Humour

A humorous collection of hundreds of funny news stories, whacky phenomena, and hilarious blunders and gaffes from around the world, such as: the woman who smuggled 75 live snakes in her bra; the man who held a funeral for his amputated foot; the radioactive cat which got mistaken for a bomb; the human tongue that got served up in a hospital; the X-ray that revealed E.T.'s face in a duck; the youth who woke to find a bullet in his tongue; the tortoise that set a house on fire; and many more.

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James Crosbie was Britain's most wanted man in 1974. With a successful business and an enviable lifestyle, he seemed to have everything going for him - until he got bored with his life and turned to armed robbery. He ended up in Peterhead Prison, doing time with some of the hardest, and funniest, men in crime. Peterhead Porridge is a remarkable account of the people he met. People like The Saughton Harrier who escaped from prison by dressing up as a runner, complete with running vest and number, and joining in as a race went by. And another escapee, Tweety Pie, was so-called because, when he flew the coop, he had a nasty case of jaundice. Then there's Square Go, the prison warder who was always up for a fight. And discover the practical jokes that were the trademark of Glasgow's Godfather Arthur Thompson and what really happened when someone poured their porridge over his head in the breakfast queue. Funny, sad and at times barely believable, Peterhead Porridge is a unique insight into the other side of prison life.

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Thomas, son of Henry Robekyn, died 1286 after cutting off his left foot and then his left hand in a frenzy.Henry Debordesle, died 1343. Long sick with diseases, smote himself in the belly with a knife worth one penny.On 11 August 1267, Henry Constentin is driving a horse-drawn cart of wheat through the field of Tweedscroft. His feet slip and he falls upon ‘a certain pole’ of his cart ‘so that it penetrates into his fundament’. From the creator of Twitter's Medieval Death Bot comes Unfortunate Ends, an illuminating collection of in-depth looks at some of the most interesting cases from medieval coroners’ rolls.From the bizarre to the mundane, each death tells a tale from a dangerous time to be alive, and even to die. Coroners’ rolls list every inquest held for a death by misadventure – or accident – as well as grisly murders, some witnessed by others, some only coming to light when the hidden body was found.A handful of these deaths rise to the top, their tales too ridiculous or heartbreaking to not be spun again for the modern ear. Through death, Unfortunate Ends gives us a rare, first-hand look into everyday life for the common people of medieval England.

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This relatable wall calendar perfectly captures the dichotomy between passion and logic, impulsivity and prudence, emotion and intellect.

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QI The Pocket Book of Animals is John Lloyd and John Mitchinson's funny, eccentric and confounding handbook filled with interesting animal facts and figures. Join the QI team for an off-road safari into the wildlife, past one hundred of the most unusual members of the animal kingdom, armed with illuminating illustrations and diagrams by award-winning artist Ted Dewan. Amongst the weird, wonderful and really quite interesting animal facts, meet albatrosses that fly non-stop for ten years, leeches with 34 brains, koalas that don't drink, geese that mourn their dead and lobsters that live for a century. marvel at elephants that walk on tiptoe, pigs that shine in the dark, and woodpeckers that have ears on the end of their tongues. Collected by the writers of the hit BBC show, QI, and authors of the international bestsellers The Book of General Ignorance and 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off, QI The Pocket Book of Animals is an animal encyclopedia

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Russell Ash has trawled parish registers and censuses going back 900 years to compile the first ever complete book of breathtakingly unlikely-but-true British names. It features an incredible and diverse range of totally genuine names, evoking everything from body parts (Dick Brain), sex (Matilda Suckcock), illness (Barbaray Headache) and toilet functions (Peter Piddle) to food (Hazel Nutt), animals (Minty Badger) and places (Phila Delphia). Every single one has been checked for authenticity and its source is given, as well as extra notes where further fascinating illumination is possible. The book provides a rigorously researched yet laugh-out-loud overview of Britain's eccentricity through the ages. And in this fully revised, expanded and enhanced paperback edition, it is no exaggeration to say that it's Pottier, Fartier and Knobbier than ever before.

