Hitchhiker’s Guide is real roll on the floor stuff.
But what I can add that’s new are the MYTH books. Hooey did I crack-up when the leads friend noticed that he got along real well with the unicorn they had captured, a little too well. heeheehee
Glen Cook’s Garrett series has some of the best one liners and situations I’ve read. God how I wish Harrison Ford could play him in only 1 movie, please please please, with whip cream and a cherry on top.
Have to agree with Weird Al Einstein about Bored of the Rings. absolutely hilarious parosy of LOTR. Doon, on the other hand, missed more often than it hit (and it’s not by Harvard Lampoon – it’s by National Lampoon). Harvard Lampoon DID do Alligator, a spot-on parody of James Bond novels. Unfortunately, it’s damned near unobtainable.
I also hve to agree with ** Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court**. Twain’s best stuff is his less-read output.
Alan King’s books Help! I’m a Prisoner n a Chinese Laundry and Anybody who Owns his own Home Deserves it
Most of Dave Barry’s output, especially Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs
A. Whintney Brown’s book.
Tom Weller’s Science Made Stupid and Cvltvre Made Stupid. That these books are out of print is a crime.
There are a lot of books of headlines – Jay Leno’s, National Lampoon’s, but the best ones are the ones by Columbia Journalism Review (they don’t need commentary): Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim and Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge are flat-out hilarious. And the titles are actual headlines, of course.
Ok, I’ve had my cold shower.
Confederacy of Dunces
The Tick - Mighty Blue Justice
Any and all David Sedaris-I read ‘A plauge of tics’ while on the recombent bike at the gym and fell off (no, really, I’m ok)
Almost all Dave Barry with a particular affection for
Dave Barry Slept Here-A sort of History of the United States-the ultimate in history books…(see sig)
My paycheck I know its not a book, but if I don’t laugh I’ll cry.
I gotta go think some more.
I can’t believe we’ve all neglected to mention the obvious
Everything ever written by Cecil Adams
(course, maybe that was a given)
I’ll second Douglas Adams (some of his work) and Terry Pratchett (most of his work), with special mention to * Good omens * by Pratchett and Gayman.
Not mentioned so far, but my all-time fave, is * Riotous assembly * by Tom Sharpe, a hilarious spoof on the South African ‘justice’ system during the Apartheid years.
And for bridge buffs, the menagerie series by Victor Mollo.
“Moses May Have Been an Apache, and Other Actual Facts” by Cully Abrell and John Thompson. A spoof on Ripley’s Believe It or Not, containing such gems as “The world’s shortest lived dance craze was the ‘Expectorate’.”
“The Beaver Papers: The Story of the Lost Season” by Will Jacobs and Gerard Jones. Episodes of “Leave it to Beaver” as written by famous authors. Has to be read to be believed.
“Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: An Unauthorised Autobiography” by Chuck Barris (of Gong Show infamy). Three plot lines: his game show days, his constant persuit of sex, and his undercover work as a CIA assassin…no, really! Massively entertaining, if not entirely believable.
I second the McManus nomination here.
I prefer, especially the first book in Aspirin’s Phule series Phule’s Company over the Myth series, though i throughly enjoyed the Myth series. Just had never really laughed aloud until that one.
I read Catch 22 in Italy. Point made only for information.
The misses was mad. I kept waking her up with my laughing.
I often wonder which is more important, books or wife?
Yes, wife. But books are a VERY close second.
Aside from all the ones aleady mentioned- well I laughed out loud quite a bit at Dan Savage’s “The Kid”.
And I just now tonight finished Chuck Palahuik’s new book “Choke” (he also wrote “Fight Club”) which I thought incredibly funny. In a horrifying kind of way.
“The Story of the Stone” by Barry Hughart
“Practical Demonkeeping” by Christopher Moore
Sweetheart, I own Little Wooden Boy himself! At least, a copy that an artist made and auctioned off. Maybe we should get together and … SPOOOON!!
And I forgot Bored of the Rings in my previous list. Just the introduction (“Concerning Boggies”) is enough to leave me in tears.
Richard Lederer a/k/a “Attila the Pun”. His books Anguished English and Fractured English are the funniest I’ve ever read. They make my belly ache from laughing so hard. He also has several others along the same lines, Crazy English, More Anguished English, etc.
