Ever wondered who makes a very funny person laugh? Wonder no more. Brought together in this Library of America collection are America’s fifty funniest writers—according to acclaimed writer and comedian Andy Borowitz. Reaching back to Mark Twain and forward to contemporary masters such as David Sedaris, Nora Ephron, Roy Blount Jr., Ian Frazier, Bernie Mac,
Ever wondered who makes a very funny person laugh? Wonder no more. Brought together in this Library of America collection are America’s fifty funniest writers—according to acclaimed writer and comedian Andy Borowitz. Reaching back to Mark Twain and forward to contemporary masters such as David Sedaris, Nora Ephron, Roy Blount Jr., Ian Frazier, Bernie Mac, Wanda Sykes, and George Saunders, The 50 Funniest American Writers* is an exclusive Who’s Who of the very best American comic writing. Here are Thurber and Perelman, Lenny Bruce and Bruce Jay Friedman, Garrison Keillor, Dave Barry, and Veronica Geng, plus hilarious lesser-known pieces from The New Yorker, Esquire, The Atlantic, National Lampoon, and The Onion. Who does “one of the funniest people in America” (CBS Sunday Morning) read when he needs a laugh?
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A Slow Start, But Finishes Nicely With just a few exceptions, I was over a hundred pages into this book before I had my first belly laugh. From there, it picked up steam and made me very glad I bought the book. I think the problem is that the book is designed to be a chronology of American humor, but a lot of the older pieces just have not stood the test of time very well. Exceptions early in the book include pieces by Mark Twain, O. Henry and Peter De Vries. Starting on page 140 with Jean Shepard, the book is very consistent…
A great collection I love humor writing, especially in the form of short stories and essays. This book covers a great many writers in the genre and has some wonderful selections. Naturally, humor is a subjective art form, so what is funny to some isn’t to others. Most of the stories I found to be very funny. Others had me scratching my head a bit – but I’ve seen those same selections in other anthologies, so perhaps you’ll laugh at them more than I would. Regardless, I’m glad I have the book in my collection, and…
Humor for the sophisticated crowd I wish I could write half as well as these writers. To convey the subject and the story in such a way that makes the reader laugh out loud is a talent that is unique among writers. Great humorous fiction, great comedic films and comedians are often under rated and under appreciated. Don’t get me wrong, we love our comedians and those who make us laugh. We do not, however, take them seriously. I think this is very wrong. What could be more important than to have a daily laugh that makes our…