Kinky Friedman is back, and with "'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out" he gets it on with all manner of egos. In this collection of twisted takes on life, the Kinkster gives us funny, irreverent, and insightful looks at outsized personalities from people he's known, like Bill Clinton, George W., Willie Nelson, and Bob Dylan -- not to mention Joseph Heller and Don Imus -- to people he's known in spirit, such as Moses, Jesus, Jack Ruby, and Hank Williams. With his meditations on subjects ranging from sleeping at the White House, marriage, his pets, fishing in Borneo, country music, and cigars to the tribulations of possessing talent, Kinky doesn't deny us the "flashes of brilliance and laugh-out-loud observations" (Rocky Mountain News) that are present in all his other work.

Hilarious, irreverent, and passionately twisted, "'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out" reads as if it were written by a slightly ill modern-day Mark Twain.

Animal lovers everywhere adore Patrick McDonnell's charming but pointed Mutts. The strip strikes a delicate balance between lighthearted fun and social commentary-on the human condition as well as the animal world.

The deceptively simple comic follows the adventures of Earl the dog and Mooch the cat, an unlikely best-friend team, and Shtinky Puddin', Sourpuss, Guard Dog, and Crabby.

Patrick's distinctive cartooning style effectively relays the all-too-real concerns of his characters with entertaining, clever, laugh-out-loud banter.

Infodad.com describes Mutts as "humane and funny and gentle and caring and heartfelt and-did we mention funny?" The site goes on to say that the strip "includes enough hijinks and outstanding art (yes, art!) to please anyone with a taste for animals and amusement."

Mutts has been syndicated by King Features since 1994 and enjoys a circulation of more than 500 daily newspapers. Muttscomics.com, the strip's official Web site, has experienced great popularity since its launch in 2003.

Cat McAllister grew up as a Hollywood child star, spent her adolescence modeling in Japan, and now, as she celebrates her twenty-fifth birthday for the fourth time, she lives for velvet ropes, Moët & Chandon, gold-leaf invitations, and other fashionista prizes. But on her way up the social ladder, making her way past the who's who and the what's what, Cat finds herself stuck in that seventh circle of celebrity hell.

What's worse, her funds are running dry.

What's a girl to do?

Marry rich. And so the ruckus begins, taking us from China for a baby adoption, to Paris for the couture shows, to the "it" world of Gotham. And that's just the hors d'oeuvres.

Punctuated with Kim DeMarco's illustrations, Cat's Meow is a spectacularly witty novel about a young woman looking for love, clothes, and what will make her truly happy in life.

Now more than ever, Americans are troubled by questions. As sweaty modernity thrusts itself upon us, the veil of ignorance that cloaked our nation hangs in tatters, tattered tatters. Our "funny bones" are neither fun nor bony. Glum is the new giddy, and the old giddy wasn't too giddy to begin with.
What can be done to stop this relentless march of drabbery? Nothing. But perhaps this book can be used to dull the pain. Included herein:
The Ten Worst Films of All Time, as Reviewed by Ezra Pound over Italian Radio
Unused Audio Commentary by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, Recorded Summer 2002, for "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" DVD (Platinum Series Extended Edition), Part One.
How Important Moments in My Life Would Have Been Different If I Was Shot in the Stomach
My Beard, Reviewed
Circumstances under Which I Would Have Sex with Some of My Fellow Jurors
Words That Would Make Nice Names for Babies, If It Weren't for Their Unsuitable Meanings
As a Porn Movie Titler, I May Lack Promise
Ineffective Ways to Subdue a Jaguar
Eleven Lunch Meats I Have Invented
Four Things I Would Have Said to Sylvia Plath if I Had Been Her Boyfriend
And much, much more, including 20 brilliant new lists . . .

Sit on the couch. Speak. Engage in witty banter and share ideas with friends who really understand your predicaments. Sounds like the perfect cafA(c). Especially if you're a dog.

Pooch CafA(c) is the home away from home for Poncho and his canine buddies. No Collar, No Service marks the second collection of the hip hit strip Pooch CafA(c), named for the place where Poncho, Boomer, and the rest of their pals regularly gather to discuss life among the humans and to hatch their plans to catapult all the world's cats into space. But you won't find this spot on Main Street. Its actual location is a canine secret compromised just once when they tried to get a pizza delivered.

