# What were the funniest books you've ever read? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585 "2001-06-04T22:48:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/81 "2001-06-10T01:08:52Z")
I’d like to offer up the suggestion of ‘Budding Prospects’ By T.C. Boyle. It had me rolling. I’m also reading ‘A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius’ by a man named Eggers right now and I think I’ve actually laughed and cried at the same time once or twice. The 27 page acknowledgements were hilarious though. Definitly worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/82 "2001-06-10T22:07:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miss Creant \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Cap’n Crude \* > > **_How To Be A Superhero_, by Mark Leigh and Mike Lepine.** > > Oh my lord there is a god! I couldn’t even wait to finish reading the thread before I posted. There is another human who’s read How to Be a SuperHero (ex. Try to have your parents gunned down in front of you ala ‘Batman’)\*\* Count me in as well – I still have my copy of _How to Be a Superhero,_ and it’s definitely gut-busting hilarity every time I read it. (Favorite bit has to be the chapter on intimidation – “…just dress up like this and call yourself ‘The Castrator’”) And I’ll also throw another vote out for anything by Terry Pratchett. Despite what **deepbluesea** said, I _don’t_ think his recent works have sucked. He’s gotten some deeper topics, but overall they’re still entertainingly funny. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/83 "2001-06-10T22:46:26Z")
Another vote for “Bored of the Rings”. One of the funniest parts was the “excerpt” that never occurred in the book. “Hairy toes, I LOVE hairy toes!” 😃 And another vote for Thurber. His books “My Life and Hard Times” and “The Years with Ross” are great. “The Figgerin’ of Aunt Wilma” and “The Night the Bed Fell” are classic stories of an earlier time. His “Fables For Our Time” are wondeful, especially “The Unicorn in the Garden” and “Little Red Riding Hood”. One of my all-time funniest is “Harpo Speaks!”, Harpo Marx’s autobiography. You’ll just have to read it to find out about his adventures with the Algonquin crowd, his run-ins with George Bernard Shaw and Sergei Rachmaninoff, and how the foreign minister of the USSR was involved in the greatest laugh he ever got. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/84 "2001-06-11T04:44:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Isn’t there an Andy Sedaris, too? Are he and David related? Mmm…David has a sister named Amy. She was the star of the weird-looking Comedy Central TV show _Strangers With Candy_. I never watched it, but now that I’ve read his books, I wish I had. He writes about her a lot - she’s very, very evil. For more on this, read “A Shiner Like a Diamond” in _Me Talk Pretty One Day_. Anyway, David Sedaris is out and about in the area doing readings, and I was contemplating trying to switch with someone at work so I could go to one, and thanks to Miss C, now I _definitely_ have to. Any BADs want to go to Cody’s in Berkeley on Wednesday evening? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/85 "2001-06-11T14:37:58Z")
KYLA YOU MUST GO!!! ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/86 "2001-06-11T15:26:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jsc1953 \* > **Isn’t there an Andy Sedaris, too? Are he and David related?** Since no one else has responded . . . . That would be Andy S **i** daris, producer/director/writer of a long string of movies featuring former Playboy/Penthouse models, lots of guns and explosions, locations/plots that allow for or dictate a minimum amount of clothing on the female cast memebers (beaches, strip clubs, etc.), and whenever he can manage it, washed-up male actors with some name recognition (e.g., Erik Estrada). They’re a staple of late-night programming on HBO/Cinemax/Showtime, et al. Besides the difference in the spelling of their names, I can hardly think of two people with less in common than Andy Sidaris and David Sedaris. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/87 "2001-06-11T21:29:52Z")
[Glory Lane](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441516645/qid=992293838/sr=1-19/ref=sc_b_19/107-5886620-3708533) by Alan Dean Foster, he of The Last Starfighter fame. [Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451452011/qid=992294428/sr=1-1/ref=sc_b_1/107-5886620-3708533) and [Better than Life](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451452313/qid=992294428/sr=1-2/ref=sc_b_2/107-5886620-3708533) by Grant Naylor (aka Rob Grant & Doug Naylor). I highly recommend the Red Dwarf books to anyone even thinking about watching the show. The first book has a better explanation as to how Lister became the last human in existance. ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/88 "2001-06-12T01:39:37Z")
