Funny books

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a few favourites ------->>>

almost anything by Patrick Hamilton (esp Slaves of Solitude)
Catch-22, obviously
lots of Kurt Vonnegut
The History Man by Macolm Bradbury
Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
lots of Jim Thompson
P G Wodehouse probably but I've only read one

so gimme more recommendations please...

― freedom dupont, Monday, 6 October 2003 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

jamie farr - just farr a laugh

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 6 October 2003 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm such a broken record, but here's the part where I say Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 6 October 2003 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Woody Allen - Without Feathers

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 6 October 2003 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

anything by Carl Hiaasen.
Metzgler's Dog by Thomas Perry (though from what I've read none of his other stuff is anywhere near as fun, though it's not supposed to be).

The Working Stiff's Manifesto by Iain Levison is real funny.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 6 October 2003 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Anything by Wodehouse should be top of the list. Peter De Vries is extremely funny too. Donald Westlake's capers too - Bank Shot, where they decide to steal a bank, is a favourite. Jane Austen. Larry McMurtry when he isn't being painfully moving - or, in fact, sometimes at the same time, a real achievement. I'm struggling to think of others that aren't, like the Woody Allen, compilations of short pieces and newspaper columns and the like, for instance Mark Twain or vintage Alan Coren and Keith Waterhouse.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 6 October 2003 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Blue Heaven - Joe Keenan
A Short HIstory of a Small Place - TR Pearson
Anything by Rita Mae Brown

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 6 October 2003 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

American Psycho. It's fucking hilarious except for the killing parts.

― Bryan (Bryan), Monday, 6 October 2003 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Jerome K Jerome.

― Ally C (Ally C), Monday, 6 October 2003 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"It's a Living": The Wit and Wisdom of Bedrock Appliances by R.S. Allen, Sam Bobrick, et. al

How to Talk Dirty and Influence People by Lenny Bruce

Suddenly Last Somers by Brett Somers

V. by Thomas Pynchon

Nails by Lenny Dykstra

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 6 October 2003 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"A Grotesque Swelling: Celebrity reexamined as a crippling disease" By Cintra Wilson.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 6 October 2003 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I never found Vonnegut at all funny. I always read him as being dreadfully serious, which turns his "funny" books into these woeful tragedies.

― Chris P (Chris P), Monday, 6 October 2003 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)

yay Jerome K Jerome
Also the Ascent of Rum Doodle which in my opinion is the funniest book in the whole wide world.

― isadora (isadora), Monday, 6 October 2003 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

stanley elkin was very funny. please read the magic kingdom if you haven't already. jack douglas was my fave as a kid. The Neighbors Are Scaring My Wolf, Shut Up And Eat Your Snoeshoes. and woody allen. i liked his books too as a kid.

― scott seward, Monday, 6 October 2003 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

yea! to Rita Mae Brown; Rubyfruit Jungle is hilarious and way hott.

(also, check her one movie credit)

David Lodge: Changing Places.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 6 October 2003 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Mordecai Richler

Marc Maron's The Jerusalem Syndrome

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 6 October 2003 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

all of the Gregory Macdonald books in the Fletch or Flynn series.

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 6 October 2003 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll second the Fletch books (haven't read the Flynn ones).

(And I have Slumber Party Massacre on DVD! No commentary track, sadly.)

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 6 October 2003 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

The Liar: Stephen Fry
Popcorn: Ben Elton
The Gun Seller: Hugh Laurie

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Monday, 6 October 2003 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't think of the History Man as a 'funny book'. Must hav missed that nuance...

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Monday, 6 October 2003 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I think GR is funnier than V.

Nabokov, Pale Fire

― Leee (Leee), Monday, 6 October 2003 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

A Confederate General From Big Sur, Brautigan

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 6 October 2003 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

White boy shuffle Paul Beatty

― Simeon (Simeon), Monday, 6 October 2003 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm such a broken record, but here's the part where I say Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

i came on this thread to say almost exactly the same NA, but people need to know!

also i think "franny and zooey" is hilarious.

― jed (jed_e_3), Monday, 6 October 2003 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, man, if you liked the taste of Wodehouse you have to read Leave it to Psmith.

Neal Pollack's new book is fucking hysterical. I hit my head on the wall behind me I was laughing so hard.

And if you like old P.G. you should listen to Nichole, my new boyfriend, and get the Hugh Laurie novel -- sort of a gunslingin' thriller but funn-ay and, as you might guess, he cites Wodehouse as greatest author ever.

Kingsley Amis, to continue the vein... Saki is a bit drier but mixed from much the same gin -- just add two parts Wilde.

What else... oh yeah, Stella what WAS her name... Leslie Stella's two books. Contemp Chicago writer. Been compared to Confed of Dunces, actually, but much shorter.

God, I wish I were looking at my bookshelf right now. I heart funny books. HEART HEART HEART HEART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 6 October 2003 22:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i second franny and zooey - actually salinger is frequently laugh-out-loud funny, which a lot of people inexplicably miss.

anything by james thurber, robert benchley, s.j. perelman.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 6 October 2003 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I never found Vonnegut at all funny. I always read him as being dreadfully serious, which turns his "funny" books into these woeful tragedies.
-- Chris Piuma (chri...), October 6th, 2003.

All good comedy is tragedy. If there's anything procelin statuettes have taught me, it's that.

― David Allen, Tuesday, 7 October 2003 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Youth in Revolt by C. D. Payne

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I second Kingsley Amis. Also, Young'un Amis's "Success" is pretty funny. Scott Feschuk (Canadian TV critic) just came out with a book--it's pretty funny.

― cybele (cybele), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:05 (twenty-one years ago)

nineteen years pass...

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/07/books/i-don-t-believe-in-kindly-humor.html

― The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Elektra) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 11 July 2023 22:26 (one year ago)

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