Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Comedy & Humor

Tupperware ladies, eighties people, and leisure concept salesmen beware: Dave Barry is on the loose and no one is safe! Tune in for the latest hilarious update on American culture. This collection of anecdotes includes sound-offs on gambling ("Off-Track Betting parlors are the kinds of places where you never see signs that say, 'Thank you for not smoking.' The best you could hope for is, 'Thank you for not spitting pieces of your cigar on my neck'"), the Big Apple ("New York has more commissioners than Des Moines, Iowa, has residents"), and more.

Political provocateur Bill Maher tells it like it is in a useful and hilarious guide for the many Americans who want to do more here at home to help in the war effort, but are at a loss as to how. Says Maher, "Traveling the country, I find that people want to do more here at home, but are at a loss as to what. Even when the government issues a Terrorism Advisory, it's maddeningly vague - 'Terrorist alert today! Code Burnt Orange!' 'And what?' I always want to ask, "Bring a sweater?'"

Warning: This isn't the real thing...it's funnier! "Gerber's affectionate, giggle-inducing send-up is one giant step toward restoring the somewhat debased art form known as 'parody,'" says Sean Kelly, former editor of National Lampoon. If you love Harry Potter - or if you have had enough of him! - you've gotta hear this.

When Dave Barry writes funny, you write back. And when you write funny, Dave Barry talks back! Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist Dave Barry gets more response from readers than any other writer in the United States. And now the absolute best of Dave Barry is available, complete with those items sent in by Dave's legion of Alert Readers all across the country. But Dave Barry doesn't only talk back to readers. He talks back to traffic cops, dentists, doctors, Congress, and his very dumb dogs.

For more than fifteen years Moe Moskowitz and the Punsters were the court jesters of National Public Radio, performing the funniest songs and nonsense that NPR has to offer. Here, Moe and the Punsters are joined by NPR's Bob Edwards, Alex Chadwick, Terry Gross, Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, Robert Siegel, Carl Kasell, and Frank Tavares, among others. These are all those voices we know and love, but they're actually being funny and satirical and spontaneous!

In vignettes both comic and sexy, the owner of a coffee shop recalls the day his first wife seemed to achieve a moment of simple perfection, while she remembers the women's softball game during which she was stricken by the beauty of the shortstop. A young couple spends hours at the coffee shop fueling the idea of their fierce love. A professor of philosophy, stopping by for a cup of coffee, makes a valiant attempt to explain what he knows to be the inexplicable workings of the human heart.

Here is the absolute best of Dave Barry; selections from four of his most popular books, including the hilarious Guide to Guys. Dave Barry is on the loose and no one is safe....

From the grand old man of comedy, George Burns to the up-to-the minute observations of today's everyman, Dave Barry, these great humorists share one thing in common: their very individual, often raucously funny perception of the world around them. Laugh and enjoy!

When Dave Barry goes mano a mano with the Information Superhighway, it's guaranteed to be a rip-roaring adventure. This self-proclaimed computer geek and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist starts with the motto, "Never read the instructions," and slides from there into the world of hardware, software, Windows 95, and the critical issue of RAM ("the bottom line is, if you're a guy, you cannot have enough RAM").

Dave Barry exposes natural childbirth for what it is: a pop phenomenon of the 1960's that, along with paisley bell-bottoms and creative sideburns, deserves a rest. His new book gives parents-to-be the hard facts they need. He examines the new federal law requiring prospective fathers to free themselves from their self-made macho prison - to laugh, cry, love and just generally behave like certified wimps.

Best-selling sportswriter Peter Golenbock knew Mickey Mantle, as well as many of Mantle's friends, family members, and teammates. While Mickey was a good person at heart, he had a dark side that went far beyond his well-known alcoholism and infidelities. In Golenbock's shocking and revealing first novel, 7, Mickey tells the hidden story of his life as a baseball hero and asks for forgiveness from his friends and family. In this fictional portrait, Mantle, now in heaven, needs to unburden himself of all the horrible things he did and understand for himself why he did them.