Poncho is as passionate about his love for his master, Chazz, as he is about his distaste for kitties. When Poncho and Chazz move in with Carmen and her medley of cats, Poncho pals up with "Fish," a goldfish who conveniently speaks dog, to learn the lay of the land. Poncho views his master's new life as a threat to the sacred man-dog bond, despite Carmen's efforts to make peace with Poncho using love, tenderness, and cheese. Good thing there's always the gang at the cafA(c).

No Collar, No Service is the latest saga of a strip that captures the intensity of the human-dog bond in a way that resonates with pet lovers everywhere.

Every once in a great while the glimmer of something different will twinkle from the stack of comic cordwood piled in the daily newspaper. In I Have Tampered with the Divine Plan, the second Agnes collection, that glimmer continues to shine brightly. Agnes, the round-nosed, elegantly footed little girl in the cute black shift, and her best friend, Trout, continue their mad scramble through youth's treacherous minefield. High adventure and mayhem are afoot as they share the odd conversations that cobble together all amazing relationships.

And when all that imagination no longer fits in their heads, it spills out into some very messy puddles. And messy puddles are funny.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting a second book of Agnes's wisdom and adventure. Agnes appears in many papers across the country, including the San Francisco Examiner, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Daily News.

When Pat Brady puts pen to paper, readers can't resist following his original images and tight story lines. This creator pulls more material from the one-child Gumbo family than other cartoonists can with five times the number of characters and settings.

That magic comes through in Brady's seventh collection, Rose is Rose Running on Alter Ego. The lively series of daily and Sunday strips revolves around Rose-devoted wife and doting mother-who, try as she might, just can't keep her biker chick fantasies totally in check. Rose never knows, as she manages her blue-collar husband, Jimbo, and their energy-fired son, Pasquale, when Vicki the Biker may show up. But when the long-haired, short-skirted babe surfaces, it's always with a breath of fresh air and a fresh take on "normal" family life.

Besides appearing on the cover, Rose as Vicki shines throughout the collection, in six new full-page drawings created just for the book. Each shows the seemingly satisfied housewife's alter ego performing some mundane chore demanded by Rose's less adventurous life, while Brady's usual mix of family fun, frolic, and fancy gives Gumbo fans plenty of delight.

From beloved broadcaster Charles Osgood, a poignant memoir about one unforgettable childhood year during World War II, now in paperbackDefending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack is a gloriously funny and nostalgic slice of American life and a moving look at World War II from the perspective of a child far away from the fighting, but very conscious of the reverberations. With a sharp eye for details, Osgood captures the texture of life in a bygone era.

James W. Hall is the critically acclaimed author of eleven crime novels, including Body Language and Blackwater Sound. He's also published four books of poetry. And several of his short stories have appeared in magazines like the Georgia Review and Kenyon Review.

Now, writing in the spirit of Dave Barry and Garrison Keillor, Hall wins a new kind of reader with this collection of essays that run from insightful to opinionated, funny to wise.

Hall ponders subjects as diverse as his own love affair with Florida which began on a trip after college from which he never returned, to his equally passionate romance with books. He ponders the nature of summer heat, the writing of Hemingway and James Dickey, television, teaching, politics, fatherhood and much more. In the vibrant and elegant prose which characterize his fiction and poetry, Hall now proves himself a master of the essay as well.

Sherman the dim-witted shark and his cast of characters in Sherman's Lagoon provide enough laughs for a barrel of monkeys, not that they've ever seen any. The Lagoonies, as they're known to regular comic strip readers, are a motley crew-mostly of sea life-known for their acerbic humor. There's Megan, Sherman's wife (a soft-touch despite the tough exterior). Fillmore the sea turtle makes up for Sherman's lack of intellect. Hawthorne the hermit crab resides in a beer can and is always in a "crabby" mood. Ernest the fish is a computer whiz, and Thornton the polar bear stumbled upon the island while floating by on an iceberg. Captain Quigley is the only human (or "beach ape") who resides in Sherman's Lagoon. He lost his leg to Sherman and is now out for revenge, but never quite gets close enough. To round out the cast there's Bob the bottom dweller. Enough said.