Damn. I hate getting to these threads so late. Everybody good is already taken! So I’ll just have to re-endorse Barry, Reiser, “Good Omens”, O’Rourke and some of the others. But I do have a couple that haven’t turned up, yet. Cleveland Amory - **The Cat Who Came for Christmas** was hysterical. Rita Rudner - **Naked Beneath My Clothes** Bob Burden and the Flaming Carrot Anything by Joe Queenan. Anka Radakovich - **The Wild Girls Club** - it’s very difficult to hide your reading material from your parents when you’re howling with laughter. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/89 "2001-06-12T03:23:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*[Glory Lane](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441516645/qid=992293838/sr=1-19/ref=sc_b_19/107-5886620-3708533) by Alan Dean Foster, he of The Last Starfighter fame. > > [Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451452011/qid=992294428/sr=1-1/ref=sc_b_1/107-5886620-3708533) and [Better than Life](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451452313/qid=992294428/sr=1-2/ref=sc_b_2/107-5886620-3708533) by Grant Naylor (aka Rob Grant & Doug Naylor). I highly recommend the Red Dwarf books to anyone even thinking about watching the show. The first book has a better explanation as to how Lister became the last human in existance. \*\* I forgot those, most novelizations of movies or series are pretty abominable in my opinion (I gagged on Star Trek novels when I was 13, but read them anyway when they were the last SF in the chool library I hadn’t read) but I really loved those two books (are there more?). I loved the series anyway, and the books expanded on the elements I thought were neatest in the show. ---
**Author:** ![Folkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Folkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folkie)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/90 "2001-06-12T04:45:08Z")
Wow, you guys have covered most of my list (D. Adams, D. Barry, Jerome K. Jerome (the man who first said “Work fascinates me; I can sit and watch it for hours”), Thurber, Bryson, and, oh yes, Bored of the Rings). Someone mentioned Donald E. Westlake but I would like to emphasize The Hot Rock and Good Behavior (the best of the Dortmunder books) and the unbelievably wonderful “Dancing Aztecs.” This is from the first page: "Everybody in New York City is looking for something… Recent graduates are looking for a job. Men in ties are looking for a better position. Men in suede jackets are looking for an opportunity. Women in severe tailoring are looking for an equal opportunity… “The Parks Department is looking for trees to cut down and turn into firewood for local poiticians. Residents of the neighborhood are lookin for politicians who will stop the Parks epartment from cutting down all those trees. Fat chance…” SOmeone has mentioned Jay Cronley but not his best books (IMHO), which are imitations of Westlake’s Dortmunder books: Cheap Shot and Quick Change. Also Hot to Trot. No one has mentioned Robert Benchley (any book). Also, most of Calvin Trillin. And Don Marquis’s Archy and Mehitabel. But the FUNNIEST book I have ever read is probably The Great Chili Confrontation by H. Allen Smith. I once made the mistake of lending it to a friend who was recovering from a hernia operation and he literally laughed himself sick. This is Smith meeting Wick Fowler, his competitor in the first Terlingua Chili Cookoff: "…my attention was called to a muddy automobile pulling in at the Ponderosa. It stopped and separated into two parts, indistinguishable one from the other, and one half of it moved and entered Room 24. "About an hour later I descried a large man standing near the swimming pool strumming his lips in a lighthearted manner. I watched him, fascinated, and thought that at any moment he might take a dead mouse out of his pocket and bein fondling it and talking to it. I approached him and introduced myself - he was the part of the muddy automobile that had moved…This was my first meeting with Wickford P. Fowler… "‘My chili,’ he said, has been known to open up eighteen sinus cavities unknown to modern medicine.’ “I kept matters on a genteel plane and said, simply and modestly, ‘I’ll cook you blue in the face, you big ox.’” ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/91 "2001-06-12T04:54:34Z")
Oh, my God! I forgot **Once a Catholic** by Robert…Robert - well, it’s a “B” name. OOP now, but hysterical. About a twelve-year-old boy in an Iowa Catholic school during WWII. Including fart-lighting and a variety of other very funny events. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/92 "2001-06-12T06:02:01Z")
Since so many people have mentioned David Sedaris, I think I’ll mention David Rakoff’s “Fraud”, even though I haven’t finished it. Similar vein. Hell, Sedaris plugs it on the back cover. And actually, even his blurb is funny. Oh and Jim Knipfel’s “Slackjaw” and “Quitting the Narobi Trio”, just about the funniest books ever about going blind and crazy. And Chuck Palahniuk’s “Choke” just in case anybody missed it the first two times I mentioned it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/93 "2001-06-12T22:38:10Z")
