Writing Humor

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.

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.

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.

Is it too much to ask that a managed care facility refund a year's advance payment when your grandfather dies before he can move in? Frank Johnson doesn't think so, which is why the thirty-three-year-old now lives in a nursing home, locked in a chess match feud with management that doesn't occupy nearly enough of his time. When foster kid Elroy is thrust into his life, Frank decides to turn this forced relationship to his advantage—launching a string of absurd decisions, inappropriate behaviors and unexpected glimpses of tenderness that ultimately turn a New Jersey suburb upside down.

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.

Memoir; life in Italy, grief and healing, women’s midlife memoir, expat life, Irish humor, found family, starting again, loss and love, Italy memoir, solo travel. Read as standalone, but better as part of the series. Welcome back to Casa Anam Cara — where the Italian countryside is beautiful, the guests unpredictable, and the bureaucracy remains undefeated. Rosie’s life in Italy continues with hosting fabulous midlife crisis retreats for women and writers, garden chaos, and a revolving door of creative visitors. Between unexpected animals who move in uninvited, magic holy doors, the ...

From the comedian and New York Times bestselling author of Idiot, a new essay collection about finding the funny even when your life is falling apart. The world knows comedian and content creator Laura Clery for her hilariously unhinged characters, brutally honest storytelling, and ability to...

It’s the end of the world, and Hertell Daggett has decided to save it. Well not save it so much, as just, remember it. The earth’s magnetic poles have reversed and civilization has just had its clock reset to the great cosmic flashing 12:00am from almost a million years ago, and humanity, and everybody in it, is pretty much forgetting everything it learned since the last time.

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...

I like Graffiti. It appeals to my particular sense of humor. I like it for the concise nature of statements of wit and wisdom. It makes me smile. It makes me laugh. While I do not advocate defacing or writing on private property or lavatory walls or spraying paint, I do subscribe to graffiti as a social value- clearly people feel they have something to say. This can take many forms – an opinion -- a statement – a comment – an observation – an insult -- a boast ( size really does matter ) So now dear reader I offer you my first humble collection. Graffiti from all over the world. No ...

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 ...

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.

Five Foreigners. Two Brits. And One Island Of Delightfully Bonkers Traditions. A laugh-out-loud fictional story revealing the very real and baffling traditions, quirks, and sheer eccentricities of modern Britain. “I was properly crying with laughter.” “It’s witty, charming, and perfectly captures the beautiful madness of British life.“ Joana and Brian had imagined showing their home country would be easy: some rolling hills, a few sheep, maybe a castle. Instead, they found themselves guiding five bewildered visitors straight into the heart of British peculiarities. How does one ...

Charlie McGinley wanted literary fame—He got a front-row seat to murder. Charlie writes hardboiled detective novels from his New Mexico ranch. His books sell, but never earn the respect he craves. He wants to be taken seriously. Maybe even win an award. So, when world-famous author Jon Masterson invites him to join his prestigious writer’s group, Charlie jumps at the chance. Sure, Masterson’s rich, smug and conceited, but Charlie’s willing to play nice if it means finally being taken seriously as a writer. Then cracks in the façade start to appear. Is Masterson mentoring new talent...

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...

"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...

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...

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.

Master the Art of Making Readers Laugh Why do some writers effortlessly make us snort coffee through our noses, while others try desperately to be funny and land with a quiet, terrible thud? The difference isn't talent — it's craft. And craft can be learned. USA Today bestselling author Steve Alcorn draws on more than 25 years of teaching experience to break down the mechanics of humor writing: how to find comedy in everyday life, build jokes that actually land, sustain a funny voice across hundreds of pages, and get your humor out into the world. From Aristophanes to TikTok, from ...

"Jenny Lawson returns to narrate her third installment in a disheveled saga of finding the light at the end of a long, winding, ludicrous tunnel...Another treasure in the Lawson collection, this audiobook shines with a powerful message: Depression and anxiety suck, but we can rise above them."...