# What is your favourite funny novel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [March 14, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832 "2024-03-14T13:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/41 "2024-03-14T18:49:58Z")
I laughed heartily. Not at the books but at the sight of three white people meticulously, delicately, and tiptoeing on a tightrope-ly wrenching their memories to create a carefully curated DEI list of humor. Well, not a list, but a museum exhibit. The angst and agony they must have gone through to produce this. And yet they included _American Psycho_. 10,000 to 1 [Dwight Garner](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/theater/in-hindsight-an-american-psycho-looks-a-lot-like-us.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ck0.6x-X.7Md2awE9HrQ0&smid=url-share) was the one pitching for it. (Gift link.) Anyway. If they go back to the 50s before _Catch-22_, then why not Max Shulman, the creator of Dobie Gillis, who’s very dated today but was the epitome of 50s funnymen. Calvin Trillin, the _New Yorker_ great, wrote a couple of funny novels before he turned to funny essays. Donald Westlake became a superstar by essentially inventing the comic crime novel. If Garner wanted a book that was so politically incorrect that people would throw it against a wall today, why not Bill Maher’s _True Story_, a rank and filthy and actively funny book that caught the real world of young comics on the road better than anyone else ever will. I bet more people in 2024 care about comics than Wall Street Yuppies. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/42 "2024-03-14T19:23:16Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I bet more people in 2024 care about comics than Wall Street Yuppies. Considering the Donald Trump trope in _American Psycho_, I don’t feel we can dismiss its relevance in our current culture. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/43 "2024-03-14T19:30:40Z")
_Paperback Writer_ by Mark Shipper. A hilarious fictional account of the Beatles’ rise to fame…and their 1979 reunion album. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/44 "2024-03-14T19:39:17Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I also thoroughly enjoyed James Kennedy’s _Confederacy of Dunces_ ‎Nitpick: John Kennedy Toole ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/45 "2024-03-14T19:43:39Z")
_England, Their England_ by A. G. McDonnell. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/46 "2024-03-14T20:18:36Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Donald Westlake became a superstar by essentially inventing the comic crime novel. Bank shot ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/47 "2024-03-14T20:20:06Z")
Very true. Whenever I see Trump I want to laugh hysterically.\* \* Linked to the wrong person. This was meant for @Little_Nemo. Stephe, Paperback Writer was definitely a good book. Made me think of _Great Jones Street_, an early novel by the great DonDeLillo, mostly about Bob Dylan. More weird funny than ha-ha funny. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/48 "2024-03-14T20:32:04Z")
I wore those books out. If you can read them for the first time without a belly laugh, you’re broken. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/49 "2024-03-14T20:34:28Z")
Skipping past Pratchett and Adams, it’d be Hughart’s _Bridge of Birds_ for me. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/50 "2024-03-14T20:35:26Z")
I will also nominate PJ O’Rourke. _Holidays in Hell_ is awesome and non-partisan. Although not a novel! ---
**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:** [March 14, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/51 "2024-03-14T20:42:11Z")
I’ve really enjoyed Jason Pargin’s books also. Even the titles are funny! [Books by David Wong (Author of John Dies at the End) | Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/225033.David_Wong) ---
**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:** [March 14, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/52 "2024-03-14T20:46:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Believe it or not, the works of Mark Twain. Generally not all the way through. But parts of _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_ are great. I didn’t post this because I thought we were restricted to post Catch-22. YES! Mark Twain can be amazingly funny. I strongly recommend my personal favorite **Roughing It.** Laugh Out Loud material that was written over 150 years ago. Of course it was only 110 years old the first time I read it. I never get tired of re-reading it. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/53 "2024-03-14T20:51:16Z")
From this list I’ve read _Heartburn_ and _The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, age 13 3/4._ The funniest book I’ve ever read is Douglas Adams’ _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_. It’s also one of the best books I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/54 "2024-03-14T22:38:09Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > YES! Mark Twain can be amazingly funny. I strongly recommend my personal favorite **Roughing It.** Laugh Out Loud material that was written over 150 years ago. His essays, “The Awful German Language”, and “James Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” are hysterically funny. ---
**Author:** ![GrunthosTheFlatulent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grunthostheflatulent/32/21319_2.png) [@GrunthosTheFlatulent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrunthosTheFlatulent)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/55 "2024-03-14T22:45:33Z")
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/56 "2024-03-14T23:02:22Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > His essays, “The Awful German Language”, and “James Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” are hysterically funny. Haven’t read _The Awful German Language_ but agree about the Fenimore Cooper piece. Twain makes you literally laugh out loud. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/57 "2024-03-14T23:07:23Z")
I can thoroughly recommend [Tom Holt.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Holt) A british author, very much like Terry Pratchett, he writes “mythopoeic novels (which parody or take as their theme various aspects of mythology, history, or literature and develop them in new and often humorous ways)”, a number of historical novels and comedy fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/58 "2024-03-14T23:20:54Z")
Time for another plug on the SDMB for my all-time favorite: _Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York_. I don’t think I’m alone in identifying with hapless Sheila who’s looking for life in all the wrong places. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/59 "2024-03-14T23:24:58Z")
If I was in one of my more patrician moods I would have nodded to something by PJ Wodehouse or Mr. _(harrumph)_ Waugh, but all I gotta really add was how annoyed my stepmom got (while vacationing with the old man in Hawaii back in early 70s) on the beaches of Waikiki as he wouldn’t stop laughing while reading _Catch-22_. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832/60 "2024-03-15T00:26:57Z")
[Enjoy!](https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Awful_German_Language) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-funny-novel/998832.md?page=4)