Readers love Sherman and his friends for their hilarious reflections of human behavior as seen through a seawater lens. Jim balances the lighthearted antics of this quirky group by promoting the importance of marine conservation. Sherman's Lagoon is quite a catch!

Sherman's Lagoon has been in syndication since 1991, currently by King Features, and boasts a circulation of more than 200 daily newspapers on five continents.

America loves Luann. Through Luann's teenage adventures and misadventures, this delightful strip illustrates the task of being a modern teen. The agony of the summer job, the thrill of crushes on cute lifeguards, the excitement of the shopping mall, the terror of parents watching their children navigate life-it's all there in Dates and Other Disasters, another compilation of Greg Evans's insightful humor. Nominated four times as Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society, Greg Evans has been pleasing audiences of all ages with Luann since she first appeared in the late 1980s. She was a popular part of Teen magazine in the 1990s and has served as the spokestoon for Girls Inc. and Tambrands. This ""everygirl"" teen representative is also the star of a series of health and fitness brochures distributed to clinics, schools, and hospitals worldwide by Journeyworks Publishing. Everyone can relate to Luann's trials, missteps, and frustrations-preteens, teens, post-teens, adult readers who exclaim, ""Phew! I'm glad that's over!"" plus parents who relive the adventures with their own kids. Dates and Other Disasters expresses a universal message that declares no matter how times change, the trials of being a teenager are always the same!

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.

Created by Canadian cartoonist Sandra Bell-Lundy, the syndicated comic strip Between Friends offers a near-telepathic view of the female psyche and illustrates the essence and angst of modern women today. Between Friends chronicles the highs and lows of three archetypal women in their early forties who have known each other since high school: Susan, who balances her full-time job with her responsibilities at home; Maeve, the divorced, sophisticated professional who's always searching for Mr. Right; and Kim, who works at home while taking care of her six-year-old stepson. Readers will recognize themselves and their friends in this contemporary slice-of-life strip. Susan, Maeve, and Kim talk to each other about things like aging, dating an ex, motherhood, guilt, personal time, and the pros and cons of Botox. Bell-Lundy obviously has struck a chord with countless enthusiastic fans, such as reader Valerie Hastings: "My husband teases me that you must be related or a good friend because you seem to have an inside track on my mind " Reader Kim Turner agrees: "As a working mother with a supportive spouse and two 'daycared'-for children, I continually look forward to seeing glimpses of my own life in your work." Coffee, Tea, and Reality is sure to delight the millions of women whose lives parallel the angst-driven, stress-filled glory of the Between Friends gang.

The New York Times calls him "the funniest man in America," and his legions of fans agree, laughing and snorting as they put his books on bestseller lists nationwide.
In Boogers Are My Beat, Dave gives us the real scoop on:
- The scientific search for the world's funniest joke (you can bet it includes the word "weasel")
- RV camping in the Wal-Mart parking lot
- Outwitting "smart" kitchen appliances and service contracts
- Elections in Florida ("You can't spell Florida without 'duh'")
- The Olympics, where people from all over the world come together to accuse each other of cheating
- The truth about the Dakotas, the Lone Ranger, and feng shui
- The choice between death and taxes
And much, much more--including some truths about journalism and serious thoughts about 9/11.
Dave Barry won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1988, and his columns are syndicated in more than 500 newspapers. His most recent books, Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down and the novels Big Trouble and Tricky Business, were national bestsellers. He lives in Miami, Floriduh.
Also available as an eBook

"From the Hardcover edition."

All the family fun, pandemonium, and childhood chaos that fans of "Baby Blues" enjoy in the strip's daily newspaper appearances swirl about this collection.

Imagine three hurricanes converging on one household and you get an idea of what Darryl and Wanda MacPherson experience each delightful day of parenting Zoe, Hammie, and Baby Wren. It's a perfect storm of flying foodstuffs, off-the-scale emotional outbursts, and enough offspring energy to make veteran storm chasers duck for cover.........and that's before any little friends come over to play!

