The Sunday Times Humour Book of the Year. Anyone can be a success, but it takes real and original genius to foul up big time. These are the all-time greats, Gods in the field of failure, surreal artists, who spurn mere drab success ('I'm a winner, Lord Sugar') to explore the vast, magical, life-enhancing possibilities of getting it wrong. Any of us could make a mistake, but these great souls can turn the simplest everyday task into a scene of jaw-dropping wonder. These are the immortals. Stephen Pile, President of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain and author of the number-one best-seller The Book of Heroic Failures, takes us on an all-new and mind-bendingly hilarious tour to celebrate the most spectacular and absurd failures of the last twenty-five years. Failure is everywhere. There are 235 stories in total spread from the Outer Hebrides to America, Ireland, Australia, Europe and Africa. The Syrian entry, for example, holds the world all-comers record as the driver who got most lost under satnav direction (5000 miles). From the most driving test failures (959), the most pointless election (in Dakota, in which not even the mayor voted), the worst robbery (when two different sets of bank robbers struck simultaneously) and the worst mugger (who left his victim $250 better off), to the holidaying rugby team of fifty-somethings from Dorchester who, due to a mis-translation, ended up playing the top team from Romania live on state TV, this is the ultimate book to make you feel better about yourself and the world around you. The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures fails miserably at failing to be a runaway success amongst funny books.

Since 2009, WTF with Marc Maron has been one of the most widely listened to and influential podcasts in the country. Each week over a million and a half listeners tune in to hear Marc and a guest do something remarkable: talk. Described as a "must-listen" by the New York Times, WTF perfects the lost art of conversation while attracting guests as varied and prominent as Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld, and even President Barack Obama. In the course of more than 700 hours of conversation, Marc Maron and his incredible roster of guests have tackled life's most pressing issues and deepest concerns. Waiting for the Punch is not simply a collection of these interviews, but instead a running narrative of the world's most recognisable names working through the problems, doubts, joys, triumphs, and failures we all experience. With chapters covering parenting, childhood, relationships, and more, Punch is an everyman's guide to life. Barack Obama candidly discusses the challenges of the presidency, and the bittersweet moments of seeing your children grow up and away from you. Robin Williams opens up about the burdens of fame and his struggles with addiction. Taken together, these voices form a chorus discussing both life's biggest questions, and smallest, most intimate moments. Full of stories that are at once laugh-out-loud funny, heart breakingly honest, joyous, tragic and powerful.

The perfect game to get the whole family involved this summer! All material appropriate for children and adults alike! Beautiful illustrated pocket-size book An ice-breaker for family gatherings, festive parties and summer holidays abroad or at home! As fun a game over Zoom as it is in person! Bring your sense of humour, as there are over 200 ridiculous, thoughtful, hilarious and inventive questions to answer... Organise the family into teams and play as a scored game, or just for fun, to suit your needs! Guaranteed to excite childrens' imaginations, and to get grown-ups talking Definitely better than Richard Herring's book! **Would you rather...** Look ten years older from the neck up, or from the neck down? **Would you rather...** Have everyone always be able to read what you're thinking, or always be able to see what you're doing? **Would you rather...** Lose the ability to lie, or have to believe everything you hear? Get stuck in with friends and family to think your way through over 200 mind-bending, side-splitting hypothetical dilemmas. Guaranteed to split opinions and get everyone talking - and laughing - at your next party, gathering or festive get-together!

Brilliantly funny misheard lyrics and outrageous earworms 'Six o'clock already I was just in the middle of a dream. I was kissing Danny DeVito by a crystal blue Italian stream.' 'I was loooking for some action and all I found were cygnets and a waterfall.' 'When I get that feeling I need saxophone cleaning.' Funny, surreal, absurd and occasionally embarrassing, everyone has a misheard lyric moment. From simple mistakes like 'If you don't Naomi by now. You will never never Naomi', to something completely off the wall 'Specs and rugs and sausage rolls, are all my mind and body needs' - these linguistic gaffes have been the source of fun ever since the dawn of popular music. Now everyone's favourite online goon - the one and only @trouteyes has amassed a heap of his own wonky earworms for our reading pleasure in this wonderful hashtag fire emoji humour book.

