Comic Comedians

"You're a comedian? That must be awesome!" It's a familiar response from people who've just met someone that calls comedy their full-time job. On the surface, it's glamorous: laughter, bright spotlights, and traveling the world. But like sausage-making, the real action is far from pretty. What goes unseen is the struggle undertaken by comedians to perform on that stage. In Go Home Happy, stand-up veteran Nathan Timmel leads the reader through a funny, pride-swallowing journey navigating the minefield of club owners, booking agents, drunken hecklers, and unexpected friends. Part fun and ...

In Five Minutes to Kill, actor and comedian Fred Stoller tells the story of the Young Comedians Special in 1989. He and five other talented, then-unknown comics took the stage with the hopes that their five-minute sets would propel them to fame and fortune. Some, like David Spade and Rob Schneider, hit it big; others didn’t. By turns hilarious and heart-wrenching, Five Minutes to Kill is the bittersweet story of what happened to six of America’s funniest people after their first big breaks.

From master comedian Mark Schiff, a long-time touring partner of Jerry Seinfeld, comes a hilarious account of decades of foolery with comedy and acting legends and how he honed his mensch skills in all of life's arenas.

The British comedian of Nigerian heritage and co-executive producer and writer of the CBS hit series Bob Hearts Abishola chronicles her odyssey to get to America and break into Hollywood in this lively and humorous memoir. According to family superstition, Gina Yashere was born to fulfill the dreams of her grandmother Patience. The powerful first wife of a wealthy businessman, Patience was poisoned by her jealous sister-wives and marked with a spot on her neck. From birth, Gina carried a similar birthmark - a sign that she was her grandmother’s chosen heir.

Byron Bowers is often referred to as a Comics’ Comic. A veteran stand-up comedian and actor, he's known for gripping material covering spirituality, race, socioeconomics, gender roles—and for delivering a fair chunk of it unrehearsed and in the moment. But though his life today may seem promising, it wasn't always that way. After all, as Byron sees it, the best stand-ups spin comedy from their own perceptions of reality. and what better source material to mine than one's own struggles?

Let us look at two of the most successful clowns in more detail. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Their public and private life ran along parallel lines and frequently crossed over. We shall examine the public persona that came alive on the silver screen with the private person that lived in the real world. We begin at the very beginning…

This is the first audiobook of its type to be released in North America. Road Stories of the Real Highway Comics takes a hard, comical look at the world of stand-up comedy from veteran Canadian stand-up comic, author, and voice-over artist Bryan Cox. If you've thought it might be fun to be a comedian, this audiobook is a must listen. Or, if you've wondered what that life is like, Road Stories uses humor to lay it all out for you.