Collection: Humor

Comedian and musician Reggie Watts shares his story of growing up in Montana as a biracial oddball struggling to navigate life, girls, drugs, and his own identity in America's heartland--and having a blast doing it.

Reggie Watts is weird. But you knew that. Anyone who's seen his multifaceted, entirely improvised comedy and music shows knows that. Reggie Watts is also from the town of Great Falls, MT.

These two facts are not unrelated.

Watts grew up in Montana in the '80s, half French, half American, half white, half Black, speaking a bunch of different languages and slipping between the orchestra geeks and the football jocks until he finally found a squad of fellow misfits with an affinity for trouble. It was a wide-open time and place that invited freedom and exploration--as well as car theft and the not infrequent use of recreational cough syrup. And it helped him become the uniquely strange creative voice he is today.

In Great Falls, MT, Watts takes us through his story, hitting on the culture shock he experienced after moving from Europe to the heart of America, where he was called racial slurs by neighbors but wasn't Black enough for his father's extended family. Where he fought with his authoritarian dad, built a new family of antiestablishment, post-punk oddballs--and ultimately knew he had to leave. But after Watts's career exploded in Seattle and New York, ultimately scoring him a nightly place next to James Corden on The Late Late Show, he found himself drawn back to his hometown after the deaths of his parents. This is his love letter to the town that made him. But like love itself, it's messy and complicated and dirty and beautiful--and as weird and wonderful as Watts himself.

Mad Libs is the world's greatest word game and the perfect gift or activity for anyone who likes to laugh! Write in the missing words on each page to create your own hilariously funny stories in this Supersize Mad Libs!

Wow, I didn't know my dog could VERB! With 105 "fill-in-the-blank" stories about cat ladies, mermaids, and gaming, there's something for everyone. Play alone, in a group, or in detention! Mad Libs are a fun family activity recommended for ages 8 to NUMBER.

Supersize Mad Libs includes:

- Five complete Mad Libs books in one collection Unicorns, Mermaids, and Mad Libs; Dog Ate My Mad Libs; Meow Libs; Game Over! Mad Libs; Escape from Detention Mad Libs
- Silly stories 105 "fill-in-the-blank" stories all about Easter fun!
- Language arts practice Mad Libs are a great way to build reading comprehension and grammar skills.
- Fun With Friends each story is a chance for friends to work together to create unique stories!

The 20th anniversary edition of the international bestseller, perfectly timed for everyone needing extra help to be adequately prepared for dire situations in today's world.

Danger! It lurks at every corner. Quicksand. Sharks. Cyberbullies. Super Flu. From wrestling an alligator to evading drones to landing an airplane if the pilot passes out, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook is here to help with expert, illustrated, step-by-step instructions for the best ways to tackle life's sudden turns for the worse.

Needed now more than ever, this revised and expanded edition of the international bestseller delivers frightening and funny real advice readers need to know fast, including crucial information added from across the Worst-Case series and 20 all-new scenarios for 21st-century threats, from extreme weather and "fake news" to dropping a cell phone in the bathroom toilet.

EMERGENCY INSTRUCTION FOR ANXIOUS TIMES: This ultimate survival book is packed with expert--and humorous--advice for extreme situations, including tips on great escapes and entrances (how to escape from a sinking car), hacks for technical trouble (how to survive an out-of-control autonomous car), skills for adventure survival (how to survive an avalanche), and more.

INFORMATION ANYONE CAN USE: From your nephew who loves camping in the wilderness to your great aunt who became a doomsday prepper during the pandemic, this complete survival guide is the ultimate preparedness tool for people of all ages.

A FAVORITE BOOK TO SHARE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY: Readers rave about the reactions this entertaining volume elicits, sharing that it's "an absolute hit" as a gift and a "great tabletop item for guests to pick up and browse for a few minutes." One reviewer notes this is "one of the best gifts that I have ever purchased" while another calls the book "a fun read and conversation starter."

Perfect for:

• Kids, teens, and adults interested in learning how to survive anything, from a sudden natural disaster to a zombie apocalypse
• Anyone who enjoys funny books
• Birthday, holiday, or graduation gag gifts

""This is the second fan letter I have written in my whole life. The other one was to Hopalong Cassidy, when I had a great crush on him at about six years old. But I did want to let you know how very much both my husband and I have enjoyed Pickles from the very first strip. Would you please consider putting a collection together in book form?""-Lois F. in Nevada

As its loyal fans will gladly tell you, Pickles has been a zinger-filled, laugh-out-loud gem since its debut in 1990. Since then, it has steadily climbed in popularity, and today appears in over 400 newspapers worldwide.