Letters From Montreal documents the experiences of Montrealers past and present, creating a portrait of the storied city unlike any other. Drawn from the celebrated column in Maisonneuve magazine, this anthology features writers documenting a quintessential part of local life. Narrated with the intimacy of journal entries, each letter bridges the playful and profound. In early dispatches, Melissa Bull ditches a boyfriend over pÉtanque in Parc Laurier; Sean Michaels watches Arcade Fire lose Battle of the Bands; Deborah Ostrovsky frets over the sublime sophistication of the Plateau’s French children. More recently, Ziya Jones spends a summer herding sheep through Parc du PÉlican; Eva Crocker performs in a “fake orgasm choir” at the Rialto Theatre; and AndrÉ Picard takes a pause from the pandemic by running up Mount Royal. Edited by Maisonneuve editor in chief Madi Haslam, these letters buzz with a sense of possibility, surprise, and transformation. They remind us that a city can’t quite be defined, that every person inside it interprets it anew. Together, they explore how we make meaning in the place we call home—how our surroundings shape us, and how we shape them in return.

'One of the funniest books of the year' - Guardian A collection of hilarious personal essays, poems and even amusement park maps on the subjects of insecurity, fame, anxiety, and much more from the charming and wickedly funny creator of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. "It's nice to know someone as talented as Rachel is also pretty weird. If you're like me and love Rachel Bloom, this hilarious, personal book will make you love her even more." - Mindy Kaling "Rachel is one of the funniest, bravest people of our generation and this book blew me away." - Amy Schumer Rachel Bloom has felt abnormal and out of place her whole life. In this exploration of what she thinks makes her 'different', she's come to realise that a lot of people also feel this way; even people who she otherwise thought were 'normal'. In a collection of laugh-out-loud funny essays, all told in the unique voice (sometimes singing voice) that made her a star, Rachel writes about everything from her love of Disney, OCD and depression, weirdness, and female friendships to the story of how she didn't poop in the toilet until she was four years old. It's a hilarious, smart, and infinitely relatable collection (except for the pooping thing). Readers love I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are 'I adore Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and this book was exactly what I needed it to be. Would highly recommend.' 5* 'Rachel's voice is loud and clear from the first lines of the book. I've been missing it since Crazy Ex-Girlfriend . . . this time she's talking right to me, in my head, and it is like being part of this newfound Friendtopia.' 5* 'Heartfelt. Honest. Genuine. And funny as hell . . . Rachel writes about the things that could have broken her, but didn't, in a very funny and raw way, and she doesn't hold back.' 5* 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a hilarious and honest show which does not hold back when confronting the truth of sex, love, mental illness and life. This same comedic and chaotic energy is channelled in Bloom's wonderful book which I would highly recommend, whether you are a previous fan of hers or not.' 5*

An encyclopaedic attack on modern culture and the standard reference work for everyone who believes everything is shit. Which it is. This book brings together the very best of Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit? Volumes 1 and 2. Anyone who enjoyed the first two volumes will like this book even more. Equally, anyone who didn't like those books will actually find this one hilarious and informative.

Can you tell the Trumpisms from the hot air?!?! The big bad media just keeps on spreading tall tales, but at long last here is a book that can help you hone your skills of fishing the truth from the lies! On each page of this book, you'll find two statements on the same subject matter. One is from the real Trump (i.e. a definitive quote from DJT about happenings in the USA, the rest of the world, people and general wisdom). The other is your average trump (something we made up, fake news, hot air, smoke in the wind, a big fat fart). For example* . . . A) TRUMP: Climate change has happened since dinosaur times, it's happened since cave men walked the earth. And they didn't have cars in the Ice Age. or B) TRUMP: It's really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming! The perfect stocking filler for quiz-hungry politicos this Christmas, TRUMP V TRUMP will keep you entertained for hours. ----- * The Answer is B! Donald tweeted this back on 19 October 2015 - because who isn't wistful for climate change?

