Find Out What’s So Funny When Nothing’s Funny Sometimes life just stinks—people disappoint, bad things happen, and hardship comes. Laughing Matters is a collection of stories that shows the difference between those who resign and those who rejoice when reality bites. Readers will be encouraged to choose joy, to find hope, and to discover the abundant life Christ offers all who follow Him. Author and humorist Phil Callaway—once described as “Dave Barry with a message”—employs his revealing and hilarious style to remind readers that, “it’s always darkest just before the fridge door opens.” Do you resign or rejoice when reality bites? Sometimes life just stinks. People disappoint. Bad things happen. Hardship comes in double helpings. The last thing you want to do is laugh. So let hilarious humorist Phil Callaway show you—as only he can—that some of the darkest times are those just before the fridge door opens. *** ** *** ** “Everything Phil Callaway writes is full of life because he’s discovered a fabulous secret: The joy of Christ doesn’t go away, even when life is a mess.” Luis Palau, President of the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association “Phil really knows how to get in touch with his spiritual funny bone.” Janette Oke, Bestselling author “One page into this book and I’m quaking with laughter. Callaway has the uncanny ability to uncover the funny in any situation and report it with inspirational wit.” Paul L. Maier, Coauthor of The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction? “This book is an excellent source of encouragement for anyone in the midst of a crisis who may be asking God that hardest question of all: ‘Why?’” Martha Bolton, Author of Cooking with Hot Flashes and Didn’t My Skin Used to Fit? Story Behind the Book Phil Callaway wrote this book after a five-year journey he and his wife embarked upon when she began having seizures. He discovered that when life throws you curve balls, juices lemons in your eyes, scrunches you in a knuckle sandwich…the last thing you want to do is laugh. And at the moment we realize that life can just plain stink, “this book helps us know where to go from that point,” he says. Celebrities like Dave Dravecky, Barbara Johnson, Gloria Gaither, and Joni Eareckson Tada have endorsed Callaway’s positive approach to trials. “Everything Phil Callaway writes is full of life because he’s discovered a fabulous secret: The joy of Christ doesn’t go away, even when life is a mess,” says evangelist Luis Palau.

120 activities to inject some lighthearted fun into lessons whilst still being grounded in respected language learning theory.

This is a easy-to-read How-To book written to make people's lives better; filled with brief explanations of how and why humor and laughter truly are the “Best Prescription,” it shows how physical science, psychology and history all make that case. The author seasons the narrative with funny stories, his cartoons and quotes from Woody Allen, Dr. Seuss, Maya Angelou and others.Chapter 1 - How and why laughing heals: Looks at the sciences and successes of laughter in healing;Chapter 2 - Reducing stress and pain with laughter: Explores the causes of our discomfort and solutions; Chapter 3 -“Laugh and the world laughs with You.” The social scene; shows how humor can help at work, at home, everywhere;Chapter 4 - The who, what, when, where & how to humor yourself: An easy-to-follow roadmap to put laughter back in your life.Chapter 5 - Where the Laughs are: A treasure of resources; laugh generators, including movies, TV, book and articles. The book's subtitle says it all: It's about “How to use humor…to heal yourself, to reduce stress, to sleep better (without the pills)and live a happier, healthier life. All for FREE!“The design is great. Very inviting. Easy to read and fine examples of the redemptive power of a chuckle. I think the book can be seriously helpful to people who are ill as well as healthy sourpuss people, if some loving friend will get the book to them.” Jim Allen, Producer, Steve Allen comedy writer"I have to tell you how much I enjoyed your book. I laughed a lot and it was a good reminder of how much a sense of humor can get us through almost anything." Perri O'Shaughnessy, Author

The author of many great scripts tells of writing radio comedy at age sixteen, of behind-the-set stories, and of "the places he's lived and how he's lived and what he's learned while doing so."--Jacket.

This book examines the role of humor in modern American politics. Written by a wide range of authors from the fields of political science and communication, this book is organized according to two general topics: how the modern media present political humor the various ways in which political humor influences politics. Laughing Matters is an excellent text for courses on media and politics, public opinion, and campaigns and elections.

Reads Beckett's comic timing as part of a post-war ethics of representationSamuel Beckett is a funny writer. He is also an author whose work is taken to respond ethically to the unspeakable seriousness of the post-Holocaust situation. How can these two statements sit together?Ranging widely over Beckett's fiction, drama, and critical writings, and including readings of Murphy, the Trilogy, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, the late prose, and the late plays, the book demonstrates that it is through Beckett's comic timing that we can understand the double gesture of his art: the ethical obligation to represent the world how it is while, at the same time, opening up a space for how it ought to be.Key Features:* Presents innovative readings of the comedy found in Beckett's fiction, drama and critical writings* Spans Beckett's entire oeuvre, using published and unpublished sources* Engages with recent and contemporary philosophical approaches to literature, including work by Derrida, Badiou, Levinas, and Adorno* Makes a unique contribution to theoretical work on comedy and laughter* Provides a rigorous introduction to the theoretical debates surrounding the relationship between modernist literature and a post-war ethics of representation