Other very funny books
*Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
*several of the “Myth” books by Robert Asprin
Any Far Side collection by Gary Larson
Split Heirs by Lawrence Watt Evans and somebody else
I see that a lot of people list “Hitchiker’s Guide” on their lists. A big influence on Dougklas Adams was sf/fantasy writer Robert Sheckley, and if you haven’t read him you should. In particular, read Dimension of Miracles. When I read “Hitchhiker’s”, my first thought was “Hey, he just rewrote Dimension of Miracles!” I know a lot of other people felt so, too.
There was some truly inspired insanity at MAD magazine, but I couldn’t pin down any one book. Nevertheless, things like “43 Man Squamish” (I forget the writer, but the artist was the much-neglected George Woodbridge) should never be forgotten. Dan Simmons even worked a reference to it into one of the books in the “Hyperion” series.
I have to agree with Allan Sherman’s The Rape of the APE*. Informative and funny.
Well, first to second some already-mentioneds:
Douglas Adams - particularly Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Last Chance to See.
Terry Pratchett - particularly Guards, Guards (why has no one listed this one?) and Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman, which is btw how his last name is spelled). His latest stuff has pretty much sucked, though, IMO.
Bill Bryson - love that travel humor.
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day was great. And I loved his story “The SantaLand Diaries” - it’s one of two humor books I read every December, just to keep my perspective on the Season o’ Madness.
Dan Savage - his Savage Love collection o’ columns was great, especially for those who started reading him in the latter days.
Erma Bombeck - my introduction to humor as a kid, and I also wonder why I found her writing so entertaining when I was 9.
Barry Hughart - Bridge of Birds was my favorite, but Story of the Stone was pretty good, too.
David Foster Wallace - I gave A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again to my sister, who used to work on a cruise ship. Wonder if she ever read it?
Dave Barry - an obligatory mention on any list of humorous writing.
Some not-yet-mentioneds:
Connie Willis - when she’s trying to be funny, she’s funny. I thought To Say Nothing of the Dog was hysterical.
Jerome K. Jerome - Three Men in a Boat is early travel humor, and it will make reading the above Willis book even more fun.
P.G. Wodehouse - laughed myself sick through the Bertie and Jeeves books as a kid.
Tim Cahill - Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, etc. More travel (this time, adventure) humor.
Donald Westlake - the Dortmunder series is just about the funniest thing every to happen to the mystery genre.
L. Sprague De Camp and Fletcher Pratt - The Complete Compleat Enchanter.
Grant Naylor - Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers. I read this before I saw the TV series it was based on (Red Dwarf), and love it do death.
Helen Cresswell - the Bagthorpe series (first four books only) was one of my early introductions to humor, and probably a major reason why this list is so long.
Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones’ Diary. So popular it’s almost embarrassing to mention it, but I did find it funny.
Um…I could go on (and on) but I think I’ll stop here, while I can still pretend I have, you know, a life. So you’ll all be spared any further discussion of my obsession with travel humor, not to mention all the zillions of humorous children’s books I love. (Look, when you’re living with a children’s librarian, children’s lit becomes a major feature of your reading life.)
I remember busting a gut over Without Feathers and another whose title I’ve forgotten by Woody Allen… The absurdity of his writings cracked me up. Now I’m going to have to dig them out and see if my sense of humor has changed in 28 years…
Getting Even was Woody Allen’s first collection. Without Feathers was his second, and Side Effects his third. (see http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-keywords=Woody%20Allen&bq=1/ref=aps_more_b_2/104-6212052-0203153 )
A lot of funny stuff in his first two, especially stuff like 'The Whore of Mensa". The third fell off a bit.
Scott Adams Dilbert book with text - The Joy of Work
The Onion – Our Dumb Century
Al Franken – Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot
Scuse Me While I Kiss this Guy (only the first one in the series, the rest seemed somewhat forced)
Dan
I LOVE YOU! We MUST MEET!! I just wish I still had my hand puppet of Handy “Read a book! You’re making us look like jerks!”
Plus, it would be nice to meet someone who didn’t say, “Why do you have a tattoo of Gumby?” The guy did a great job. The nail/fingers and the wood rings are perfect!
DAN? Who the hell is Dan? And what’s he doing in my post to the Cap’n!
These I can (and do) read over and over again and always laugh:
• “Hollywood Girl” and “Show Girl” by J.P. McEvoy
• “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” by Anita Loos
• “Little Me” by Patrick Dennis
• Dorothy Parker’s collected book and play reviews
• Bea Lillie’s memoirs, “Every Other Inch a Lady”
• “Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York” by Gail Parent
• “Ho-Hums” and “More Ho-Hums” (those collected press goofs from the New Yorker)
• “Red Tape Holds Up Bridge” and “Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim” (press goofs from The Columbia Journalism Review)