Away, you scullion, you rampallion, you fustilarian!

Along with penning some of the most sublime passages in all of English Literature, Shakespeare was a master when it came to casting a wicked comeback or hurling a barbed insult. Whether it's Prospero calling Caliban a 'freckled whelp, hag-born' in The Tempest or King Lear railing against his daughter Goneril with the damning words, 'Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood', Shakespeare didn't hold back when it came to getting creative with his slights.

Packed full of eloquent stings and poisonous putdowns, this is the perfect resource for anyone looking to scorn an enemy – without resorting to swearing!

The best dad joke book you'll ever read. Yes, it's that bad. As the ancient adage goes, 'A good dad joke is as bad as a bad dad joke'. On that fuzzy logic alone, 100 per cent of the 180+ dad jokes in this book are pure comedy gold. The jokes included in this tiny tome are revered by dads all over the world - that's how bad they are. Some jokes are old, some are new, some are unrepeatable - but all of them are worn out and tired. If you're a dad, you'll love them. If you're buying it for your dad, don't worry, the book is little for a purpose: should the urge to throw it down the toilet arise, it'll fit in one flush. Like dads themselves, these dad jokes are absolute stinkers. They haven't showered or gone to the gym in a while and, due to bloating, haven't seen their funny bones in a long time. But, like dads themselves, you'd miss them if you didn't hear them every once in a while. They are loveable in their own charming way. But, remember, don't eat all these jokes at once - you'll have a severe nervous breakdown. You have been warned!

**AVAILABLE TO PREORDER NOW** From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wow, No Thank You 'Brilliant, hilarious and perspicacious' ELIZABETH DAY 'SO funny.' SARA PASCOE 'Wildly, seditiously funny.' New York Times 'Sam Irby is the king of sparkling misanthropy and tender, loving dread.' Jia Tolentino This is not an advice book. Samantha Irby doesn't know anything. After fleeing Chicago to quarantine at home in Michigan, Irby finds herself bleaching groceries and wondering if her upper lip hairs are visible on Zoom. Her career reaches new heights: she gets to work with the iconic ladies of Sex and the City - her dream! - but behind the new-found glam, Irby is just trying to keep her life together. Our friend in print is back, on point, and ready to take us with her, from adopting Abe (her scrawny, watery-eyed firstborn dog) to her favourite, extremely specific porn searches (including two old nuns).

Print catches up with electronic news in this hilarious collection of the fresh and steamy scoops from South Africa's premier satirical online news source. An almost unparalleled blight on international journalism, the selections in this volume make light of the news, politics, and current affairs that are reported with profound seriousness in other media. With a distinctly African focus, from Mugabe to Malema to Gadaffi, these articles have the unanticipated effect of increasing awareness of current affairs, seeing as one may have to research the background information of each story in order to fully appreciate the humor.

Prepare yourself for a journey through the world of Patton Oswalt, one of the most creative, insightful, and hysterical voices on the entertain-ment scene today. Widely known for his roles in the films "Big Fan "and "Ratatouille, "as well as the television hit "The King of Queens, "Patton Oswalt--a staple of Comedy Central--has been amusing audiences for decades. Now, with "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, "he offers a fascinating look into his most unusual, and lovable, mindscape.
Oswalt combines memoir with uproarious humor, from snow forts to Dungeons & Dragons to gifts from Grandma that had to be explained. He remem-bers his teen summers spent working in a movie Cineplex and his early years doing stand-up. Readers are also treated to several graphic elements, includ-ing a vampire tale for the rest of us and some greeting cards with a special touch. Then there's the book's centerpiece, which posits that before all young creative minds have anything to write about, they will home in on one of three story lines: zom-bies, spaceships, or wastelands.
Oswalt chose wastelands, and ever since he has been mining our society's wasteland for perversion and excess, pop culture and fatty foods, indie rock and single-malt scotch. "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland "is an inventive account of the evolution of Patton Oswalt's wildly insightful worldview, sure to indulge his legion of fans and lure many new admirers to his very entertaining "wasteland."

We like Jeff Goldblum. You like Jeff Goldblum. Helen McClory really likes Jeff Goldblum. The Goldblum Variations is a collection of flash fiction, stories and games on the one and only Jeff Goldblum as he, and alternate versions of himself, travels through the known (and unknown) universe in a mighty celebration of weird and wonderful Goldbluminess. Maybe he's cooking, maybe he's wearing a nice jumper, maybe he's reading this very book. The possibilities are endless. Treat yourself, because all that glitters is Goldblum.

This is the Yorkshire edition of the humorous dictionary of toponymy and etymology, created by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. If you opened this book expecting to find a variety of quaint thee and thy-based colloquialisms with the odd "ee-by-gum" and "tha'll be reet" thrown in for good measure, you may be a little disappointed...However, if you picked up this book because you're curious about things for which no words exist, and have a mild interest in random Yorkshire villages with quirky names - then you're in luck! The Yorkshire Meaning of Liff twins some of the obscurely wonderful, often unheard of and wastefully under-used place names of this glorious county, with the numerous experiences, feelings, situations and objects which we all know but, for some reason, have no words attributed to them. In no time at all you could be waxing lyrical about your most recent denaby main; empathising with friends who have also suffered a grimston, or expressing a whiston acquired during a state of galphay...

A charming gift book of pleas, put downs, misplaced career guidance and character assessments collected from the school reports and memoirs of celebrities and ordinary people from across the UK and Ireland. Featuring household names such as Benedict Cumberbatch, David Bowie, Sandi Toksvig, Sir Billy Connolly, and even members of the Royal family, this collection will have readers laughing and digging out their own school reports.

