On September 11, 2001, veteran comedian David Brenner was in the midst of a 48-week stand-up gig in Las Vegas. Immediately after that day, he cancelled the engagement and instructed his manager to book him on a nationwide tour. He called it the "Laughter to the People" tour, and on it he shared his humor with a grieving nation. Audience response was overwhelming. In this book, Brenner draws on highlights from his stand-up material to show how humor can give us the power to transcend personal and world problems from the unavoidable, like aging, to the uncontrollable, like war. The essays in the book cover a wide range of issues, including fear of flying, aging, marriage and divorce, pets, politics, terrorism, and religion.

Never before has the problem of stage fright been so eloquently examined; 40 interviews with some of the most highly-accomplished public figures shed light on this affliction, offering tips from their own experiences for overcoming it. Jason Alexander, Mose Allison, Maya Angelou, David Brenner, Peter Coyote, Olympia Dukakis, Richard Lewis, and many more sound off about their trials with stage fright, candidly discussing their fears and insecurities with life in the public eye and ultimately revealing the various paths they followed to overcoming them. Stage fright sufferers from all walks of life—whether a high school freshman nervous about an oral presentation or a professional baseball player with the eyes of the world on his bat—will find consolation by understanding the commonality of their problem, as well as helpful information to finally shed their inhibitions.

Political humor and satire are, perhaps, as old as comedy itself, and they are crucial to our society and our collective sense of self. Satire is confrontational. It’s about pushback, dissent, discord, disappointment, and demonstrating the absurdity of the status quo. This book is an attempt to explore how these aspects of satire help secure our sanity. Aristotle famously said that humans are naturally political animals. We need political community to flourish and live good lives. But politics also entails unpopular decisions, oppression, and power struggles. Satire is a vehicle through which we reflect on and challenge the irrational, incomprehensible, and intolerable nature of our lives without becoming totally despondent or depressed. In a poignant, pithy, but not ponderous manner, Al Gini and Abraham Singer delve into the history of satire to rejoice in its triumphs and watch its development from ancient graffiti to the latest late-night TV talk show.

Tony Kornheiser is back. Within these pages, the celebrated Washington Post columnist, Pardon the Interruption cohost, and ESPN radio personality relates his experience as an OnStar user, the proud new owner of the Ronco Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ, and a “phone-a-friend” on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. And in between, he dishes political commentary on Monica and Bill and George W. and Al. New for the paperback edition is Tony’s final Washington Post Style column. So read all about his quest to fit into size 36 Dockers and his struggle to buy holiday gifts. And know that in the process you’re handing this Kornheiser guy way too much dough for these columns.

Friends. You gotta have 'em, but sometimes they drive you crazy. You love 'em, but sometimes they make you mad. They'll help you through a crisis...unless they are the crisis. So What's the Deal? Friends are more than just the people you hang out with. They make you laugh, they keep your secrets, they offer advice (some good, some bad), they give you a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes they move away, or betray your trust, or flake out, but mostly they are the people who are always there for you. And they know you'll be there when they need you most. Because that's what it means to be a friend. Sometimes friendship is overwhelming, sometimes it's confusing, sometimes you feel like you don't have a friend in the world, but don't worry, it's like that for everyone. That's what the stories in this book are all about. They're from real teens, and they're about the bizarre, difficult and wonderful things that really happened to them and their friends. Put that together with weird facts, cool graphics, fun advice and quizzes designed to help you figure out what you and your friends are all about, and you've got the real deal on friendship!

Includes, beginning Sept. 15, 1954 (and on the 15th of each month, Sept.-May) a special section: School library journal, ISSN 0000-0035, (called Junior libraries, 1954-May 1961). Also issued separately.