In 1981, Norman Murphy caused a minor stir in literary circles when he published In Search of Blandings, which demonstrated that many of P.G. Wodehouse’s legendary characters and settings were based on fact. In the two volumes of A Wodehouse Handbook, he reveals his findings across a wider field – the world that Wodehouse lived in and the …
If You’re Cracked, You’re Happy: The History of Cracked Mazagine, Part Won
For over 40 years CRACKED was the best-selling humor magazine in the world… if you don’t count MAD! A remarkable and amusing retrospective by author MARK ARNOLD, recounting the secret origins of the magazine, covering its history with former and future MAD and MARVEL Comics contributors JOHN SEVERIN, JACK DAVIS, DON MARTIN, BILL ELDER, JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO …
Between two stools: Scatology and its representations in English literature, Chaucer to Swift
Between two stools investigates the representation of scatology – humorous, carnivalesque, satirical, damning and otherwise – in English literature from the middle ages to the eighteenth century. While a number of recent publications have attempted to analyse the employment of scatology in literature, culture or the arts, they remain, to date, rare examples of a preparedness to discuss …
We Thought You Would Be Prettier: True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive
She thought she’d have more time. Laurie Notaro figured she had at least a few good years left. But no–it’s happened. She has officially lost her marbles. From the kid at the pet-food store checkout line whose coif is so bizarre it makes her seethe “I’m going to kick his hair’s ass!” to the hapless Sears customer-service rep …
American Humor: A Study of the National Character (New York Review Books Classics)
Stepping out of the darkness, the American emerges upon the stage of history as a new character, as puzzling to himself as to others. American Humor, Constance Rourke’s pioneering “study of the national character,” singles out the archetypal figures of the Yankee peddler, the backwoodsman, and the blackface minstrel to illuminate the fundamental role of popular culture in …
Read. Write. Oxford. From Jerry Seinfeld’s legendary standup to Kristen Wiig’s sidesplitting impersonations, Humor: A Reader for Writers explores the key patterns and features within numerous comedic sources in order to show how jokes work. This survey looks at comedy in a variety of genres including popular media, academic essays, personal narratives, fiction, and poetry. Developed for the …
The untold story behind a revolution in American comedy. Labor Day, 1969. Two recent college graduates move to New York to edit a new magazine called The National Lampoon. Over the next decade, Henry Beard and Doug Kenney, along with a loose amalgamation of fellow satirists including Michael O’Donoghue and P. J. O’Rourke, popularized a smart, caustic, ironic …
Laugh Your Way to Happiness: The Science of Laughter for Total Well-Being
Lesley Lyle presents the surprising scientific evidence that reveals the importance of laughter for our mental and physical health, our prosperity, our relationships, our careers – in fact, every aspect of our lives. Drawing inspiration from Laughter Yoga, a movement founded in India by Dr Madan Kataria that uses laughter and breathing exercises to bring about amazing changes …
‘Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.’ (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.) Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. – See more at: http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/jem-roberts/the-frood-the-true-story-of-douglas-adams-and-the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-9781848094383.aspx#sthash.nAAovwFO.dpufAn all-new officially endorsed history of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the …
What does laughter mean? What common ground can we find between the grimace of a merry-andrew, a play upon words, an equivocal situation in a burlesque and a scene of high comedy? What method of distillation will yield us invariably the same essence from which so many different products borrow either their obtrusive odour or their delicate perfume? …