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'Even funnier than the funniest book I've read' - Matt Lucas In his 2004 bestseller The Timewaster Letters, Robin Cooper plagued everyone from the Campaign for Courtesy to the British Halibut Association with his bizarre and surreal written requests. In Return of the Timewaster Letters, he delivers another wonderful collection of his polite, persistent and peculiar correspondence. Whether he is raising money for his nationwide hair-drying tour, booking a hotel room for his robot calf, or just trying to get rid of half a ton of unwanted herring, Robin's imagination, as ever, knows no bounds . . .As featured in the The Timewaster Letters Compendium audiobook read by comedy giants, Dawn French, Peter Serafinowicz and Robert Popper.

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A collection of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. The author won the 1986 Reuben Award as Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year and has also illustrated Something Under the Bed is Drooling, Calvin and Hobbes' Yukon Ho! and Scientific Progress Goes Boink.

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Calvin, cheeky, hyperactive and mischievous, and Hobbes, his cuddly toy tiger who, as far as Calvin is concerned is very much alive and kicking, are two of the most loveable and hilarious characters to grace the comic strip in years.

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When the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards announced a contest for the funniest animal photo, they received entries from all over the world, and they showcased the best of the best in their original book.Now it's time to dust off your camera again, pick up your binoculars and head back to the great outdoors as the much-loved Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards return once again with hilarious never-before-seen photographs of wildlife from around the world. Featuring 100 full-colour images with wonderfully-written, informative captions that include species and location information.This is a must-have book that is perfect for animal lovers and a wonderful celebration of natural habitats all over the world!

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For thirty years, cartoonist Lynn Johnston made daily additions to what would become a monumental body of work: her newspaper comic strip, For Better or For Worse. Chronicling the daily lives of the middle-class suburbanite Patterson family — Elly and John and their children, Michael, Elizabeth, and April — Johnston's strip was ground-breaking in its adherence to narrative and emotional realism, and its refusal to engage in melodrama, superpowers, or anthropomorphic animals. As the syndicated strips appeared in daily newspapers throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and the first decade of the 2000s, these characters aged with their readers, and their trials and tribulations were the same as those of their readers: the daily struggles of work, family, school, and bureaucracy.Wildly funny and formally innovative, For Better or For Worse: The Comic Art of Lynn Johnston was published to coincide with an international touring exhibition of Lynn Johnston's work, organized by the Art Gallery of Sudbury. The book features some of Johnston's most popular narratives, interspersed with an essay that chronicles the development of her drawing, her life, influences both personal and artistic, and the history of her wildly successful comic strip. This book also gathers together a generous selection of Lynn Johnston's daily comic strips and Sunday pages, spanning the lives of the Patterson family.Whether readers are new to Johnston's work or old fans returning once again, they'll find this book to be a rich treasury of For Better or For Worse.

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Have you forgotten how to relax and enjoy yourself? Do you run around in circles mistaking dizziness for happiness? Your troubles are over, for you hold in your hands the means to take control of your destiny, to turn your back on obligation and conformity, or at least hide from them in the toilets for a bit.Shirk, Rest and Play is a comprehensive illustrated handbook for wannabe drop-outs, dreamers, drifters and gadabouts. Authors Andrew Grumbridge and Vincent Raison – along with their panoply of wastrel acquaintances – offer ruminations about finding beauty in the ordinary, lessons in tactical slacking and detailed advice on how to get more out of life by doing less.They cover all aspects of modern existence, moving smartly through Childhood, Work, Leisure, Home, Money, Health & Beauty and, of course, Death, where even amid the tears and sadness, you can still find plates of mini-burgers.This book is the call to arms you’ve been waiting for, giving you all the tips, shortcuts and (de)motivation you need to duck out of the system and live life on your own terms.

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Confront the spectre of failure, the wraith of social media, and other supernatural enemies of the authorTom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist's signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones.Some particularly favoured targets include the pretentious procrastinating novelist, the commercial mercenary of the dispassionate editor, the wilful obscurantism of the vainglorious poet. Quake in the presence of the stack of bedside books as it grows taller! Gnash your teeth at the ever-moving deadline that the writer never meets! Quail before the critic's incisive dissection of the manuscript! And most importantly, seethe with envy at the paragon of creative productivity!Revenge of the Librarians contains even more murders, drubbings and castigations than The Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, Baking For Kafka or any other collections of mordant scribblings by the inimitably excellent Gauld.