Still Pickled After All These Years collects strips from this sweet intergenerational comic that alternates point of view between an older married couple, a 30-something married couple, and their son. The strip centers on Earl and Opal Pickles, who have been married over 50 years but inject plenty of spunk and insight into everything they do. Whether they're taking a wry but sympathetic glance at their divorced daughter, Sylvia, laughing at their faithful but feckless canine, Roscoe, marveling at their dictatorial feline, Muffin, or just commenting on the little things in life, Earl and Opal's good-natured wit and dry humor is brilliantly on target.

Pickles is about growing old and keeping your sense of humor but never forgetting what it's like to be a child. The strip's inaugural AMP collection, Still Pickled After All These Years, encapsulates the importance of staying close to those who bring you the most joy and reminds everyone about the incalculable value of the unconditional love of pets, family, and friends.

This expanded and revised edition has a new foreword by The Late Show host Stephen Colbert, additional advice and tips for success, and a full reproduction of Mick Napier's web journal from his time directing the famous show Paradigm Lost for The Second City that included Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, and Kevin Dorff. Renowned improv instructor and award-winning director Mick Napier has been at the heart of the professional improvisation community for more than 25 years. The first edition of Improvise. quickly earned its position as necessary reading for improv students across the country and around the world and gave birth to a new generation of performers who questioned "The Rules" of improvisation. In this entertaining and incredibly informative book, Napier will teach you the essentials of... --Why "The Rules" don't matter --How to take care of yourself in a scene --Using context to your advantage --Effective two-person scenes --Balanced large-cast scenes --Successful auditioning --Solo exercises you can practice at home

Men to Avoid in Art and Life pairs classical fine art with modern captions that epitomize the spirit of mansplaining.

This hilarious book perfectly captures those relatable moments when a man explains to a woman a subject about which he knows considerably less than she does.

Situations include men sharing keen insight on the female anatomy, an eloquent defense of catcalling, or offering sage advice about horseback riding to the woman who owns the horse.

- These less qualified men of antiquity dish out mediocrity as if it's pure genius
- For the women who have endured overbearing men over the centuries
- Written with hilariously painful accuracy

"Now, when you're riding a horse, you need to make sure to keep a good grip on the reins." "These are my horses."

Through cringe-induced empathy, this timeless gift book of shared experiences unites women across history in one of the most powerful forms of resistance: laughter.

- Started as a Twitter thread and quickly gained widespread popularity.
- A great pick for a birthday or Galentine gift for a friend who needs a funny pick-me-up
- Makes a perfect gift for women and feminists with a wry sense of humor, millennials, anyone who loves memes and Internet humor, as well as history and art buffs.
- Add it to the shelf with books like Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit, Milk and Vine: Inspirational Quotes from Classic Vines by Emily Beck, and Awards For Good Boys: Tales Of Dating, Double Standards, And Doom by Shelby Lorman.

#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

AN ADAM SAVAGE BOOK CLUB PICK

The book-length answer to anyone who ever put their hand up in math class and asked, "When am I ever going to use this in the real world?"

"Fun, informative, and relentlessly entertaining, Humble Pi is a charming and very readable guide to some of humanity's all-time greatest miscalculations--that also gives you permission to feel a little better about some of your own mistakes." --Ryan North, author of How to Invent Everything

Our whole world is built on math, from the code running a website to the equations enabling the design of skyscrapers and bridges. Most of the time this math works quietly behind the scenes . . . until it doesn't. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences.

Math is easy to ignore until a misplaced decimal point upends the stock market, a unit conversion error causes a plane to crash, or someone divides by zero and stalls a battleship in the middle of the ocean.

Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses, and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire, and an Olympic team, Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways math trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

The author of the runaway hit Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies shares honest and practical lessons for healing your past and owning your future so you can radiate strength, bravery, and joy when life gets dark.

"A revealing and powerful book that lit me up from the inside out."--GLENNON DOYLE, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed

Tara Schuster thought she was on stable ground. For years, she'd worked like hell to repair the emotional wounds inflicted during what she refers to as her "mess-wreck disaster" of a childhood. She'd brought radical healing rituals and self-love into her life. On most days, she was a happy, stable adult. She even wrote a book about it!

But then she lost her job, the one on which she had staked her entire identity. Cue a panic-attack-doom-spiral that brought her harshest childhood traumas to the surface. Isolated at home during a global pandemic, she felt piercing loneliness and a lack of purpose like she had never known. Finally, after experiencing a terrifying dissociative episode while driving down the highway, she realized that enough was enough; she needed to slow down and pull over--literally. It was time for Tara to stop the hustling and to reclaim her essential, free, and loving self.