Writer, broadcaster, and wit Gyles Brandreth has completely revised Ned Sherrin's classic collection of wisecracks, one-liners, and anecdotes. With over 1,000 new quotations from all media, it's easy to find hilarious quotes on subjects ranging from Argument to Diets, from Computers to The Weather. Add sparkle to your speeches and presentations, or just enjoy a good laugh in company with Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Joan Rivers, Kathy Lette, Frankie Boyle, and friends. 'Now we have the World Wide Web (the only thing I know of whose shortened form-www-takes three times longer to say than what it's short for)' Douglas Adams 'Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends' Woody Allen 'Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight' Phyllis Diller 'Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it's what you want before you commit' Elizabeth Gilbert 'The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it' Terry Pratchett 'Retreat, hell! We're only attacking in another direction' American general Oliver P. Smith

It's no secret that most New Yorker readers flip through the magazine to look at the cartoons before they ever lay eyes on a word of the text. But what isn't generally known is that over the decades a growing cadre of women artists have contributed to the witty, memorable cartoons that readers look forward to each week. Now Liza Donnelly, herself a renowned cartoonist with the New Yorker for more than twenty years, has written this wonderful, in-depth celebration of women cartoonists who have graced the pages of the famous magazine from the Roaring Twenties to the present day. An anthology of funny, poignant, and entertaining cartoons, biographical sketches, and social history all in one, VeryFunny Ladies offers a unique slant on 20th-century and early 21st-century America through the humorous perspectives of the talented women who have captured in pictures and captions many of the key social issues of their time. As someone who understands firsthand the cartoonist's art, Donnelly is in a position to offer distinctive insights on the creative process, the relationships between artists and editors, what it means to be a female cartoonist, and the personalities of the other New Yorker women cartoonists, whom she has known over the years. Very Funny Ladies reveals never-before-published material from The New Yorker archives, including correspondence from Harold Ross, Katharine White, and many others. In addition, Donnelly has interviewed all of the living female cartoonists, many of their male counterparts, and editors and writers: David Remnick,Roger Angell, Lee Lorenz, Harriet Walden (legendary editor Harold Ross's secretary), Bob Mankoff, Eldon Dedini, Dana Fradon, Frank Model, Bob Weber, Sam Gross, Gahan Wilson, Joe Farris, among others. Combining a wealth of information with an engaging and charming narrative, plus more than seventy cartoons, along with photographs and self-portraits of the cartoonists, Very Funny Ladies beautifully portrays the art and contributions of the brilliant female cartoonists in America's greatest magazine.

In our current global political climate, we are exposed daily to horrible images of war and pain. Then sometimes, mercifully, we are thrown a lifeline. The viral Instagram account Tiny Gentle Asians is precisely one such lifeline. It's a suite of fun and uplifting images, showcasing adorable pictures of babies - often chubby to the point of absurd - taken by doting mothers across Asia. "It's the best site," says Chelsea Handler, American comedian and TV royalty. "Every morning there's a new fat nugget." The sassy captions which accompany each image are written by Melissa Kenny, the mastermind behind TGA. Lately, though, she's been busy... Melissa has just undertaken her most ambitious project yet: Tiny Gentle Asians, the book! Loaded with exclusive cute content, this book finally brings TGA into the physical world. Each page is a new adventure in newborns. Expect plenty fat rolls, screwed up cheeks, dimples on dimples, implausible costumes and plenty of crying bubs. With the success of her Instagram, Melissa's life has been flooded by the endless submissions from photo-obsessed mums. This book is a careful curation of these submissions, as well as the fruits of her own searches. This book is sure to bring light and joy to any reader with a pulse. We thank Melissa for her noble work in bringing these tots the attention they deserve.

Ever feel like you are pedalling in the choucroute? Been caught with your beard in the mailbox again? Or maybe you just wish everyone would stop ironing your head? Speaking in Tongues brings the weird, wonderful and surprising nuanced beauty of language to life with over fifty gorgeous watercolour and ink illustrations. Here you will find the perfect romantic expression, such as the Spanish tu eres mi media naranja, or 'you are the love of my life, my soulmate', and the bizarre, including dancing bears and broken pots, feeding donkeys sponge cake, a head full of crickets, and clouds and radishes. All encourage new ways of thinking about the world around us, and breathe magnificent life into the everyday. These phrases from across the world are ageless and endlessly enchanting, passed down through generations. Now they are yours.