In yet another collection of essays, investigative journalist Dave Barry is on the job, hard at work between lunch and naps researching and compiling out-of-the-ordinary news stories from his legion of loyal followers all across the country. Reported as only Dave's wit and wisdom can accomplish, Barry covers everything from exploding municipal toilets to spontaneous human combustion (over 200 cases) to humor impairment—citing Exhibit A, former President Richard Nixon. No one is exempt: Barry lambasts traffic cops, dentists, doctors, Congress, and his very dumb dogs.

Penniless and downtrodden at the loss of his wife and one of his daughters, Samuel Clemens turned to writing. The short stories and essays in Letters from the Earth find Clemens—under the pseudonym of Mark Twain—at perhaps his most quizzical and questioning state ever. Written as diary entries, Twain penned a series of letters from the point of view of a dejected angel on Earth who observes the many curious natures of man. These pieces, gathered by Twain's literary executor, feature sharp takes on the inconsistencies of Christianity and farcical criticisms of American life.

The disastrous banjo-playing of Bertram "Bertie" Wooster has driven the otherwise steadfast gentleman's gentleman Jeeves to give notice—because even butlers have limits. In anger, Bertie disappears to the country with his new valet Brinkley as a guest of Lord “Chuffy” Chuffnell, who has employed the services of the recently resigned Jeeves. Bertie soon finds himself in no shortage of trouble as he encounters his ex-fiancée Pauline, her formidable father, and the eminent looney-doctor Sir Roderick Glossop.

In Funny People, Steve Allen conveys by anecdote and example the unique genius of four of the great comedians who have delighted our lives: Jack Benny, George Burns, Milton Berle, and Jimmy Durante. Laugh along with Steve Allen in this witty and perceptive exploration into comedy and comedians. Steve Allen, who has written best-selling books on lots of subjects, has now written one in the field for which millions of Americans consider him to be the longest reigning authority.

Golf enthusiasts everywhere will love this collection of stories about life behind the greens. Don Wade shares the best of the thousands of tales he's heard throughout the years in locker rooms, pressrooms, and grillrooms around the world. Some are funny, some are touching - and like all good tales, they improve in the retelling. Get ready to be entertained by a man who knows the game and the people behind it.

Eleven-time Emmy Award winner and icon of American comedy, Carl Reiner, performs a sweet, wry, and whimsical collection of two dozen multi-dimensional short stories—some true and others merely tales. Included in this collection are stories about a man too handsome for his personality, a lifetime bond that is created by a football accident, and a widower's nostalgic trip to the live chicken market. Together they represent the poignant, nostalgic, and laugh-out loud funny genius of this comedic superstar.

Picking up where her successful autobiography Enter Talking left off, Joan Rivers delivers a searing and funny account—as only she can—of private tragedy, a public fall from grace, and triumph against all odds. In Still Talking, Joan opens up about her rise to the top, dishes on fellow celebrities, and recounts the end of her treasured friendship with mentor Johnny Carson. Still Talking details Joan's courageous battle with life's obstacles and how she overcame the terrible circumstances that plagued her, surviving it all through laughter.

This is the story of Bronx-born David Kokolovitz and his hilarious experiences with sex, Shakespeare, and the South Pacific. We follow David on his journey away from his Bronx home in search of an acting career. In a comedy of opposites, New Yorker David ends up living in the Deep South where he lands his first acting job at a southern Shakespeare repertory company. Just as the hazards of too-tight tights and too-long soliloquies become too much for him, World War II conveniently breaks out and he moves on to entertain the troops.

From the minds that brought you The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook comes a wickedly funny send-up of the most dangerous trend ever to strike love, romance, and relationships—sexual correctness. In the be-sensitive-or-else era, everyone needs a guide to the essential don'ts and don'ts of sexual behavior and courtship. If a man compliments his date on her dress, should she go to the police? If a businesswoman licks her lips during a meeting, should she be fired without pay? Is a girlfriend just another unpaid sex worker?