5 Reasons It’s Impossible to Find Funny Books
I like funny things. I work with a bunch of funny people all day. Everyone in my family tells jokes. I like watching funny movies and TV shows and listening to funny podcasts. I'm very, very simple.
I also like funny books. Not books about comedy, or memoirs by funny people -- I like funny novels. Funny stories with funny characters and good dialogue. I want books that are as funny as Ghostbusters or The Simpsons.
That's why it's so frustrating that, unlike movies and shows, it's almost impossible in this world to find funny damned novels. If you've ever spent time in a library or bookstore looking for a reliably hilarious novel, you already know what's annoying about it.
#5. The "Humor" Section at Every Bookstore Is Terrible
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Have you ever been to the humor section at a Barnes & Noble? It's a freaking nightmare. Sure, some books that end up in it might be pretty funny (and one book found in the humor section in particular is not only the funniest book ever written, but also remarkably affordable), but for the most part, you'll find old comic book anthologies, books full of funny party jokes that are, without exception, horrendous and small coffee table books that started out as Internet blogs/memes.
You might find some (terrible) books that try to teach you how to be funny, but you certainly won't find any funny novels there. You'll find musings from Larry the Cable Guy and pictures of cats making stupid faces (these, in fact, might be the same book), but nothing that would make you say, "Hey, wow, this is like Wet Hot American Summer, but in book form!"
That's because they don't put novels in the humor section. Even if they're hilarious, they stick them with every other novel. And if you're digging through just the general fiction section, you'll have a hard time finding funny books, because ...
#4. "Funny" Is Slapped on the Jacket of Almost Every Novel Ever Written
No novel ever written is completely devoid of jokes, so, as a result, the description on the back or inside cover of almost every novel says something like "At equal times heartbreaking, intense and totally funny, this book is a must-read" or "Exhilarating and sexy, with a great sense of humor!" Go into a bookstore and pick up any novel, and I guarantee you one out of every three will have either "surprisingly hilarious" or "flat out funny!" slapped on there. The government should honestly be able to step in and legislate the number of times publishing houses can advertise their books as "funny." The back of my copy of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections says "surprisingly funny," and I guess there are a few funny lines, but at the end of the day, it's a book about Parkinson's disease and an entire family that suffers from depression.
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I don't know what the criteria is for getting "funny" slapped onto the back of a book, but I have to assume it's "having a number of different words," because that's the only thing that The Great Gatsby (heartbreaking and brutal) has in common with Christopher Moore's Lamb (almost impossibly hilarious), both of which have the word "funny" printed on the back cover.
Almost every truly funny book that I've found was discovered by accident. I'll go to a bookstore and pick something out either because of its cover (this is a good thing to do, children) or because the description on the back sounds like it might be funny. Since every description tries to make every novel sound funny, it's a total crapshoot. For every time I blindly stumbled into a Lamb or a Tricky Business or a John Dies at the End (now a major motion picture that just debuted at the Sundance film festival!), there were plenty of times where I ended up with a bunch of novels that were terrible that I won't mention by name because that would be rude (except for About the Author, which was so terrible that I'm still mad that I read it six years ago).
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Give me back the money that I didn't spend on this because I got it from the library, you stupid jerk!
Publishing houses don't know what funny books are, so we're forced to look out for authors on whom we can rely. Which is always tough, because ...
#3. Comedians/Comedy Writers Would Rather Write Memoirs and Essays
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Tina Fey, one of the best writers to ever come out of Saturday Night Live, Paul Feig, creator of Freaks and Geeks, The Office's Mindy Kaling, Michael Ian Black and Patton Oswalt are all very funny, and they've all written memoirs or books of essays. And that's fine, because those books are great, but, again, if you're looking for a Simpsons episode in book form, you won't find it (except, perhaps, for that one written by a Simpsons writer, which is actually very good).
There are a few exceptions. Steve Martin writes novels and Hugh Laurie wrote The Gun Seller, one of the coolest and funniest books I've ever read, but for the most part, you're left wandering around bookstores, hoping that this random book that has "funny" in the description actually means it, because at any given time, the No. 1 book on Amazon in the category of humor is probably just a bunch of stories about Chelsea Handler fucking.
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Britain is the way to go. As innumerable people have mentioned before, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett are amazing. I'll also suggest Stephen Fry and James Herriot. The Gun Seller was mediocre at best compared to any of those authors.
ReplyAlphonse Allais !
ReplyIf you look up any one of these books on amazon the rest pop up under "Frequently Bought Together AND Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought". You are doing the world a seriously wonderful service Monsieur O'Brien.
ReplyAmong the Thugs - Bill Bufford (Until the last third, at which point it's mostly mob mentality).
ReplyFear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson.
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut (Duh).
Taxi Driver - Richard Elman.
Stuff by Mario Acevedo is alright.
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Actually, a couple of those might not be comedic... Whatever.
Do you mean to tell me I was NOT supposed to laugh at every religious doctrine?
ReplyUh oh..
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Terry pratchett ftw, still working my way through his books :)
ReplyI don't know if anyone's said this one yet but I've found that almost all of Terry Pratchett's novels are funny. Sometimes to the point where I have to put the book down because I'm laughing so hard.
ReplyAnybody who enjoys Douglas Adams ought also to enjoy Robert Sheckley. It's rare to read a review of one's work without mention of the other.
ReplyMy friend just told me a nice place -- T' a'' ll m' i n 'g 'l' e. c 'o 'M '-- it's the most effective site in the world to connect with, date and marry tall, and big people.. It's worthy a try.
ReplyNo, it's not.
You even fail at spamming. I can't even read the URL you're trying to sneak in here
I may be echoing previous commenters but WHERE IS HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY ON THAT LIST!?! oh and the adams book that did make it on the list is hilarious
ReplyI Am the Messenger (by Markus Zusak) isn't strictly humor, but it's a funny book, even though you'll be suffering an existential crisis afterward.
ReplyI thought American Psycho was one of the funniest books I've ever read, but I have a weird taste in humor. I thought it was comedy gold when Bateman stabs the hungry homeless man, and then walks into a diner proclaiming that he's starving.
ReplyOh, also, "The Shroud of The Thwacker" By Chris Elliott is also very funny
ReplyJohn Swartzwelder had hilarious books! I think they're only available on Amazon and they're kinda short, but they're soo funny. And he's a writer on the simpsons if that's what you're looking for! He's actually written more simpsons episodes than anyone else. The first book is "The Time Machine Did It."
ReplyYou mentioned The Gun Seller, I love you.
ReplyThe Internet is a Playground by David Thorne.
ReplyApathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan. You're welcome.
ReplyAbsolutely everything with Terry Pratchette attached to it in any way. Favorite by far is Good Omens, but anything that man puts his name to is comedic gold.
ReplyGood Omens still cracks me up after several re-reads.
Agreed, but if you want him to read it, try spelling it right.
Try "The Pirates! In An Adventure With Ahab" by Gideon Defoe.
Reply