Glow in the F*cking Dark is a guide to healing your deepest wounds, getting off your "good enough" plateau, and creating the spectacular life that you most desire. Tara clawed her way out of the darkness and recovered her shine, and in this book, she shows how to

- recognize trauma reactions and choose new ways to respond
- find what's really under your anxiety
- repair your relationship with your body
- find solace and purpose in something bigger than yourself

Full of practical, achievable baby steps that we can take today, this book is for anyone ready to liberate themselves from their emotional suffering, discover their purpose, and finally sit in the driver's seat of their life. It's for anyone who is tired, hurting, and feeling like their essential brightness has dimmed. It's for people who are ready to glow, even when sh*t gets grim.

The wacky robots from the award-winning apps, videos, and Netflix show, Ask the Storybots, now star in their own early readers. This one is about everyone's favorite dinosaur!

Fans of the StoryBots will recognize the colorful art from the hugely popular dinosaur video "Tyrannosaurus Rex" on YouTube. A gigantic body and super-sharp teeth make the Tyrannosaurus rex the most fearsome of the dinosaurs. Just don't make fun of those tiny arms! This rhyming Step 1 Science Reader will entertain while imparting simple facts about the most popular carnivorous dinosaur of all.

Step 1 Readers feature big type and easy words for children who know the alphabet and are eager to begin reading. Rhyme and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story.

Accolades for the StoryBots digital media:
Appy Award for Best Book App
Teacher's Choice Award
Editor's Choice--Children's Technology Review
Family Choice Award
Parents' Choice Award
Cynopsis Kids !magination Award for best educational mobile app

The New Yorker Best Books of 2023

NPR's Books We Love 2023

"A deeply honest and funny look at how exhausting it can be to live a human life, Unreliable Narrator is a book for anyone who wants to laugh and feel less alone."--Amy Poehler

A hilarious and insightful collection of essays exploring impostor syndrome, from the inside and out, by the most successful fraud in comedy

Aparna Nancherla is a superstar comedian on the rise--a darling of Netflix and Comedy Central's comedy special lineups, a headliner at comedy shows and music festivals, a frequenter of late night television and the subject of numerous profiles. She's also a successful actor who has written a barrage of thoughtful essays published by the likes of the New York Times. If you ask her, though, she's a total fraud. She'd hate to admit it, but no one does impostor syndrome quite like Aparna Nancherla.

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR is a collection of essays that uses Aparna's signature humor to illuminate an interior life, one constantly bossed around by her depression (whom she calls Brenda), laced with anxiety like a horror movie full of jump-scares, and plagued by an unrepenting love-hate relationship with her career as a painfully shy standup comedian. But luckily, crippling self-doubt comes with the gift of keen self-examination. These essays deliver hilarious and incredibly insightful meditations on body image, productivity culture, the ultra-meme-ability of mental health language, and who, exactly, gets to make art "about nothing." Despite her own arguments to the contrary, UNRELIABLE NARRATOR is undeniable proof that Aparna is a force--as a comedian and author alike--to be reckoned with.

Dripping Thighs, Sticky Chicken Fingers, Vanilla Chicken, Chicken with a Lardon, Bacon-Bound Wings, Spatchcock Chicken, Learning-to-Truss-You Chicken, Holy Hell Wings, Mustard-Spanked Chicken, and more, more, more!

Fifty chicken recipes, each more seductive than the last, in a book that makes every dinner a turn-on.

"I want you to see this. Then you'll know everything. It's a cookbook," he says and opens to some recipes, with color photos. "I want to prepare you, very much." This isn't just about getting me hot till my juices run clear, and then a little rest. There's pulling, jerking, stuffing, trussing. Fifty preparations. He promises we'll start out slow, with wine and a good oiling . . . Holy crap. "I will control everything that happens here," he says. "You can leave anytime, but as long as you stay, you're my ingredient." I'll be transformed from a raw, organic bird into something--what? Something delicious.

So begins the adventures of Miss Chicken, a young free-range, from raw innocence to golden brown ecstasy, in this spoof-in-a-cookbook that simmers in the afterglow of E.L. James's sensational Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Like Anastasia Steele, Miss Chicken finds herself at the mercy of a dominating man, in this case, a wealthy, sexy, and very hungry chef.

And before long, from unbearably slow drizzling to trussing, Miss Chicken discovers the sheer thrill of becoming the main course. A parody in three acts--"The Novice Bird" (easy recipes for roasters), "Falling to Pieces" (parts perfect for weeknight meals), and "Advanced Techniques" (the climax of cooking)--Fifty Shades of Chicken is a cookbook of fifty irresistible, repertoire-boosting chicken dishes that will leave you hungry for more.

With memorable tips and revealing photographs, Fifty Shades of Chicken will have you dominating dinner.

From writer Stacy McAnulty and illustrator Stevie Lewis, Moon! Earth's Best Friend is a light-hearted nonfiction picture book about the formation and history of the moon--told from the perspective of the moon itself.

