What better way to recognize and honor America's funniest moments and greatest laugh artists than an insightful, anecdote-laden multimedia presentation that allows readers and viewers to fully experience the sharpest comedians throughout broadcast and film history. That's exactly what Made You Laugh! offers, as author Joe Garner applies his magic touch to one of America's most treasured forms of entertainment.Joe's insightful text, original videotaped interviews, and choicest clips from radio, comedy variety shows, sitcoms, stand-up routines, and classic films instantly remind readers of some of the most fun-filled times of their lives. It shows why they love to laugh-and why a great joke is a thing of lasting beauty, at least until the next side-splitter comes along. The book is divided into three main sections: "The Funniest Moments from Radio and Television," "The Funniest Stand-up Moments," and "The Funniest Movie Moments." Chapters throughout give readers a hearty chuckle while providing rare behind-the-scenes glimpses into favorite entertainers and their work, complete with firsthand memories from the comedians, writers, and producers who were there. The accompanying DVD, hosted by a major comedy talent, includes the actual audio/film clips of the particular memorable moment along with original videotaped and archival interviews. It all adds up to one seriously successful look at the world of laughs!

Get ready to laugh out loud! Scratch the stripes of the zebra. Can you guess what will happen? Open the big flap . . . oh no! The zebra's stripes are all scratched off! Tap on a camel's hump . . . what happens? Open the big flap . . . one of its humps has disappeared! In this side-splittingly funny book that focuses on physical humor, kids will tickle, make a face, or blow a kiss—a different action on each spread—then lift the big flaps to reveal the unexpected and ridiculous results! An exceptionally silly book that every child will want to read again and again!

When life is funny, make some jokes about it. Billy Plimpton has a big dream: to become a famous comedian when he grows up. He already knows a lot of jokes, but thinks he has one big problem standing in his way: his stutter. At first, Billy thinks the best way to deal with this is to . . . never say a word. That way, the kids in his new school won’t hear him stammer. But soon he finds out this is NOT the best way to deal with things. (For one thing, it’s very hard to tell a joke without getting a word out.) As Billy makes his way toward the spotlight, a lot of funny things (and some less funny things) happen to him. In the end, the whole school will know -- If you think you can hold Billy Plimpton back, be warned: The joke will soon be on you!

Britain’s hottest young comedian presents a seriously funny, up-close look at joking matters—from the social origins of laughter, to the art and craft of humor, to why we can never remember the punch line—featuring over 300 jokes. As the host of the hit game show Distraction (now in its third season on Comedy Central) and one of the premier stand-up acts working today, award-winning comedian Jimmy Carr has won over millions of fans around the world with his trademark rapier wit, laced with "exquisitely economical and perfectly timed one-liners" (The Guardian). For this book he teams up with friend and fellow comedy writer Lucy Greeves to take an in-depth look at where humor comes from and how it works, through exploring its purest form: the joke. Only Joking begins with the mechanism of laughter—how it happens and why even infants do it—then delves into the power of the punch line, exploring the basics of all jokes, from the use of shock and surprise to advanced stand-up techniques such as the "pull-back/reveal." Carr and Greeves go on to explore taboo humor, jokes that bomb, and the psychology of finding something funny. They look into the long-standing connection between politics and humor, and discuss the survival prospects for contentious jokes in the current political climate. Throughout the book they conjure up a supporting cast of colorful joke enthusiasts, from Sigmund Freud to Lenny Bruce, and discuss their influence on the jokes we tell today. Surveying across national, ethnic, and gender divides, this rollicking analysis of why joking will always be close to the human heart is an irresistible exploration of humor that makes clear why we need a good laugh now more than ever.

Illustrated version of a song pointing out that in spite of our differences, we are all the same in God's eyes.

From the most popular routines and the most ingenious physical shtick to the snappiest wisecracks and the most biting satire of the last century, Make 'Em Laugh illuminates who we are as a nation by exploring what makes us laugh, and why. Authors Laurence Maslon and Michael Kantor draw on countless sources to chronicle the past century of American comedy and the geniuses who created and performed it-melding biography, American history, and a lotta laughs into an exuberant, important book. Each of the six chapters focuses a different style or archetype of comedy, from the slapstick pratfalls of Buster Keaton and Lucille Ball through the wiseguy put-downs of Groucho Marx and Larry David, to the incendiary bombshells of Mae West and Richard Pryor . And at every turn the significance of these comedians-smashing social boundaries, challenging the definition of good taste, speaking the truth to the powerful-is vividly tangible. Make 'Em Laugh is more than a compendium of American comic genius; it is a window onto the way comedy both reflects the world and changes it-one laugh at a time. Starting from the groundbreaking PBS series, the authors have gone deeper into the works and lives of America's great comic artists, with biographical portraits, archival materials, cultural overviews, and rare photos. Brilliantly illustrated, with insights (and jokes) from comedians, writers and producers, along with film, radio, television, and theater historians, Make 'Em Laugh is an indispensible, definitive book about comedy in America.

There are so many things that we do not have control over, things that we would not ever choose: cancer, loosing a spouse, tragic accidents. But we can choose how we will handle these things. Joy is a choice that anyone can make but not everyone knows how. Facing cancer, becoming a widow, loosing the future as the author saw it made her recognize that she had to choose a way to deal with the present.