The past, present and future walk into a bar. Bartender says, "you need a drink. You're tense."
Here is a discussion offering some funny books to read. Here also are some satires. Here are some books that are laugh out loud funny and some that might need some historical context to truly get the jokes.
Also here, a discussion we just started, really.
What is the difference between comedy and satire?
Here is a web-based definition I found helpful. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-comedy-and-satire.htm#didyouknowout
“Comedy and satire are different in that comedy is a much broader genre. All satire is comedy, but not all comedy is satire. Comedy includes everything from intelligent, witty repartees and dark humor to slapstick and baseline jokes. Satire, on the other hand, is a literary genre primarily focused on highbrow social criticism. “
Though even here, the lines sure seem to blur. What is the difference between highbrow and lowbrow these days? Isn’t there lowbrow satire? Southpark comes to mind. The Daily Show is a mix of highbrow and lowbrow that often offers trenchant social criticism. And who is to say what is laugh out loud funny? It’s all so personal.
Anyway, here are a few of the books we discussed.
Won’t you add to our list of comedy books?
Inherent Vice, by Thomas Pynchon
The Bear Went Over The Mountain, by William Kotzwinkle
The Evolution Man or How I Ate My Father, by Roy Lewis
Bossypants, by Tina Fey
The One Hundred Year Old Many Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared, by David Lodge
Vanity Fair, William Thackeray.
Where’d you go Bernadette, Maria Semple
Cheaper by the Dozen, Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Candide, by Voltaire
Gracie, A Love Story, by George Burns
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Hitchihiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
Some other funny authors we mentioned too.
P.G. Wodehouse
Mindy Kaling
Amy Poehler
James Thurber
Anthony Trollope
Jane Austen
David Sedaris