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For fans of the perceptive comedy of Hannah Gadsby, Lindy West, and Sarah Silverman, Academy Award–nominated and acclaimed stand-up comedian Jena Friedman presents a witty and insightful collection of essays on the cultural flashpoints of today. Jena Friedman’s life in comedy began with her senior thesis on inequity in the Chicago comedy scene. It was, in short, not funny, but it anticipated her career as a writer and comedian with acerbic wit and a keen, cutting eye for social observation. Now, she brings her trademark whip-smart humor and cultural criticism to this brainy and laugh-out-loud funny essay collection. Friedman effortlessly takes us just beyond the edge of the uncomfortable with explorations on everything from why some celebrities get buried for their indiscretions while others get a second (third, and fourth…) chance, how we should think about lines of appropriateness crossed decades ago, living in the post- (post-) #MeToo world of today, and the power we hand to silence when we’re told not to joke about reproductive rights, gender, privilege, or class.Not Funny is a witty and bold collection, challenging us to deeply consider why we do and do not laugh, from a rising star of comedy always ready to call out hypocrisy wherever she finds it. And knows how to get a laugh while she does it.

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What Could Possibly Go Wrong... is the eighth book in Jeremy Clarkson's bestselling Clarkson on Cars series.There's nothing quite like messing about on four wheels. In fact, there's no better way to contemplate the madness of the world than from the driver's seat of something which is zooming by very fast indeed. Or so Jeremy Clarkson believes. For he's been pondering some really rather important matters, such as why:- God has a streak of German perfectionism- Crab spread beats Heston Blumenthal's rhubarb mousse- Monaco's billionaires are ruining the Grand Prix- The back of a dog tastes nicer than marzipanSomeone's got to. And while a full tank and the open road might not quite reveal the meaning of life, there's certainly some fun to be had along the way . . . 'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening Standard'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out

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A bunch of truly ap-peeling things to do with this fruit basket staple. If you’ve ever had a surplus of bananas and way too much time on your hands, you’ll know that this playful yellow hero is much more versatile than anyone gives him credit for. This book offers you it all, from practical tips on how to use bananas to fertilise your plants or soothe bug bites, to essential instructions on how to create banana actors for your miniature theatre, fashion an unsuccessful boomerang or make some very, very light hand weights. 101 Things to Do With a Banana is a book to truly go bananas for.

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A hilarious comic collection by Susie Yi, creator of the Instagram sensation Cat and Cat Comics.Our feline friends can be quite mysterious, but you're about to get a front-row seat to their innermost thoughts. Learn how cats train their humans, what they get up to when you're at work, the precise number of seconds they will permit you to pet them for and what they really think of your singing.Organised into sections, the comics provide humans with insight into cat love, cat demands, cat judgements, cat schedules, cat wisdom, cat ego, cat gratitude, cat physics and cat relationships.This purrfect collection of Cat and Cat Comics is guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and generally improve your day.

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Watch out--you'll be turning "blue" with delight once you open the pages of this encyclopedic guide to the world of Smurfs! Covering more than 250 categories, this is the definitive reference for identifying and organizing Smurf collectibles from all over the world. Over 450 exciting color photos display PVC figures, mugs, glasses, villages, pins, buttons, plushes, animation cells, books, posters, games, and much, much more. The text includes a complete listing of all items illustrated, plus values and a helpful index.

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Despite official reports, most adults feel completely and totally ill-prepared to deal. With anything. They still, as purportedly self-sufficient grown-ups, look toward older generations and think, How did they do that? So the easiest and best way to find comfort is to look not ahead at uncertainty (or, heaven forbid, around at the chaos currently surrounding them), but to the past to their simpler childhoods. And it is with brightly colored stickers in the workplace that they will finally find peace of mind. For a little while, at least. Filled with 250 full-color removable stickers that can be used to decorate journals, notebooks, or your lapel to proudly and publicly proclaim work life s little victories, I Adulted at Work! is the ideal nostalgic and practical book for anyone who feels a sense of accomplishment by making it through a day on the job without calling their mother for help.

