It is impossible to talk about 20th century comedy without discussing George Carlin.

Named the 2nd greatest standup of the 20th century by both Comedy Central and Rolling Stone, Carlin garnered multiple gold records, 4 Grammys, 6 Emmy nominations, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was the first host of SNL, appeared on the Tonight Show some 130 times, and acted in beloved films like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and Dogma. Dubbed "the dean of counterculture comedians," George Carlin was an American icon.

A perfect introduction for new fans and a worthy addition to the collections of old fans, The Best of Carlin showcases the longevity, range, and - above all - hilarity of the master. Filled with thoughts, musings, questions, lists, beliefs, curiosities, monologues, assertions, assumptions, and other delicious verbal ordeals, it is drop-dead funny tour through Carlin's mind.

More than ten years after his death, Carlin's characteristically ironic takes on life's annoying universal truths remain thoughtful, fearless, and somehow more relevant than ever.

We all know what frak, popularized by television's cult hit Battlestar Galactica, really means. But what about feck? Or ferkin? Or foul--as in FUBAR, or "Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition"?
In a thoroughly updated edition of The F-Word, Jesse Sheidlower offers a rich, revealing look at the f-bomb and its illimitable uses. Since the fifteenth century, no other word has been adapted, interpreted, euphemized, censored, and shouted with as much ardor or force; imagine Dick Cheney telling Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy to "go damn himself" on the Senate floor--it doesn't have quite the same impact as what was really said. Sheidlower cites this and other notorious examples throughout history, from the satiric sixteenth-century poetry of James Cranstoun to the bawdy parodies of Lord Rochester in the seventeenth century, to more recent uses by Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Ann Sexton, Norman Mailer, Liz Phair, Anthony Bourdain, Junot Diaz, Jenna Jameson, Amy Winehouse, Jon Stewart, and Bono (whose use of the word at the Grammys nearly got him fined by the FCC).
Collectively, these references and the more than one hundred new entries they illustrate double the size of The F-Word since its previous edition. Thousands of added quotations come from newly available electronic databases and the resources of the OED, expanding the range of quotations to cover British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Irish, and South African uses in addition to American ones. Thus we learn why a fugly must hone his or her sense of humor, why Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau muttered "fuddle duddle" in the Commons, and why Fanny Adams is so sweet. A fascinating introductory essay explores the word's history, reputation, and changing popularity over time. and a new Foreword by comedian, actor, and author Lewis Black offers readers a smart and entertaining take on the book and its subject matter.
Oxford dictionaries have won renown for their expansive, historical approach to words and their etymologies. The F-Word offers all that and more in an entertaining and informative look at a word that, while now largely accepted as an integral part of the English language, still confounds, provokes, and scandalizes.

Seasonal family comedy. It's Christmas Eve and a huge blizzard has shut down Hoover International Airport. Among the stranded travellers, five unaccompanied minors are determined to max out their holiday by running wild inside and outside the airport. Without a parent in sight, the rampaging five outwit and outrun an uptight airport official and his gullible assistant. Joyriding on golf carts, plummeting through baggage chutes and canoeing down a snow bank, the kids turn Christmas at the airport into holiday pandemonium and along the way prove that the holidays aren't about where you are, but who you're with.

Animated comedy drama from Disney/Pixar featuring the voice talents of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader, Lewis Black and Mindy Kaling. When eleven-year-old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is forced to relocate to San Francisco when her dad gets a new job, she has trouble adjusting to her new surroundings. Her emotions - Joy (Poehler), Sadness (Smith), Fear (Hader), Anger (Black) and Disgust (Kaling) - that reside in Headquarters, the control centre of her mind, try to help her navigate her way through the big change. However, after a slight mishap at Headquarters, the situation gets out of control causing Riley's emotional state to worsen. Will the five emotions be able to restore order and make Riley feel better about her new life? The voice cast also includes Richard Kind, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan and Frank Oz.

During the course of a career that began in the late 1940s, Lenny Bruce challenged the sanctity of organized religion and other societal and political conventions he widened the boundaries of free speech. Critic Ralph Gleason said, So many taboos have been lifted and so many comics have rushed through the doors Lenny opened. He utterly changed the world of comedy."Although Bruce died when he was only forty, his influence on the worlds of comedy, jazz, and satire are incalculable. How to Talk Dirty and Influence People remains a brilliant existential account of his life and the forces that made him the most important and controversial entertainer in history.

Animated comedy drama from Disney/Pixar featuring the voice talents of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader, Lewis Black and Mindy Kaling. When eleven-year-old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is forced to relocate to San Francisco when her dad gets a new job, she has trouble adjusting to her new surroundings. Her emotions - Joy (Poehler), Sadness (Smith), Fear (Hader), Anger (Black) and Disgust (Kaling) - that reside in Headquarters, the control centre of her mind, try to help her navigate her way through the big change. However, after a slight mishap at Headquarters, the situation gets out of control causing Riley's emotional state to worsen. Will the five emotions be able to restore order and make Riley feel better about her new life? The voice cast also includes Richard Kind, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan and Frank Oz.

What do we believe? And for God's sake "why"?
These are the thorny questions that Lewis Black, the bitingly funny comedian, social critic, and bestselling author, tackles in his new book, "Me of Little Faith." And he's come up with some answers. Or at least "his "answers. In more than two dozen essays that investigate everything from the differences between how Christians and Jews celebrate their holidays, to the politics of faith, to people's individual search for transcendence, Black explores his unique odyssey through religion and belief.
Growing up as a nonpracticing Jewish kid near Washington, D.C., during the 1950s, Black survived Hebrew school and a bar mitzvah (barely), went to college in the South during the tumultuous 1960s, and witnessed firsthand the unsettling parallels between religious rapture and drug-induced visions (even if none of his friends did). He explored the self-actualization movements of the 1970s (and the self-indulgence that they produced), and since then has turned an increasingly skeptical eye toward the politicians and televangelists who don the cloak of religiouos rectitude to mask their own moral hypocrisy.
What he learned along the way about the inconsistencies and peculiarities of religion infuriated Black, and in "Me of Little Faith "he gives full vent to his comedic rage. Black explores how the rules and constraints of religion have affected his life and the lives of us all. Hilarious experiences with rabbis, Mormons, gurus, psychics, and even the joy of a perfect round of golf give Black the chance to expound upon what we believe and why--in the language of a shock jock and with the heart of an iconoclast.
"To put it as simply as I can," Black writes, "this is a book about my relationship with religion, where my--dare I say it?--spiritual journey has taken me...what it's meant and not meant to me, and why it makes me laugh." By the end of "Me of Little Faith," you'll be a convert.

From Lewis Black, the uproarious and perpetually apoplectic "New York Times"-bestselling author and Daily Show regular, comes a ferociously funny book about his least favorite holiday, Christmas.
Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace on earth and goodwill toward all. But not for Lewis Black.
He says humbug to the Christmas tradtitions and trappings that make the holiday memorable. In "I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas," his hilarious and sharply observed book about the holiday, Lewis lets loose on all things Yule. It's a very personal look at what's wrong with Christmas, seen through the eyes of "the most engagingly pissed-off comedian ever."*
From his own Christmas rituals--which have absolutely nothing to do with presents or the Christmas tree or Rudolph--to his own eccentric experiences with the holiday (from a USO Christmas tour to playing Santa Claus in full regalia), "I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas" is classic Lewis Black: funny, razor-sharp, insightful, and honest.
You'll never think of Christmas in the same way.
"*Stephen King"