"Playdate: Category 5" captures all this and more. This "Baby Blues" collection is packed with hilarious family situations and childhood challenges anyone can appreciate, whether it's fellow parents riding out their own "storms," empty-nesters reveling in their calms, or parents-to-be wondering what all the fuss is about. Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott are right on target in episode after episode. Their witty observations and insights-such as "I think screaming is the primary form of communication for girls," "We've gotta learn to travel lighter, or just put some wheels on the house," and "Sometimes being the dad is like being the weird kid in the neighborhood"-always hit the mark.

"Playdate: Category 5" will be treasured by "Baby Blues" fans everywhere. "Playdate" allows readers to experience the full fury of the MacPherson family tempest time and time again.

From the bestselling author of Red Lobster, White Trash and the Blue Lagoon comes a vintage Queenan tirade chronicling the evolution of his own Baby Boomer Generation. How did a generation that started out at Woodstock andMonterey end up at Crate & Barrel? How did a generation that promised to “teach its children well” end up with a progeny so evil they could give Damien from The Omen a run for his money? And what is so fascinating about porcini mushrooms? Professional iconoclast Queenan shows how a generation with so much promise lost its way by confusing pop culture with culture and mistaking lifestyle for life.

Queenan on The Sixties: “Baby Boomers who never saw Hendrix, did drugs, locked or loaded an AK-47 in country or bedded down with a girl named Radiance now all pretend they did. It’s like those Civil War reenactment buffs who have drunk so much Wild Turkey they actually think they were at Chickamauga.”

Queenan on Death: “A generation whose primary cultural artifact is the Filofax has enormous difficulty shoehorning death into its schedule: it’s inconvenient, time-consuming and stressful. ‘We don’t have time to die this afternoon; Caitlin has ballet.’”

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 buoyed the spirits of Americans who served on land, at sea, and in the air, such as:

"A lieutenant fresh from jumping instructions was seated next to a sergeant in a parachute regiment during a night time exercise. The lieutenant looked very pale and frightened, so the sergeant struck up a conversation. 'Scared, Lieutenant?' he asked. 'No, just a bit apprehensive, ' the lieutenant replied. 'What's the difference?' 'Apprehensive means I'm scared with a college education.'"

-- Kilroy Was Here went back to press four times in hardcover.

Soccer is the hottest trend in years, and Bill Hinds's comic strip Cleats finds endless humor in the sport's rowdy but lovable players, coaches, and parents. Carried in 75 newspapers-including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Dallas Morning News, and the Houston Chronicle-the two-year-old Cleats follows the trials and tribulations of a thoroughly contemporary team: Abby Harper, a competitive but kind 11-year-old on a select soccer team Jack Dooley, Abby's 10-year-old neighbor, who's determined to move up from his recreational team to a select team Armando "Mondo" Ruiz, a talented player who continues his family's tradition in the sport but prefers to remain on a rec team Coaches "Bull" Tippit, a granite-jawed retired military man, and earnest Chester NordlingGiven soccer's soaring popularity, Who Tracked Soccer Through the House' A Cleats Collection is sure to score.

HE NINTH VOLUME IN A SERIES OF REISSUES OF THE CLASSIC MATERIAL THAT MADE AN INTERNATIONALLY-RECOGNIZED NAME OF MAD MAGAZINE! Tired? Run-down? Logy? Take this simple test: Drop your present reading material into a glass of water--see how it dissolves into a soggy mess? Now make the same test with a MAD book. Notice how crisp and firm the cover stays--how those bright MAD pages begin to fizz. In just eight seconds, MAD's mind-rotting ingredients paralyze the cerebellum, bringing blessed relief. So remember: When brain-fog strikes, strike back . . . with MAD.

