A rare collection of comedy sketches suitable for stage, television or film. Think: ants, fish and other unlikely creatures satirizing everything we consider normal and acceptable. Other spoofs in the collection parody many of the sacred icons of our everyday life. These super-funny sketches are short, incisive and certain to challenge any audience. Actors have the chance to perform as wildly different character-types in off-the-wall situations. A supernova of fun for classroom actors or for a repertory group of performers.

What connects the discovery of America, the creation of Coca Cola and the art book bought for GBP50 that turned out to contain original Picassos? That's right: sheer blind luck. No matter how meticulously things are planned, time after time the most important bits of life are the product of simple, random chance. In wonderfully witty style, Daniel M. Smith gives us the stories of inventors, Nobel Prize winners, scientists, actresses, escapees, engineers, kings, architects, pop stars, criminals, supermodels, tennis champions, opera singers and many more who have benefited from happy serendipity. From the Japanese trader who made fortune after a share price typo to the German novelist who lost his manuscript on a train, and ended up buying some fish wrapped in his own pages at the station, "The Lucky Bugger's Casebook" is a celebration of the type of unexpected good fortune we all dream of - just ask Sir Paul McCartney, who awoke one morning with the tune to 'Yesterday' having arrived in his head overnight.

With old age comes grey hair, dodgy knees, a sudden passion for re-runs of Murder, She Wrote, and an apparent God-given licence to speak one's mind and be generally offensive without fear of retribution. Under the guise of passing on the benefits of their experience to family members or just casual acquaintances, old people exercise their right to swear, cuss and insult as they please.

These feisty philosophers take no prisoners as they use their scalpel-like tongues to dissect modern life and the younger generations. If challenged over their outrageous comments, they'll play the age card: you know the sort of thing - 'I'm eighty-six, I've fought for my country, and if I want to call you a no-good, lowdown, useless f*ckwit, then I'll call you a no-good, lowdown, useless f*ckwit... Vicar'.

Other gems include: It bugs me when people say, 'Life is short'. What the hell does it mean? Life is the longest damn thing anyone ever does! Are they going to do something that's longer? Son, if it's got tits or tyres, you're gonna have trouble with it. We all have our disappointments in life, son, and I'm talking to mine right now. The only way in which life resembles a bed of roses is that you encounter a lot of pricks along the way. Sure I'm surprised you can't get a job, son. I heard the world was crying out for someone who is lazy, has no qualifications but can spit gum into a waste paper basket from ten feet. Don't you think you might stand a better chance of becoming a captain of industry if you got rid of some of that metal sh*t on your body - like the nose stud and the eyebrow rings? Donald Trump may have a crap haircut but I bet he doesn't have pierced f*cking nipples. Son, if life was fair, Elvis would still be alive and all the impersonators would be dead. The secret of a happy life is to run out of cash and air at exactly the same time.

THE HILARIOUS, FEEL-GOOD BOOK FROM BBC RADIO 2 PRESENTER LIZA TARBUCK I am genuinely distracted by everything, and I don't think I'm alone in this. I consider my love of distraction a thing to be cherished. Like the annuals of my youth, this book is filled with puzzles, activities and mental musings. I hope that every page tickles your fancy. This book might be a perfect conversation starter at a dinner table, or the last thing you're flipping through before bed. I promise that you'll laugh at least once. So here we go. I am passing my distractions on to you. Praise for Liza Tarbuck 'Liza Tarbuck is in my top five women in the world' Dawn French 'If anyone can get the nation to squeal along with delight, it's Liza Tarbuck' Radio Times 'Liza Tarbuck is the kind of best friend every girl wishes she had' Observer 'A national treasure' Sue Perkins

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARK HADDON In Postcard From The Past, Tom Jackson has gathered a collection of the funniest, weirdest and most moving real messages from the backs of old postcards. 'Sublimely funny' Jason Hazeley, author of the Ladybird Books for Grown Ups 'My favourite Twitter account is now my favourite book. Irresistible!' Jill Mansell 'This book is an absolute treat' Holly Walsh 'Transfixing, beguiling, warmly haunting. These are the ghosts of a childhood' Robin Ince 'A hilarious and occasionally disturbing look at how the British remain resolutely small-minded wherever they go' Charlie Higson 'Six by four inch portions of pure heaven' Rachel Johnson 'Somehow both poignant and deeply creepy' Samira Ahmed 'One of Twitter's most nourishing concepts - each one arriving like a bonsai Alan Bennett play' Danny Baker 'Beautiful. Inspiring. Educational. Hilarious' Emma Freud 'One of the saddest and funniest picture books you're ever likely to read' Owen Hatherley, author of The Ministry of Nostalgia 'Hilarious, haunting, silly, poetic and profound' Danny Wallace 'A book of rare and genuine beauty' James O'Brien, LBC

Since the fall of 2014, The Advice King has been one of the most widely read sections of alt-weekly the Nashville Scene. The Advice King Anthology contains the best of those columns, with new In-the-Meantime notes, a new introduction, and a foreword by writer Tracy Moore. If you are looking for traditional advice, this might not be the book for you. But if you care to find the incendiary, subversive, and hilarious alongside actual thoughts about addiction, depression, gentrification, politics, poetry, music, economic policy, living in New Nashville, and (inevitably) romance, the Advice King has much to offer.

From the very first week of Tim Clancy's 25-year career as a high school English teacher, he began to notice and collect funny and strange moments he discovered in his students' writing, such as: "The word 'witch' has become a household word, like 'spatula,'" and "Wherever excitement is, there will always be romance. Trust me." He would occasionally share them with his classes, who enjoyed them as much as he did, and so this book was born. Best in Class collects nearly 200 of the most entertaining of these moments culled from real student writing and complements them with dozens of playful illustrations to create a sympathetically hilarious book for anyone who has muddled their way through the wilderness of a school writing assignment.

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops was a Sunday Times bestseller, and could be found displayed on bookshop counters up and down the country. The response to the book from booksellers all over the world has been one of heartfelt agreement: it would appear that customers are saying bizarre things all over the place - from asking for books with photographs of Jesus in them, to hunting for the best horse owner's manual that has a detailed chapter on unicorns. Customer: I had such a crush on Captain Hook when I was younger. Do you think this means I have unresolved issues? More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops has yet more tales from the antiquarian bookshop where Jen Campbell works, and includes a selection of 'Weird Things...' sent in from other booksellers across the world. The book is illustrated by the BAFTA winning Brothers McLeod.

Uplifting, inspiring and humorous, On The Plus Side is a veritable treasure trove of reasons to be cheerful as we journey through later life.. Proclamations of positivity, morsels of mischief and great ways to grow old disgracefully ...all with a sprinkling of realism and plenty of humour thrown in for good measure. With over 50 brilliantly illustrated rhymes to make you smile, it is a must for everyone who acknowledges that age is not a number ... but an attitude.