One of the biggest changes any child experiences is the transition to school. While children are adaptable and adventurous, they are also fragile and innocent, and they need the guidance of parents, adult friends, older siblings, and family members to encourage them on the journey forward to life's adventures. Starting school is a milestone where a positive outlook can make all the difference. Penelope is looking forward to her first day of school, and she wants to share that excitement with your child. Join Penelope as she prepares for her big day.

For those who are crazy enough to keep failing... Award winning entrepreneur and author of popular webcomic series EntrepreNo's: Secret to Startup Failure Sonia Lin unveils a startup life full of failures, based off her iconic humor in the webcomics that are weaved into practical themes in a startup life, coupled with words of advice to fellow entrepreneurs. The "fail fast, fail cheap, fail happy" mantra of this book commits to promoting work-life balance and the ability to look beyond and laugh at the startup life vicissitudes in order to achieve long-term entrepreneurial success. Get ready for Secret to Startup Failure to: Get over a less-than-successful launch day Pick a co-founder who provides politics-free companionship Interpret productivity from the garbage can Have an investor call on St. Patrick's Day ... and more Startup life is long, so fail where you should, and laugh when you can.

Providing a general overview of comic music, this reference outlines the history of important comic musical genres, considers interconnections among seemingly disparate humorous repertory, and includes an extensive bibliography and discography. The narrative challenges the notion that serious works are more important than comic works. Many supposed tragic works include comic elements and abstract genres, such as the symphony or string quartet. The narrative discusses almost 1,000 works, each cross referenced to publication information. The bibliography includes over 800 books, dissertations, reference sources, and articles. By tracing the development of major comic genres, this unique guide to comic music also examines how absurdity influenced the avante-garde developments of the 20th century.

This study of comic music will appeal to musicologists, musicians, and music students. The relationships drawn between familiar and obscure works allow for a fuller understanding of the aesthetics of comic expression. Cross-referenced throughout, this resource is a much needed and useful guide to further research.

A hilarious (or groan-worthy) look at the rite of passage that all dads go through. Do you think your jokes are hilarious, without fail? Ever thought something was sidesplittingly funny only to have the rest of your family look at you with pity and disdain? It probably means that you’ve succumbed to the daft, ill-advised things all Dads say and do – the things you swore you’d never do! – you’ve fallen for Dad-isms. In this hilarious book you’ll find embarrassing anecdotes and true stories, cringeworthy jokes, sayings, quotes and all manner of quirky nonsense that dads come up with to keep you (but mostly him) amused. From excruciating things dads say at weddings to the cheesy phrases that make you sigh but him guffaw, from dad dancing to the crazy things they save up for the most inappropriate moments... these dad-isms are so bad they’re almost good.

'It's now becoming easier and easier to predict government policy. Just listen to what the prime minister said in the morning and the opposite is likely to be true come the middle of the afternoon.' Throughout another year of bluster and bedlam in Westminster, John Crace's brilliantly acerbic political sketches have once more provided the nation with a much-needed injection of humour. In A Farewell to Calm, Crace introduces an infectiously funny selection of his finest pieces from 2020-21, taking in everything from a summer of unfathomable U-turns to Christmas Covid confusion, and from lockdown-lifting to Brexit blithering. Led by Boris's poundshop Churchill tribute act, and featuring a cast of everyone's least favourite pantomime villains, from Classic Dom Cummings to Door Matt Hancock, the end result is a brilliantly entertaining chronicle of another tumultuous year on these benighted islands.

Named One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2022 by Vogue, BuzzFeed, Bustle, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Electric Lit, Thrillist, Glamour, CNN, and Shondaland "Wickedly funny and heartstoppingly vulnerable...every page twinkles with brilliance." -Refinery29 Perfect for fans of Samantha Irby and Trick Mirror, a funny, whip-smart collection of personal essays exploring the intersection of queerness, relationships, pop culture, the internet, and identity, introducing one of the most undeniably original new voices today. Jill Gutowitz's life-for better and worse-has always been on a collision course with pop culture. There's the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life. And of course, the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill's own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture. Dusting off her own personal traumas and artifacts of her not-so-distant youth she examines how pop culture acts as a fun house mirror reflecting and refracting our values-always teaching, distracting, disappointing, and revealing us. Girls Can Kiss Now is a fresh and intoxicating blend of personal stories, sharp observations, and laugh-out-loud humor. This timely collection of essays helps us make sense of our collective pop-culture past even as it points the way toward a joyous, uproarious, near-and very queer-future.

If this MODEST PROPOSAL ever catches on, it will change life on earth as we know it. I was so deeply moved. I think it can make women who read it just bloom for the first time.

An inspiring collection of humor writing from World War II, edited and introduced by one of America's most respected broadcast journalists.

War is hell, but it can also be hilarious. As America rediscovers World War II in such movies as Saving Private Ryan, it's clear that much of the tragedy that came out of that conflict was made bearable by generous doses of humor from all fronts -- at home, in Europe, and in the Pacific. Now, inspired by a ubiquitous piece of graffiti that U.S. servicemen left behind during World War II, Emmy Award-winning television journalist Charles Osgood has collected an assortment of classic stories and comic tales that celebrate the good humor that buoyed American spirits throughout the world. From the best of Stars and Stripes magazine to classic lines from the immortal Mister Roberts, this treasury includes original contributions, comic memoir essays from well-known veterans, and an insightful introductory essay by Osgood himself. A wonderful compilation of historically significant writing, as well as an uplifting celebration of America's indomitable spirit, this treasury of wit and humor is a unique addition to the libraries of World War II enthusiasts, veterans, and anyone who finds it impossible to resist a good laugh.