# Good storyteling memoir/comedy books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-storyteling-memoir-comedy-books/710638 "2015-01-23T01:09:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-storyteling-memoir-comedy-books/710638/1 "2015-01-23T01:09:09Z")
I love a good story. I love listening to people tell stories and I love listening to podcasts with comedians where they just shoot the shit and talk for 2 hours. I also really love books that do that too. They’re so entertaining and a breeze for me to read. If anyone could give more suggestions on actually funny books, that’d be awesome. Books so far I’ve liked: Life of the Party: Tales from a Perpetual Manchild - Bert Kreisher Sex Drugs and Coco Puffs - Chuck Klosterman All of David Foster Wallace’s essays Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain And I’ve actually enjoyed every single pro wrestling book I’ve read and it lets out my inner nerd child that used to love that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-storyteling-memoir-comedy-books/710638/2 "2015-01-23T17:37:33Z")
Along the lines of memoirs, stories from people’s lives (some funny, but not for comedy per se): “The Kid Stays in the Picture” both book and documentary about film producer Robert Evans. I listened to the book on CD with Evans narrating. Very entertaining. “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” anecdotes from physicist Richard Feynman Bill Bryson’s travel books would also fall into this category. Yes, they’re about various travels, but told as his experiences (often hilarious) during these travels. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-storyteling-memoir-comedy-books/710638/3 "2015-01-23T17:44:45Z")
> [@cormac262](#): > > Bill Bryson’s travel books would also fall into this category. Yes, they’re about various travels, but told as his experiences (often hilarious) during these travels. His [The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Thunderbolt-Kid-Memoir/dp/0767919378/ref=sr_1_1_twi_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422035012&sr=1-1) is more of a straight memoir, and it is quite funny. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-storyteling-memoir-comedy-books/710638/4 "2015-01-23T18:26:40Z")
I thought Paul Feig’s two autobiographical books were quite funny ([Kick Me](http://www.amazon.com/Kick-Adventures-Adolescence-Paul-Feig/dp/0609809431/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8) and [Superstud](http://www.amazon.com/Superstud-How-Became-24-Year-Old-Virgin/dp/1400051754/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8)). ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-storyteling-memoir-comedy-books/710638/5 "2015-01-23T18:31:59Z")
John Cleese: **So, Anyway…** It isn’t very silly, but it is flat out hilarious. David Niven: **Bring On The Empty Horses** Old as this is, it’s still great. Mark Twain: **Roughing It** Written 143 years ago. Try to read it without laughing out loud, ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-storyteling-memoir-comedy-books/710638/6 "2015-01-23T20:15:43Z")
One that I enjoyed was _A Guide to Western Civilization or My Story_ by Joe Bob Briggs (aka John Bloom). It was published in 1988 and it’s long out of print but you can find used copies around. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-storyteling-memoir-comedy-books/710638/7 "2015-01-24T06:26:53Z")
I love Lenny Bruce’s [How to Talk Dirty and Influence People](http://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Dirty-Influence-People/dp/0671751085/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422080704&sr=1-1&keywords=Lenny+Bruce). Um, it doesn’t have a whole lot of what you’d call “factual truth” in it, about his family, his marriage, or his drug use–it wasn’t written with collegiate research in mind–but it’s a very entertaining book. [Going Too Far](http://www.amazon.com/Going-Too-Far-Tony-Hendra/dp/0385232233/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1422079891&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Tony+Hendra) by Tony Hendra is another brilliant read. The memoir parts are kind of self-serving, especially his interactions with Michael O’Donoghue and PJ O’Rourke, which is kind of astonishing considering the dirt on himself he actually cops to, but it’s an indispensable history of late 20th Century humor by someone who sat at the epicenter of much of it. (His family life, which is said to make Woody Allen’s look wholesome by comparison, isn’t discussed here, and for the record, he denies his daughter’s [heinous accusations](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/01/books/daughter-says-father-s-confessional-book-didn-t-confess-his-molestation-of-her.html), but the reader should probably be aware of them nonetheless.)