales from a modern storyteller with old-fashioned values. Award-winning columnist Leslie Anne Tarabella draws on her deep faith and mischievous sense of humor to tell stories of raising two boys, dealing with humidity, overcoming communication malfunctions with her Northern-born husband, and eating delicious comfort food.

Jump-Start: To jump-start American consumerism after decades of zero economic growth, the vaganus is wholesaled in casino fashion.

Soapi is a harmless ex-con, with no-where to go for warmth when winter is approaching and the newspapers he uses to pad his clothing aren't of much help anymore. Join him when he aims to get back to his old warm jail cell.

Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859-1927) was an English writer and humourist. Passing of the Third Floor Back, first published in 1904, is a collection of early 20th-century short stories portraying the small-minded inhabitants of a building who make life unpleasant for one another. A mysterious stranger arrives, and starts to bring about miraculous changes in the behaviour of the tenants, improving the ambiance and the lives of all.

Oskar Panizza: Das Verbrechen in Tavistock-Square. gelesen von Werner Wilkening. Die Erzählung "Das Verbrechen in Tavistock-Square" ist ein ironischer Protest gegen die übertrieben prüde Sexualmoral (nicht nur im wilhelminischen Deutschland) seiner Zeit. 1891 veröffentlichte Panizza den Text in dem Almanach "Modernes Leben", einem Sammelband der Münchner Modernen. Dieses Buch wurde sofort nach Erscheinen von der Staatsanwaltschaft konfisziert, gegen Panizza sogar Anklage wegen Vergehens gegen die Sittlichkeit erhoben, die allerdings bald wieder fallengelassen wurde.

"Scusi, signor Mike, le è mai bruciato il culo dalle parti di Arenzano?" Un temporale, un elettricista, due fratelli a lungo separati e il ricordo indimenticabile dello scherzo perfetto. Perché, a distanza di tanti anni, "il bruciorino" rimane ancora un'icona delle estati dell'infanzia a Solaria. Ma oggi? L'Ottolina è a Londra col Franco Garbagnati, il vecchio Alfredo Pampaloni non c'è più.

First published in The Saturday Evening Post, "The Ransom of Red Chief" is a humorous short story written in 1910 by O. Henry. A pair of con men kidnap and attempt to ransom a prominent Alabama citizen’s son. Immediately they find themselves at the mercy of a particularly spoiled and clever boy who begins driving them mad. The ironic ending remains the story’s most enduring feature.

According to an LA Times, May 14, 2014 article, the following entry came from a notebook of a gold-seeking prospector, Samuel Clemens, in 1864. "Coleman with his jumping frog - bet stranger $50... - stranger had no frog & C got him one - in the meantime stranger filled C's frog full of shot and he couldn't jump - the stranger's frog won." Little did Clemens know that this would be the source for his short story that would launch his career as one of America's greatest authors.

Leading sacred cows to the slaughter, peeling the pun for its extra daughter, crafting sinister grams and sly fun, Bob Macaulay reveals his skill in distilling Scottish humours, in whimsical surgical tellings for listeners’ drop-in pleasure. Prankster, funster, language doctor, he re-stages Scotland in satire. A surgeon of his native tongue, as spoken by the living and the never were, he offers a forensic dozen herein, counting the missing organs, of course.

Whether the festive season fills you with cheer or fills you with fear, there is a good chance you will find a tale or two that you can relate to in this book.

This short story brings a small Southern diner to life.

The folks of this hilarious heartland small town seem to be on a bat craze and are all hyped up. Sam is celebrating a promotion on this lovely rainy night with his coworkers while his wife decides to stay home. Join in on one tipsy night on the town and enjoy yourself with this novelette.

An anonymous hacker group called "The Arm" has hacked the databases of almost all the secret agencies in the world and released the real names of every agent and people being actively recruited. Our heroine works a dead-end job at the lowest totem in the insurance world. She used to watch James Bond movies with her father growing up. She views this as a chance to become a secret agent. She signs up for a correspondence course to learn to be a secret agent. Her training is unconventional, but she's determined.

A darkly funny tale of desire and shopping. If Conn makes the correct selections, his Valentine's Day will really go with a bang.

If all you have is hope and a tentative hold of a drainpipe, perhaps its time to call on St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. But if others let you go, shouldn't you let go too?

Raoul is overwhelmed by the stink of bleach, beer dregs, and burger fat. But when you're on the hunt, distractions can be fatal. Particularly if you have a boss as murderous as Raoul's. A darkly funny tale foraged from the heart of the city. This story is part of a compilation called Tales of Urban Encounters.

Mr. Peacelove just wants a cruise for less than four thousand pounds. Yet, it's murky waters down at Fabulousness Travel Agency.

In questa novella Pirandello ci presenta Aurelio, un anziano che ha condotto una vita molto sfortunata, tanto da sembrare una caricatura del Giobbe biblico. Privato di tutto, passa ormai le giornate visitando le chiese di Roma. Durante una delle sue visite però si appisolerà e farà un sogno molto strano...

In questa novella di Luigi Pirandello, Gaetano Marino ci narra la storia di Spatolino, muratore capomastro che lavora per il comune, famoso per la sua fede e la sua devozione. Una novella in cui Pirandello si diverte a descrivere con grande ironia la società siciliana del tempo e, soprattutto, il suo rapporto con la fede e la religione cattolica.

Ascoltare "Marsina stretta" ci permette di immergerci in pieno in tutto l'umorismo pirandelliano. Tutto parte da un abito scomodo, la "marsina stretta" appunto, che opprime il Professor Gori, colpevole di avere qualche chilo di troppo. Ma sarà proprio quest'abito da cerimonia troppo stretto a rappresentare una svolta nella storia, tra drammi imprevisti e colpi di sorpresa paradossali in puro stile pirandelliano.