A year's worth of marine-life amusement with the cast and crew of Sherman's Lagoon. The sharks, turtles, and crabs of Sherman’s Lagoon enjoy a complex society below the ocean’s surface, with a local government, school system, and even their own radio station. And like all advanced cultures, there’s no lack of drama. A visiting shark oil salesman shows up to hock a strange new elixir, and later, a consultant arrives to help the laconic locals hone their killer instincts. When Kahuna feels his powers wane, Sherman and Hawthorne help the ancient stone deity get his groove back. And after Sherman and friends hop a flight to see a rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center, Hawthorne accidentally goes from spectator to passenger. Once you dip into these Adventures in Aquaculture, you’ll want to stay awhile.

A gang of Hells Angels rips through the village bringing mayhem and a generational shift to traditional enmities between Don Camillo and Peppone. The year is 1966, a time ripe for rebellion, for overturning conventions - a time, above all, to be young. Meanwhile, beset by the third young progressive leftwing priest with a mandate to steer him into the modern world, Don Camillo digs in and finds a surprise ally in Peppone as he fights to save the three-metre high figure of il Cristo through which he conducts his famous conversations with God. ; 'Guareschi's was one of the most prescient and perceptive voices of the twentieth century.' Tobias Jones, author of The Dark Heart of Italy. ; 'Guareschi's tales are absolutely delightful in their satirical swipes at human weakness.' Paul Merton

Hark the Herald's Christmas gift! It was a year that careered out of control, with the natives of Scotland feeling like passengers in a souped-up dodgem car being driven by a crackpot clown without a valid driving licence. Luckily The Herald's Diary column was able to cover the toppling of Boris Johnson, the triumphs of Liz Truss, a huge green-hued shindig and a batlike creature fighting crime on the streets of Glasgow. All before the outpouring of Royal grief in September when we said goodbye to the Queen and came to terms with "God Save the King". Away from the monarchy, there was the surreal story of a woolly mammoth who might one day play for Scotland, a knight in armour visiting an Edinburgh pub, a cow patiently waiting for a train, Santa climbing a statue and an emu loose in Livingston. And the year also saw a mysterious entity called . . . the Platty Jubes? This cockamamie compilation presents all sorts of shenanigans to round off a year like no other. All with that patented Diary twist.

Unleashing the most whimsical wisecracks from The Herald's endlessly silly Diary column, Lorne Jackson presents a brand new collection of jokes to tickle the most discerning of funny bones. Featuring over 300 hilarious jokes and a brain-busting quiz to test your pun proficiency, these weird and wonderful gags include a handy crooner-themed guide to chromosomes, pelican perspectives and Dracula himself! Prepare for the ultimate dose of top-quality quips to induce giggles, groans and guffaws and keep you endlessly amused . . .

A light-hearted, intimate and emphatically feminist history of dating, from Jane Austen to Tinder.

Dating has never been easy. The road to true love has always been rutted with heartbreak, but do we have it any easier today? How did Victorians 'come out'? How did love blossom in war-torn Europe? And why did 80s' video-dating never take off?

Bursting with little-known facts and tantalising tales of lovelorn men and besotted women, Nichi Hodgson's intriguing history of amorous relationships, from enamoured Georgians to frenziedly swiping millennials (and everyone in between) may leave you grateful that you live - and love - today.

A helpful and positive illustrated guide to exacting the change in the world you want to see, using the tools you already have at your disposal. The mood in the world right now isn't good. Some of us might be feeling let down by our governments, or watching the rich and poor divide increase, or losing sleep over the large country of plastic floating in the Pacific ocean. But we mustn't feel defeated or hopeless. There are so many positives about this time we are living through. And one of those plenty of positives? *You and I have never had so much opportunity to make change!* No matter how big or small your cause, with 101 simple tips and tricks you can do to get your attitude in gear, treat change like business, rally your troops and strategise your success, Fuck the Establishment will have you changing the world in no time. You go Glen Coco!

