Jokes 101 is a new and different view of the best jokes and interesting observations on 107 separate topics from accountants to zombies. If you are looking for funny, clean jokes on a specific topic, just select the jokes that best suit your purpose. If you are required to say a few words or give a speech, a well-chosen joke or observation will put your audience in a more receptive mood and make your appearance unforgettable and unique. If you’re talking to a group of barbers, try, “I received an expensive comb as a gift. I thanked my girlfriend and said, ‘I’ll never part with it.’” When speaking to a group of doctors, what can you say? Knowing the current zombie craze, try, “When he told the ladies that he was Doctor Jekyll, they all wanted to Hyde.” When speaking about family, try, “Here’s a statement that breaks a mother’s heart: ‘Mommy, I missed the school bus.’” If singing is a topic, try, “My daughter sang a duet with our dog; it was a howling success.” That’s enough punishment for now. Will you be a hit, the proverbial life of the party, based on your singularly entertaining and informative discussions or speeches using the jokes or observations stolen from this, in all modesty, semibombastic, fantastic material in Jokes 101? PS: I don’t know anyone who can do me a bit of good, so no important person has endorsed this book; you’ll just have to think positive.

To support his family, Billy Crystal's father, Jack, worked two jobs, having only one day a week to spend with his family. Based on Crystal's one-man Broadway show of the same name, "700 Sundays"--referring sadly to the time shared by an adoring father and his devoted son--offers a heartfelt, hilarious memoir.

A comprehensive guide to writing, selling and performing all types of comedy. Includes comments, advice, gags and routines from top comics.

This New York Times bestseller is the hilarious philosophy course everyone wishes they’d had in school. Outrageously funny, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... has been a breakout bestseller ever since authors—and born vaudevillians—Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein did their schtick on NPR’s Weekend Edition. Lively, original, and powerfully informative, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar... is a not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical thinkers and traditions, from Existentialism (What do Hegel and Bette Midler have in common?) to Logic (Sherlock Holmes never deduced anything). Philosophy 101 for those who like to take the heavy stuff lightly, this is a joy to read—and finally, it all makes sense! And now, you can read Daniel Klein's further musings on life and philosophy in Travels with Epicurus and Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change it.

Reprints and reminiscences from the magazine’s first decade: “Fun to flip through . . . Where would American humor be without the National Lampoon?”—The New Yorker From its first issue in April 1970, the National Lampoon blazed like a comet, defining comedy as we know it today. To create Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead, former Lampoon illustrator Rick Meyerowitz selected the funniest material from the magazine and sought out the survivors of its first electrifying decade to gather their most revealing and outrageous stories. The result is a mind-boggling tour through the early days of an institution whose alumni left their fingerprints all over popular culture: Animal House, Caddyshack, Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters, SCTV, Spinal Tap, In Living Color, Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons—even Sesame Street counts a few Lampooners among its ranks. This is the story of a band of young talents who “irrevocably rewrote the landscape of American humor” (Publishers Weekly). “A vivid picture of a tight-knit family of twentysomething humorists at the dawn of their careers.” —Newsweek "The other night I started laughing so hard I had to leave the room . . . And then I realized that I hadn’t laughed so hard in 35 years, since I was a teenager, reading National Lampoon.” —The Wall Street Journal “If you grew up with the Lampoon, this book is a trip down memory lane like no other; if not, it will demonstrate that the much maligned 70s could produce humor that has never been surpassed.” —Vanity Fair

Callie Austin, the unknown author of the wildly popular Tex Miller book series, decides twenty-plus years of living in anonymity is enough. Her plan? Kill the beloved protagonist, Tex Miller. But with a fierce agent, a cut-throat editor, and a beyond-zealous fan base, Callie knows not everyone will be happy. And just wait until Tex hears about it. At twenty-two, Callie, orphaned and grieving, conjured Tex Miller, a dashing adventurer and now-adored literary character who makes women swoon and men sit up straighter. Her novel skyrocketed, but Callie was lucky. It was the mid-1990s, pre-internet explosion, and much to her publisher’s chagrin, she insisted she remain anonymous by using a pen name. The enigmatic Calliope Jones was born and cloistered away in one fell swoop, leaving an idolizing public scratching its collective head. Visible only to her, Tex Miller became her constant screwball companion. Two decades and a dozen books later, on a routine trip to NYC, Callie plans to end the Tex Miller saga, but an up-and-coming streaming service’s offer to turn Callie’s books into an original series may waylay Tex’s demise. Things spiral further when her trusted longtime driver falls ill, and a young replacement chauffeur catches her eye—and maybe her heart, while Tex goes rogue, unsure he’s down with the new plot twists. Throw in a dogged gossip blog’s rabid pursuit of ‘the truth’ along with Calliope Jones’s fervent fandom, and poor Callie Austin has her hands full.