Meet Moon! She's more than just a rock--she's Earth's rock, her best friend she can always count on. Moon never turns her back on her friend (literally: she's always facing Earth with the same side!). These two will stick together forever. With characteristic humor and charm, Stacy McAnulty channels the voice of Moon in this next celestial "autobiography" in the Our Universe series. Rich with kid-friendly facts and beautifully brought to life by Stevie Lewis, this is an equally charming and irresistible companion to Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years and Sun! One in a Billion.

Mad Libs is the world's greatest word game and a great gift or activity for anyone who likes to laugh! Write in the missing words on each page to create your own hilariously funny stories all about road trips, travel, and summer activities.

Pack your NOUN and get ready to go on an adventure with Mad Libs on the Road! With 21 "fill-in-the-blank" stories about creating car songs, spotting historical sights, and stopping at roadside diners, there's something for everyone. Play alone, in a group, or in an RV! Mad Libs are a fun family activity recommended for ages 8 to NUMBER.

Mad Libs on the Road includes:

- Silly stories 21 "fill-in-the-blank" stories all about adventures on the road!
- Language arts practice Mad Libs are a great way to build reading comprehension and grammar skills.
- Fun With Friends each story is a chance for friends to work together to create unique stories!

From the New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia comes the totally fetch story of one of the most iconic teen comedies of all time, Mean Girls, revealing how it happened, how it defined a generation, "like, invented" meme culture, and why it just won't go away, filled with exclusive interviews from the director, cast, and crew.

Get in, loser. We're going back to 2004.

It's been 20 years since Mean Girls hit theaters, winning over critics and audiences alike with its razor-sharp wit, star-making turns for its then unknown cast, and obsessively quotable screenplay by Tina Fey. Fast forward two decades and Mean Girls remains as relevant as ever. Arguably, no other movie from the 2000s has had as big of an impact on pop culture.

In So Fetch, New York Times bestselling author of Seinfeldia, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, offers the first ever authoritative book about this beloved classic that shaped an entire generation. Based off revealing interviews with the director, cast, and crew, So Fetch tells the full story of the making of Mean Girls, from Tina Fey's brilliant adaptation of a self-help guide for parents of teen girls, to the challenges of casting Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and the iconic supporting players. So Fetch also explores the film's lasting cultural influence, from its role in the rise of Y2K tabloid culture, impact on girls of all ages and lgbtq+ culture, to how we use it to define female relationships to this day.

Timed for the 20th anniversary and the release of the new movie musical adaptation, So Fetch is the perfect companion for fans and anyone who understands that when it comes to Mean Girls' enduring legacy, the limit does not exist!

Darth Vader is learning that being a Sith lord and dedicated father to Princess Leia isn't quite so easy...

In this irresistibly funny follow-up to the breakout bestseller Darth Vader and Son, Vader--Sith Lord and leader of the Galactic Empire--now faces the trials, joys, and mood swings of raising his daughter Leia as she grows from a sweet little girl into a rebellious teenager. Smart and funny illustrations by artist Jeffrey Brown give classic Star Wars moments a twist by bringing these iconic family relations together under one roof. From tea parties to teaching Leia how to fly a TIE fighter, regulating the time she spends talking with friends via R2-D2's hologram, and making sure Leia doesn't leave the house wearing only a skirted metal bikini, Vader's parenting skills are put hilariously to the test.

• Gives kids a unique look into the "real" life of Darth Vader
• The ideal Star Wars bedtime story book for little Jedi and Sith across the galaxy
• Hilariously showcases the ins and outs of being a father in the Star Wars universe

If you loved Obi-123, ABC-3PO, and Goodnight, Darth Vader, this is an essential addition to any kid's Star Wars book collection and is perfect for any of the following book categories:

• Father Daughter Books
• Baby Star Wars Books
• Dad Children's Books
• Darth Vader Books for Kids

From a "born storyteller" (Seattle Times), this playful and moving bestselling book of essays invites us into the miraculous and transcendent moments of everyday life.

When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the twenty-first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.

At a moment when the world can sometimes feel darker than ever, Doyle's writing, which constantly evokes the humor and even bliss that life affords, is a balm. His essays manage to find, again and again, exquisite beauty in the quotidian, whether it's the awe of a child the first time she hears a river, or a husband's whiskers that a grieving widow misses seeing in her sink every morning. Through Doyle's eyes, nothing is dull.

David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the collection: "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to quiet glories hidden in people, places and creatures of little or no size, renown, or commercial value, and he brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings." A life's work, One Long River of Song invites readers to experience joy and wonder in ordinary moments that become, under Doyle's rapturous and exuberant gaze, extraordinary.