Crikey, the world according to Clarkson's been a funny old place of late . . . For a while, Jeremy could be found in his normal position as the tallest man on British television but, more recently, he appears to have been usurped by a pretend elephant. But on paper the real Jeremy remains at the helm. That's as it should be. For nearly thirty years he has been fearlessly leading the charge as one the best comic writers in the country. And in 2015, he shows no sign of slowing down. So, whether it's pondering: If Jesus might have been better off being born in New Zealand Why reflexive pronoun abuse is the worst thing in the world How Pam Ayres's head trumps Gordon Gecko's underpants Or what a television presenter with time on his hands gets up to Jeremy is still trying to make sense of all the big stuff. Circumstances change. Nothing's forever. But As I Was Saying provides glorious proof that Jeremy remains as funny, puzzled, excitable, outspoken, insightful and thought-provoking as ever. As if you ever doubted it . . . *** Praise for Clarkson: 'Brilliant... laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph 'Outrageously funny... will have you in stitches' Time Out 'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening Standard

'The iceberg always blinks at the last minute.' - @BorderIrish 'I was living the quiet life, watching the traffic and the sheep go by and then Brexit came along and I listened to people dismissing my importance. I could see the danger coming in the distance, like a cold front on the Tyrone skyline. So I thought, how can an invisible border be heard?' 97 years young, the Irish Border may be a late adopter of Twitter, but with more than 82k followers including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Piers Morgan and Alastair Campbell, the Border isn't so invisible anymore.

Alton Douglas is back! Author of over fifty books, Alton once again trawls through his career as a professional comedian, scriptwriter, TV warm-up artiste, actor and trombonist, to produce a feast of anecdotes, jokes and stories in the same vein as his previous Entertaining Thoughts, Laughs in the Right Place and I Forgot to Tell You. With the emphasis on fun and entertainment, he presents another collection of the curious, humorous and downright strange happenings that have enriched his life, including behind-the-scenes stories of the nice and not-so-nice inhabitants of the world of show business.

'The perfect gift for anyone who loves all things Christmas ... it's a festive gem' Woman & Home 'A beautiful, funny and soulful collection of personal essays' Prima ___________ The perfect gift book, featuring the writing of Meryl Streep, Bill Bailey, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Caitlin Moran, Richard Ayoade, Emily Watson and others, to coincide with the upcoming movie Last Christmas, starring Emma Thompson, Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding. When you think back to Christmases past, what (if anything) made it magical? Looking towards the future, what would your perfect Christmas be? What would you change? What should we all change? This is a beautiful, funny and soulful collection of personal essays about the meaning of Christmas, written by a unique plethora of voices from the boulevards of Hollywood to the soup kitchens of Covent Garden. Away from the John Lewis advert, the high street decorations and the candied orange in Heston Blumenthal's Christmas pudding, this gem of a book introduced and curated by Emma Thompson and Greg Wise celebrates the importance of kindness and generosity, acceptance and tolerance - and shows us that these values are not just for Christmas.

'Brilliant! Will make a perfect Xmas stocking filler' Bronya Ralley 'Delightful. This dip-in-anywhere book put a smile on my face from the first page . . . for everyone who likes a good chuckle' Ruth Milligan As we all know, the oxymoron is one of the great beauties of the English language. It has been defined as 'a figure of speech that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory'. Famous examples would include 'bitter-sweet', 'open secret' and 'compassionate Conservatism'. Seriously Funny, and Other Oxymorons brings together a great many examples of the oxymoron genre, amusingly illustrated by Paul Thomas. The book is arranged according to various categories ranging from Popular Culture to Political Principles and Business Ethics, all covered in Simon Brett's inimitably witty style. Anyone with an 'unbiased opinion' will quickly grasp that Seriously Funny makes a 'devilishly nice' book.

The Diary of a Nobody is a comic masterpiece that has been hugely influential since its first publication in 1892.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features Weedon Grossmith’s original illustrations and an afterword by novelist Paul Bailey.

Proud to be ensconced with his wife Carrie at ‘The Laurels’ in the desirable London suburb of Holloway, bank clerk Charles Pooter decides to keep a diary. From the frequent visits from his dear friends Mr Cummings and Mr Gowing to the ups and downs of his feckless son Lupin, the self-regarding Mr Pooter considers, mistakenly, that all aspects of his life are worthy of note. The result is a hilarious spoof and a perfectly pitched satire on late Victorian society.