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The round headed kid and his beagle lead a wonderful cast of characters that has warmed the hearts and tickled the funny bones of people around the world for nearly 50 years. Charles Schulz's Peanuts characters, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Woodstock, Lucy, Sally and many more, have spawned hundreds of products and mementoes that are cherished by collectors. This book chronicles many of them with hundreds of full color photographs, useful descriptions, and a guide to current values. Following the success of two previous books about Snoopy collectibles by the same authors, this volume focuses on the human members of the troop, the Peanuts gang. Included are toys, comics, books, figures, banks, and a whole assortment of collectibles, sure to win the approval of admiring Peanuts fans everywhere.

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Happiness is...a whole new book of Peanuts collectibles! Attention Peanuts Gang lovers! Here is another huge volume of treasures from our favorite crowd of kids. Jan Lindenberger has made another visit to the massive collection of Cher Porges to bring back over six hundred full color photographs of "Peanut-phernalia" not seen in any other book! In the enormous field of Peanuts collectibles, this series is a must, providing the photography, information, and up-to-date prices you need to keep your collection at its best. This is a fantastic book for the serious collector, but it's also a great Peanuts tribute-if you'd rather just play catch with Charlie Brown, get advice from Lucy, play a duet with Schroeder, fly with Snoopy against the Red Baron, or hang around the pumpkin patch to get philosophical with Linus. This book celebrates the wonderful innocence, cleverness, and unique humor of Charles Schulz's Peanut Gang.

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Copyright © 1992 FarWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.The Far Side®, FarWorks, Inc.®, and the Larson® signature are registered trademarks of FarWorks, Inc. in certain countries.

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Copyright © 1987 FarWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.The Far Side®, FarWorks, Inc.®, and the Larson® signature are registered trademarks of FarWorks, Inc. in certain countries.

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Man Walks Into A Bar is a one-stop shop for anyone who likes to hear and tell jokes. The jokes are ordered thematically - wives, husbands, doctors, lawyers, the French, the Germans, jokes about nuns, jokes about monkeys, the lot. There are also regular panels which group jokes by type too - Essex girls, changing a lightbulb etc. Our material will turn you into the toast of your local pub or make you loathed in your own home - remember, it is all in the telling. From the sublimely erudite to stuff Frank Carson would turn down (the book has a 'world's worst jokes' section), this book can service you with every joke you'll ever need.What do you call an eskimo chav?InnuinnitWhat did the zen student say at the hamburger stand?Make me one with everythingWhat's Irish and lives in the garden?Paddy O'Furniture

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** THE PERFECT GIFT FOR AN ADOLESCENT WHO SPENDS TOO MUCH TIME IN THEIR BEDROOM. **Everybody does it. Nobody wants to talk about it. But have you ever wondered if there's an effective way of restraining your idle hands when they are in danger of straying into a your own nether regions?Finally, there is.Choking the chicken, spanking the monkey, airing the orchid, embarking on an onanistic odyssey - whatever you call it, all of the images in this book will discourage any urges towards self-pleasure. This deceptively simple and strangely addictive book presents a collection of carefully curated pictures guaranteed to throw a wet towel over even the strongest libido or put any soldier standing to attention at ease.It is as effective as a cold shower and will save a fortune in tissues.

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Jack Dee has been very busy during lockdown and would like to update everybody on what he's been up to. While the nation has been baking bread and clearing out cupboards, Jack has retrained online as a psychotherapist and is now open for business. After FOUR HOURS study, he has a certificate of completion from The Ruislip College of Advansed Learning [sic].If you have an emotional, relationship, work or other issue that you need help with, or if you've just totally lost your sh*t and can't take it anymore, then he would love to hear from you.This book will be a rich compendium of your problems along with Jack's unique, very professional, advice.

