The 50 Funniest American Writers: According to Andy Borowitz

3.2/5 ( ratings)

Ever wondered who makes a very funny person laugh? Wonder no more. Brought together in this Library of America collection are America’s fifty funniest writers—according to acclaimed writer and comedian Andy Borowitz. Reaching back to Mark Twain and forward to contemporary masters such as David Sedaris, Nora Ephron, Roy Blount Jr., Ian Frazier, Bernie Mac, Wanda Sykes, and George Saunders, The 50 Funniest American Writers* is an exclusive Who’s Who of the very best American comic writing. Here are Thurber and Perelman, Lenny Bruce and Bruce Jay Friedman, Garrison Keillor, Dave Barry, and Veronica Geng, plus hilarious lesser-known pieces from The New Yorker, Esquire, The Atlantic, National Lampoon, and The Onion. Who does “one of the funniest people in America” read when he needs a laugh?

Contents:

A presidential candidate by Mark Twain
The lecture tickets that were bought but never used by George Ade
The ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry
From Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
From Gentlemen prefer blondes by Anita Loos
On conversation by Ring Lardner
Imperial purple by H.L. Mencken
More alarms at night by James Thurber
The waltz by Dorothy Parker
Farewell, my lovely appetizer by S.J. Perelman
Simple prays a prayer by Langston Hughes
The night the old nostalgia burned down by Frank Sullivan
Across the street and into the grill by E.B. White
The house of mirth by Peter De Vries
From The magic Christian by Terry Southern
From How to talk dirty and influence people by Lenny Bruce
The secret vice by Tom Wolfe
The counterfeit secret circle member gets the message, or The asp strikes again by Jean Shepherd
The Kentucky Derby is decadent and depraved by Hunter S. Thompson
A look at organized crime by Woody Allen
The tax man by Bruce Jay Friedman
Letters to Einstein by Philip Roth
A few words about breasts by Nora Ephron
Our white heritage by Henry Beard, Michael O'Donoghue, George W.S. Trow
Better read than dead : a revised opinion by Fran Lebowitz
Your action line by Charles Portis
In the morning post by Donald Barthleme
Curb Carter policy discord effort threat by Veronica Geng
Vacation '58 by John Hughes
The laws of cartoon motion by Mark O'Donnell
The Tip-Top Club by Garrision Keillor
Rolled in rare Bohemian onyx, then vulcanized by hand by Bruce McCall
Tough as bob war and other stuff by Molly Ivins
Corrections by Calvin Trillin
Tips for women : how to have a relationships with a guy by Dave Barry
Clinton deploys vowels to Bosnia by The Onion
Shiftless little loafers by Susan Orlean
Gothic baseball by Roy Blount Jr.
If I were in charge of the networks by George Carlin
Laws concerning food and drink ; Household principles ; Lamentations of the father by Ian Frazier
The writer's life by David Rakoff
From I ain't scared of you by Bernie Mac
Buddy, can you spare a tie? by David Sedaris
It's so hard by Wanda Sykes
What I'd say to the Martians by Jack Handey
Your three wishes : F.A.Q. by David Owen
Ask the optimist! by George Saunders
Awake by Jenny Allen
The pony problem by Sloane Crosley
If not an apology, at least a "my bad" by Larry Wilmore