I can’t believe that no one has mentioned Mark Leyner. What about such classics as: The Tetherballs of Bougainville Et Tu, Babe My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist and the ever popular I Smell Esther Williams I’d summarize, but I’m afraid I’d end up peeing my pants right here at work … ---
**Author:** ![Folkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Folkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folkie)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/94 "2001-06-13T03:09:27Z")
oh, and i forgot: My Life With the Bulls and the Bears by Roger Eddy. When the kid goes to a funeral instead of a wedding… When he lassoes (literally) the Republican Chairwoman… When he points his gun at the hunter who is arguing with his father… And when the psychiatrist draws a picture of a small duck… Well, let’s say I remembered it for 30 years until I could find another copy. Folkie ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/95 "2001-06-13T06:25:58Z")
I’ve laughed frequently while reading **Carl Hiaasen** novels, especially _Native Tongue._ Reading his books, I can see a lot of potential for great comedy movies. Too bad about _Strip Tease,_ though. I don’t think Demi got it. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/96 "2001-06-14T01:58:27Z")
My choices (already mentioned by others but bearing repeating): Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett Bored of the Rings Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Dave Barry Does Japan and one that hasn’t been mentioned yet: Notes of a Nervous Man by James Lileks Finally, although it is not yet a book (it will be in August), judging by the similar material he’s already got posted on his website and which he has mined and added to for the book: The Gallery of Regrettable Food, also by James Lileks. The stuff on the site makes me laugh so hard I hurt myself. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/97 "2001-06-14T15:03:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by winterhawk11 \* > \*\* > > Finally, although it is not yet a book (it will be in August), judging by the similar material he’s already got posted on his website and which he has mined and added to for the book: The Gallery of Regrettable Food, also by James Lileks. The stuff on the site makes me laugh so hard I hurt myself. \*\* A book? Thank you jeebus, this is wonderful news! The website was the funniest thing ever to grace the Internet (with The Onion a close second). But that’s a whole 'nother thread. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/98 "2001-06-14T15:16:43Z")
> [@](#): > > A book? Thank you jeebus, this is wonderful news! The website was the funniest thing ever to grace the Internet (with The Onion a close second). But that’s a whole 'nother thread. They’ve already got a listing for it on Amazon. Not much there yet, but at least you can see what the cover will look like and read a couple of editorial reviews. ---
**Author:** ![AuntPam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@AuntPam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntPam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/99 "2001-06-14T18:36:37Z")
Let us not forget P.J. O’Rourke: Republican Party Animal Holidays in Hell The incomparable Dan Jenkins: Semi-Tough Life Its Ownself Rude Behavior (three novels written over a span of 15? years about the same characters.) and Baja Oklahoma Containing the Ten Stages of Drunkenness, of which the last two are “Invisible” and “Bulletproof.” And Jean Shepherd In God We Trust, All Others Pay cash Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories. All of which have made me laugh loud enough to get funny looks from bystanders and even family members… ---
**Author:** ![moggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@moggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moggy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2001, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585/100 "2001-06-14T19:01:29Z")
Anguished English by Richard Lederer made me laugh so hard I was crying. The Committments, The Snapper, and The Van, all by Roddy Doyle, concerning an Irish working-class family. They’ve all been made into movies too, but they’re not as good as the books. Parts of them made me LOL. Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding Once Upon a More Enlightened Time by James Finn Garner- fairy tales re-written to be PC. The Secret Life of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 by ? LOL funny. Children’s Books: The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of The Three Little Pigs, and The Math Curse by Jon Scieskwa (sp?). VERY funny. Also, Dogzilla and The Dumb Bunny series by Dav Pilkey. Both authors put a lot of stuff in for adults. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-funniest-books-youve-ever-read/67585.md?page=4)