Writing Humor

Author Scott Dikkers will tell you how to write jokes. He’s a master joke writer, founder of the world’s most popular humor site TheOnion.com, number one New York Times best-selling humor author, professional public speaker, and successful cartoonist. In this definitive joke-writing handbook, he'll teach you comedy writing and how to write a joke with a simple comedy-writing and joke-writing formula you can use right now to write your own jokes.

Maria Bamford is a creative genius. But the process of creating is not something that “comes easily” or “is enjoyable” for her. So, over the years, she’s invented a number of helpful techniques for tricking, shaming, coercing herself into doing things. You Are (A Comedy) Special is 15-step comedic send up of a self help guide that examines Maria’s approach to stand-up in a hilarious fashion.

They shouldn't have tear gassed best-selling (bald) author Adam Fletcher. It ruined his supposedly normal holiday in Istanbul, made him curious, and began a quest to visit places everyone else is trying to escape from, and tourists don't normally go to. In this hilarious travel memoir, he'll enter a blizzard in China armed with only biscuits; pose as a scientist to sneak into Chernobyl; be chased by Croatian police boats en route to Liberland (the world's newest country); become a reluctant diving board star in a North Korean water park, and much more.

Dr. Peter McGraw, founder of the Humor Research Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, teamed up with journalist Joel Warner on a far-reaching search for the secret behind humor. Their journey spanned the globe, from New York to Japan, from Palestine to the Amazon. Meanwhile, the duo conducted their own humor experiments along the way-to wince-worthy, hilarious, and illuminating results.

Charlie McGinley wanted literary fame—He got a front-row seat to murder. Charlie writes hardboiled detective novels from his New Mexico ranch. He dreams of literary respect and maybe a few good reviews. So, when world-famous author Jon Masterson invites him to join his prestigious writer’s group, Charlie jumps at the chance. Sure, Masterson’s smug, rich, and conceited, but Charlie’s willing to play nice if it means being taken seriously as a writer. Then cracks in the façade start to appear. Is Masterson mentoring new talent, or stealing their work? When writers in the group ...

An exciting, hilarious, and thoughtful travel memoir about one man's adventurous two and a half years on the road, backpacking through 40+ countries on a shoestring budget. From the back cover: Until his midlife crisis arrived, Chris Gattanella always played it safe. He spent two decades sinking into a nice cozy life and career in Los Angeles. Now in his forties and newly single, he suddenly feels unfulfilled and bored. Is it because he never ventured out to see the world? Impulsively, Chris burns years of saved vacation time on a six-week “test run” through Europe to see if he enjoys ...

When Harold Ross founded The New Yorker in 1925, he described it as a “comic weekly.” And although it has become much more than that, it has remained true in its irreverent heart to the founder’s description, publishing the most illustrious literary humorists of the modern era—among them...

Read by the author and available digitally for the first time From the star of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain's New York Times-bestselling chronicle of travelling the world in search the globe's greatest culinary adventures "Bourdain shows himself to be one of the country's best food writers...

A female-centred collection of four dramatisations celebrating Jane Austen’s classic novels - plus bonus series When I Met Jane Austen On 16 December 1775, a literary icon was born. Jane Austen’s groundbreaking novels pioneered the romantic comedy genre and put women front and centre...

Drunk customers. Shoplifting raccoons. Otherworldly visitors. As night shift clerk at the 24-hour gas station at the edge of town, Jack has pretty much seen it all.

From Robin Sloan, the New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, comes Sourdough, "a perfect parable for our times" (San Francisco Magazine): a delicious and funny novel about an overworked and under-socialized software engineer discovering a calling and a community...

Five Foreigners. Two Brits. And One Island Of Delightfully Bonkers Traditions. A laugh-out-loud novel inspired by the very real eccentricities of British life. Joana and Brian thought showing off England to their foreign guests would be easy: rolling hills, a few sheep, maybe a castle. Instead, they’re herding five wide-eyed travellers straight into the wonderfully eccentric world of British life. How do you explain a country where people apologise to lampposts, pull faces through horse collars, and race in mud dressed as maids? Where bathroom light switches hide in hallways, compliments ...

"Roberson’s achievement in remaining funny while excavating her pain is just straightforwardly heroic." — The New Republic This program is read by the author. From New Yorker and Onion writer and comedian Blythe Roberson, How to Date Men When You Hate Men is a comedy philosophy audiobook...

In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best. As Jenny says: "Some people...

Selling firecrackers by the side of the road, floating in space with no hope of rescue, reflecting on goldfish philosophy, the sunsets at San Nada, and the trees at Appomattox, I Awoke One Morning to Find Three Psychoanalysts in the Closet is a collection of short stories, prose poems, and other short writing. The topics, and the words used to fill them in are often silly, occasionally poignant, but always aiming to entertain.

With her books sporting other people’s names, ghostwriter Jake O’Hara works behind the scenes. But she never expected a séance at a New York apartment to be part of her job. Jake had signed on as a ghostwriter, secretly writing for a grande dame of mystery fiction whose talent died before she did. The author’s East Side residence was impressive. But her entourage—from a Mrs. Danvers-like housekeeper to a lurking hypnotherapist—was creepy. Still, it was all in a day’s work, until a killer started going after ghostwriters, and Jake suspected she was chillingly close to the ...

THE THAMES PATH: GOING ROUND THE BEND The Thames is supposed to be a gentle walk. Flat. Easy. Scenic. At least, that’s the theory. In The Thames Path: Going Round the Bend, Paul Amess follows England’s most famous river on foot, from quiet countryside to full-blown London chaos, via history, blisters, bad signage, and far too much time alone with his thoughts. Along the way there are misleading “easy” stretches, unexpected detours, aching feet, and the creeping realisation that walking may have been wildly oversold as a relaxing pastime. But there is also history everywhere you look...

The New Comedy Bible is a step-by-step, no excuses manual for writing, performing, and launching your career as a stand-up comic. Written by Judy Carter, the author of The Comedy Bible (2001), which was called by The Washington Post and Forbes as a “Comedy Essential”. This new book, penned in classic Carter’s style - part career coach and part comedy dominatrix - has 100 percent new content.

He published Chapter One. The universe said ‘lol no.' Jayden Cross is an unemployed writer with a messy apartment, a disaster sleep schedule, and exactly zero control over his life. That all changes the moment he publishes Chapter One of his LitRPG serial—Isekai’d Apocalypse Dungeons Who Fight Monsters—on RoyalWrit. Instead of modest traffic and polite silence, Jayden unlocks WritTrack™, an intrusive author-leveling interface that treats publishing like a raid boss. His first follower triggers a Level Up. His first one-star review unlocks Dramatic Self-Loathing (Mild). And his ...

🎃👻 Why did the undead chicken cross the road? To get to the fool's house. Knock, knock! Who’s there? …The undead chicken😆😅😂🤣 – 🧟♂️🧠 written by unknown undead. Get ready to howl with laughter (or moan, groan & face-plant 😱🤣) this Halloween! Prepare for spine-tingling, side-splitting chills with the ultimate 🎃 categorized collection of Halloween & Horror Humor that’ll tickle your funny bone🦴🩻 & leave you cackling like a witch 🧙♀️💀! Get buried alive in an utter avalanche⛷️🏂 of face-planting😒🌵 BAD (😈 EVIL?) DAD jokes -...