Showing titles in Biographies & Memoirs

On December 22, 1953, Mort Sahl took the stage at San Francisco's hungry i and changed comedy forever. Before him, standup was about everything but hard news and politics. In his wake, a new generation of smart comics emerged - Shelley Berman, Mike Nichols, and Elaine May, Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart, Dick Gregory, Woody Allen, and the Smothers Brothers, among others.

Vom unendlichen Glück, mit Katzen zu leben - das neue Hörbuch von Hape Kerkeling. Seit seiner Kindheit ist Hape Kerkeling katzenverrückt. Als er acht war, schlich Peterle auf sanften Pfoten in sein Kinderleben. Später waren der gemütliche Samson, eine Seele von Kater, und der rote Spock an seiner Seite. Dann kam Anne - bildschön und superschlau. Nach ihr Bolli, die Überlebenskünstlerin. Und neuerdings ist die schwarz-weiße Kitty die Chefin im Haus. Hape hat mehr als sein halbes Leben mit Katzen geteilt.

Jerry Lewis (1926-2017) achieved superstardom in the 1950s and 1960s with such films as The Caddy, The Bellboy, and The Nutty Professor. Later, Lewis was almost as well known for his dedication to the cause of muscular dystrophy and his annual Labor Day telethon, which he hosted for more than four decades. In King of Comedy, Shawn Levy offers a provocative portrait of the influential comedian, analyzing the complex, sometimes disturbing world of Lewis—from his rise to fame and philanthropic work to the dark side of his career and personal life.

Julia Sweeney: Older & Wider is the latest one-person show from renowned monologist and former SNL comedian. She tells stories about her family: her daughter, her husband, and her mother. Poignant and funny. This show had successful theater runs in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

One moment can change everything — but it doesn’t have to end the story. In If You Have Five Minutes to Spare , Dominic Hurley BEM shares an honest, often funny, and deeply human memoir of life after a traumatic brain injury. After a life-altering accident at just twenty-one, Dominic was forced to rethink everything he thought he knew about normality, disability, memory, and identity. This is not a polished tale of instant triumph. It’s a real story of recovery — told with humour, frustration, warmth, and unfiltered truth.

We all have that one older funny family member. You know the one, he tells stories from his experiences and usually has people rolling their eyes. William Stokes is that person! He presents a delightful collection of memories that are truly life lessons even today! Stokes, through his memories and wit, provides opportunities to learn through laughter, sharing of memories and love.

Thatcher Stole My Trousers chronicles a time when comedy and politics united in electrifying ways. Recounting the founding of the Comedy Store, the Comic Strip and the Young Ones, and Alexei’s friendships with the comedians who – like him – would soon become household names, this is a unique and beguiling blend of social history and memoir. Fascinating, funny, angry and entertaining, it is a story of class and comedy, politics and love, fast cars and why it’s difficult to foul a dwarf in a game of football.

Susan Calman is a well-known comedian and writer who has appeared on countless radio and television programmes. Her solo stand up show, Susan Calman Is Convicted, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and dealt with subjects like the death penalty, appearance and depression. The reaction to the show she wrote about mental health was so positive that she wanted to expand on the show and write a more detailed account of surviving when you're the world's most negative person.

Thomas VDB raconte, sous forme de polaroids, son implantation à Paris, sa percée dans le stand-up, son ascension et les dégâts causés par son irrésistible maladresse. Cette candeur exquise, un peu encombrante, révèle une gentillesse profonde. Voici un être qui veut le bien d’autrui–qu’il soit serrurier, producteur, Nestlé ou l’Olympia. Le résultat porte un nom : fiasco.

How Comedy Saved My Life is the brutally honest, darkly funny, and ultimately redemptive story of John Perrotta—a Rhode Island prison guard by day, stand-up comic by night. For decades, John lived two lives. On stage, he was a relentless crowd-work master, booking gigs with rising legends like Bill Burr, Lenny Clarke, Tammy Pescatelli, and Tom Cotter. Off stage, he was drowning in booze, gambling, and drugs, hitting rock bottom more times than he can count—until a near-death experience forced him to make the biggest comeback of his life.

There's no right way to keep a diary, but if there's an entertaining way, David Sedaris seems to have mastered it. If it's navel-gazing you're after, you've come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight...

From teenage fumblings in the back of a car in Wagga Wagga (teen pregnancy capital of Australia), to performing with Aunty Donna and her own sell-out comedy shows, comedian Michelle Brasier invites you into the highs (seeing Jason Momoa drinking a Guinness next a classic car in SoHo) and the lows (getting dumped ¾ of the way through Pirates of the Caribbean). It's an examination of the tiny things and the big things—how much it hurts to be a woman and a person, and how funny it is to try and get into shapewear and how funerals are silly. It's self help for those of us who hate self help.

Written with her trademark deadpan humour, Urzila's memoir is full of great stories about both the big things in life and the little things. Urzila's accidental beginning in stand-up has led to an incredibly successful career in comedy, with regular gigs on television as well as sell-out shows in comedy festivals across New Zealand and Australia. But life hasn't always been a bundle of laughs. Urzila talks candidly about her childhood with a great family, apart from her abusive dad, and about growing up in South Africa.

Martin Short, one of today's most inventive and popular comic actors, is best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, SCTV, and in the films The Three Amigos and The Father of the Bride. The creator of such memorable characters as Jiminy Glick, Ed Grimley, and Irving Cohen, Short returned to Broadway in the "alternate autobiography" Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. Here he talks with Dick Cavett.

***THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*** This book will single-handedly eradicate the need for parenting and schools. It's that useful. It's a cruel, cruel world out there, a harrowing place filled with crime and illnesses, taxes and grief. And swans. But help is finally here. TommyInnit's...

The first book in twenty-five years from Jerry Seinfeld features his best work across five decades in comedy. Since his first performance at the legendary New York nightclub Catch a Rising Star as a twenty-one-year-old student in autumn of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and...

Named by Time as America's Favourite Humorist, the uniquely perceptive and hilarious David Sedaris reads from his essays and diaries for his ninth series for Radio 4. This is the complete recording of Meet David Sedaris Series Nine, which was broadcast on Radio 4. The full listing is: Episode...

Between them, Denise Scott and Judith Lucy have been doing stand-up comedy for over 60 years. Eavesdrop on their conversations about everything from sex to ageing to work and back to sex – actually, there’s a lot of sex. These conversations are based on material tried and tested at live shows so you get the best of their crapping on. Please note: contains strong language and adult content.

If you thought Dennis Miller was done ranting, guess again. In Still Ranting After All These Years, recorded in early 2002, Miller is in fine form, commenting on everything from ""War and Terrorism"" to Enron; from ""Obsessed Parents"" to the ""End of Class;"" to ""Truth in the Media,"" and so...

For fans of David Sedaris, Tina Fey and Caitlin Moran comes Furiously Happy from Jenny Lawson, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Let's Pretend This Never Happened. In Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson regaled readers with uproarious stories of her bizarre childhood. In...