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As a busy mum with a newborn and a toddler, viral sensation Laura Clery has plenty to say about the ups and downs of pregnancy, childbirth, and being the best mum she can be while also balancing career success, sobriety, marriage and creativity. With her engaging and witty voice, she pulls back the curtain on all aspects of her offbeat life, including dealing with addiction and virtual AA meetings during a pandemic and maintaining healthy relationships with her son, daughter, husband, and most importantly, herself. Laura’s life has changed a great deal since she wrote Idiot, but what hasn’t changed is her ability to celebrate the laugh-out-loud moments of everyday life and share the tough times with humour, honesty and heart.

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Catapults have traditionally been used for propelling arrows, darts, and stones, but this unique desktop game with a cat lover''s twist allows you to launch three cats into the air and see if you can land them in the bullseye on the landing mat. This fun kit includes everything you need to play including:* A miniature cat-a-pult* 3 flying cats with capes* A landing mat* Mini book with instructions on how to play the game

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Tired of phrases like “circle back,” “follow up,” or the dreaded “let’s take this offline”? This hilarious guide will reinvigorate your vocabulary with direct and delightful alternatives to stale corporate speak.Offices are a breeding ground for odd expressions and hackneyed platitudes. Why are we peeling onions and putting irons in the fire? Why is our plate always full? And most importantly, how is it even possible to give 110%? Per My Last Email provides you with fresh new words to sprinkle throughout your workday and lift you out of your office-speak rut while making you laugh at the same time. With unexpected and entertaining phrases to boost the productivity of your meetings, revitalize your email game, and even the occasional office-appropriate swear, this book is a fun and informative send-up of stale corporate lingo that will help you freshen up your own workplace communication.

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A year's worth of marine-life amusement with the cast and crew of Sherman's Lagoon.The sharks, turtles, and crabs of Sherman’s Lagoon enjoy a complex society below the ocean’s surface, with a local government, school system, and even their own radio station. And like all advanced cultures, there’s no lack of drama. A visiting shark oil salesman shows up to hock a strange new elixir, and later, a consultant arrives to help the laconic locals hone their killer instincts. When Kahuna feels his powers wane, Sherman and Hawthorne help the ancient stone deity get his groove back. And after Sherman and friends hop a flight to see a rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center, Hawthorne accidentally goes from spectator to passenger. Once you dip into these Adventures in Aquaculture, you’ll want to stay awhile.

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Avoiding shellfish was easy. The stoning of adulterers proved a little more difficult - and potentially controversial. Was it enough to walk up to an adulterer and gently touch them with a stone? Even that could be grounds for accusations of assault, especially with female adulterers in Manhattan. So what's a good Bible-reading boy to do?Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in head first and attempt to obey the hundreds of less-publicized rules. The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal, and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes.

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Know your Mornington Crescent from your Cheddar Gorge? Are you partial to a bad-tempered clavier? Would you like some unhelpful travel advice?Featuring the very best moments from a forty-year history of broadcasting, Stephen Fry introduces this indispensable companion to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, the Radio 4 comedy series which attracts millions of listeners each week.Featuring hilarious excerpts from the show's favourite games including: The Uxbridge English Dictionary, Famous First Words, the Trail of the Lonesome Pun and Late Arrivals as well as much much more, this book is essential for Clue fans young and old.For those new to Clue, there's a Beginner's Guide on how to play Mornington Crescent and numerous games which are fun and easy to play at home and guaranteed to entertain.

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John Crace's 'Digested Read' column in the Guardian has rightly acquired a cult following. Each week fans avidly devour his latest razor-sharp literary assassination, while authors turn tremblingly to the appropriate page of the review section, fearful that it may be their turn to be mercilessly sent up.Now he turns his critical eye on the classics of the last century, offering bite-sized pastiches of everything from Mrs Dalloway to Trainspotting via Lolita and The Great Gatsby. Those who have never quite got around to reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man will be delighted to find its essence distilled into a handful of paragraphs. Those who have never really enjoyed Lord of the Flies will be pleased to find it hilariously parodied in an easily swallowable 982 words. And those who find all such works a little highbrow will be relieved to discover, between the covers of this book, John Crace's take on the likes of Ian Fleming, P. G. Wodehouse and the Highway Code.Witty and sharp, this is essential reading both for those who genuinely love literature and for those who merely want to appear ridiculously well read.

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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.

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