You couldn?t find a more likable person than Sherman . . . except that he's a shark. Make that a great white shark and the star of Jim Toomey's Sherman's Lagoon, one of the funniest takes on life to be found above or below the water. So sit back and watch this shark hit his mark in The Shark Diaries: The Seventh Sherman's Lagoon Collection.Once again, the big-hearted but thick-skulled Sherman is joined in the deep by his Louis Vuitton?packing girlfriend, Megan, Fillmore the sea turtle, and a hermit crab named Hawthorne, among others. This salty crew swims through a world of witty observations, sharp rejoinders, and crystal clear views of everything from ?hairless beach apes? to bulk shopping at the local Price Club store. The result is a humor soaked in fun yet just a shade drier than the Sahara.The Shark Diaries includes the most recently published Sherman's Lagoon cartoons, picking up where last year's Another Day in Paradise left off. The daily and Sunday strips are here. The silly yet sophisticated setups are front and center. Sherman and his buddies? numerous neuroses can?t be missed. The fun returns with a splash, and this one promises to be a whale?um, shark?of a winner.

Sam Venable is one of America's seventy-six million Baby Boomers who are turning into their parents. He can't quite see without his reading glasses, he thinks the music kids listen to these days is nothing but a loud racket, and his belt is mysteriously creeping up higher and higher on his chest.
The way Venable figures it, he's roaring along the road (at about twenty-seven miles per hour, the average speed for someone his age) to Codgerville. You Gotta Laugh to Keep From Cryin' highlights the observations and lifestyle changes (and a few other things he can't quite seem to remember at the moment) that Venable has made along the way.
From the day his wife discovers his first ear hair, Venable begins to recognize the signs of old age. Though he had reconciled himself to daily fiber and a distinguished head of gray, he is one step further to an insatiable desire for cafeteria food and permanently leaving his car's right turn signal flashing.
The news isn't all bad, though. To his surprise, Venable discovers that his new appearance and habits have qualified him for the senior discount on breakfast at his favorite restaurant. After reading about a scientific study concluding that men's brains shrink faster than women's in the normal aging process, Venable has a new source of excuses to explain to his wife why he is missing important dates, times, places, and appointments.
As an official CIT (Codger In Training), Venable delights in other newfound freedoms. He can stand in a fast-food line and stare at the menu for a full two minutes without saying a word (besides, he can't hear the people behind him grumbling). He can drive as slowly as he likes and has perfected the art of maintaining a death grip on the steering wheel of his car. And he really doesn't have to listen to anyone anymore; he can merely turn their way from time to time and mumble, "Huh?"
From the swinging doors whose "Push/Pull" directions elude him to the high-tech mysteries of ATMs designed to baffle the elderly, Sam Venable's rollicking view of life after fifty will leave readers laughing and happy to be a member of the AARP set.
The Author: Sam Venable, recognized for his humor writing in 2000, 2001, and 2002 by the Tennessee Press Association, is a columnist for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. He is the author of a number of books, including Rock-Elephant: A Story of Friendship and Fishing and Mountain Hands: A Portrait of Southern Appalachia. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Now in paperback, the beloved humorist’s latest and funniest collection of essays ever—“McManus at his curmudgeonly best” (Spokane Spokesman-Review)

Patrick F. McManus’s wry wit has made him an American classic, his trademark outdoorsman’s humor endearing him not only to fellow wilderness enthusiasts but to anyone who enjoys a good laugh. In his newest collection of hilarious essays, he ponders the strange allure of the RV, a thirtieth-century hunting trip, the art of wrestling toads, the existential implications of being lost, the baffling tendency of animals to outsmart hunters, the singular pleasure of doubling the size of every fish that gets away, and what happens when a bear named Pooky decides to hibernate in the attic.

Combining the curmudgeonly voice of Dave Barry and the clever insights of Garrison Keillor with his own keen sense of the absurd, McManus brilliantly captures the funny and strange in our everyday existence, while managing to evoke a childlike wonder at the natural world.

When he was a child, Darby Conley used to wonder what his beloved pooch was thinking. That curiosity led to his creation of the hilarious strip Get Fuzzy in 1999, which has rapidly become one of the most popular cartoons in newspaper syndication. Showcasing the relationship between Bucky, a temperamental cat with an attitude; the sweet and sensitive dog Satchel; and their mild-mannered human companion, Rob Wilco, Get Fuzzy has cornered the market on anthropomorphic antics.Anyone who finds animals both amazing and amusing will find this new Get Fuzzy collection one of the most bitingly funny books ever printed.