Discover the real truth behind the original fake news with this in-depth history of beloved humor publication, The Onion. In 1988, a band of University of Wisconsin-Madison undergrads and dropouts began publishing a free weekly newspaper with no editorial stance other...

WALL STREET JOURNAL, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER * Anyone--even you!--can learn how to harness the power of humor in business (and life), based on the popular class at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.   Don't miss the authors' TED Talk,...

What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear-a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What...

Discover the man behind Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the Peanuts gang in this imaginative and tender-hearted tribute told in comic-strip format! Charles M. Schulz was arguably the most influential and popular cartoonist of the 20th century, and he poured many of his own...

A mainstay of countless American childhoods, MAD magazine exploded onto the scene in the 1950s and gleefully thumbed its nose at all the postwar pieties. Unfazed by lawsuits, the ire of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, and the dull-witted scorn of critics and scolds unwilling to get the joke, MAD became the...

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COMEDY BOOKS OF 2023 AT VULTURE Surely You Can't Be Serious is an in-depth and hysterical look at the making of 1980's comedy classic Airplane! by the legendary writers and directors of the hit film. Airplane!...

Discover the fascinating behind-the-scenes stories and lasting impact of the trailblazing sketch comedy show that upended television, launched the careers of some of our biggest stars, and changed the way we talk, think, and laugh about race: In Living Color. Few television shows...

"Filled with hilarious stories and sweet observations, Welcome to Pawnee is a book for any Parks and Rec fan. It's funny and straight from the heart. Jim did a great job of not Jerry-ing this book." -- Amy Poehler "There is no one more qualified to...

Comic and television star Tim Conway (The Carol Burnett Show, McHale's Navy, Dorf) enjoyed enormous popular appeal. In this humorous, loving, and surprising memoir, Tim's eldest of his six children, Kelly, reveals that the Conway home life was as riotous as some of her father's...

From the Thurber Prize-winning author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker comes a pioneering collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today A critic explores the paradox of finding community in "the dozens" while...

What happens when we can't joke about some of the most important stuff in life? In a 2019 study, 40% of people reported censoring themselves out of fear that voicing their views would alienate them from the people they care about most. Those people should probably not read this book in...