Comedy & Humour

Titters galore as Frankie and his star guests entertain Frankie Howerd’s unique brand of witty drollery made him a master of comedy for over 40 years, from his radio debut on the BBC Variety Bandbox in 1946 to his appearances in Up Pompeii! and the Carry On films and his sell-out one-man...

The feel-good comedy adventure continues! Following a hectic year immersed in all things crafting, Charlotte Newman was looking forward to a much-needed holiday. And the fact that a few friends from the Crafternoon Sewcial Club were also tagging along was an added bonus as far as she was concerned. But before she could let her hair down too much, there was some unexpected interest in her expanding crafting clubs in the form of a BBC news reporter, eager to record a feature about her various initiatives.

This has proven to be the most significant book ever written on stand-up comedy. Since most of the chapters are about spoken word, it truly comes to life as an audiobook (eg. hearing punchlines before and after they’ve been reworded). It explains groundbreaking methods and theories that give you the tools to fast-track your stand-up to the next level and will permanently change the way you look at writing and performing comedy.

England's most famous date, 1066: At the monastery of De'Ath's Dingle, during a completely pointless theological debate, there is a mysterious death. Routine business for the average investigative medieval monk. Unfortunately, this isn’t a tale of average monks. Anyone who would put the idiot Brother Simon in charge of a murder investigation is either one chant short of a plainsong or is up to something. When Brother Hermitage, innocent in every way, including bystanding, is lined up for execution, he begins to wonder if something might be going on.

'Full of warmth' #1 Sunday Times Bestseller Katie Fforde Can a cake change your life? Clemmie Rose’s great-great-grandmother’s beloved clementine torte is her ticket to the prestigious Royal Baking Competition. A win could put Puffin Island’s charming Café on the Coast on the map, land...

Master Mercurius has once again been summoned to The Hague by Stadhouder William of Orange. And a letter from William is never good news. King Charles II of England has died and William, with his wife Mary, is now next in line to the throne once the current king, James II dies. But Charles II's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, has put a spanner in the works. Monmouth is being encouraged to stage a rebellion and take the English throne. William needs to stop him so as not to jeopardize his own claim, but he also wants to keep Monmouth as an ally.

Three of the ever-popular Sheridan’s finest plays Born in Dublin in 1751, Richard Brinsley Sheridan was a theatre impresario, statesman and the most celebrated playwright of his time. His brilliantly witty comedies of manners have become part of the literary canon, and are frequently performed...

Liebe ist was für Anfänger, findet Laura. Nachdem ihre vermeintliche Bilderbuchehe durch ist, hat sie die Nase voll von all den romantischen Klischees, die sie fleißig auf Instagram gepostet hat. Ihr aktueller Beziehungsstatus: geschiedener Single mit flüchtigen Affären. Doch dann wird die Redakteurin dazu verdonnert, über Liebe und »nachhaltige Romantik« zu schreiben. Hä? Vollends ins Schleudern kommt Laura, als sie eine kreative Auszeit in der Biohof-WG ihrer Schwester nimmt. Dort trifft sie den nervigen Nachbarn Finn. Und entdeckt plötzlich eine ganz neue Variante von Romantik.

The Three Men Collection brings together Jerome K. Jerome's two most celebrated pieces of fiction - Three Men in a Boat and the follow-up, Three Men on the Bummel - still widely thought of as an essential comedic classic and the inspiration for countless spin-offs and adaptations.

Sister Agatha has lived a long, saintly life across three centuries—only to be told, during a routine check-up, that she’s got just one week left to live. It’s a bit of an inconvenience, really. You see, Sister Agatha once made a vow: to be the oldest person in the world. At last count, she was in fifth place. So close . . . But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and the super-centenarian creates a bold Plan B.

At forty-six, Sophie Bianco’s life is half baked—trapped in a controlling marriage and estranged from her critical mother. Her only solace? The Invisible Baker, her secret business helping overwhelmed moms create Pinterest-worthy moments. When her mother’s death coincides with the last straw in her marriage, Sophie grabs her chance. Armed with divorce papers and her savings, she reclaims her childhood home. But freedom comes with complications: hoarder-level chaos, plumbing disasters, and an ex-husband plotting revenge.

Meet Jeff: overworked, underappreciated, and stuck granting 1,000 wishes for humanity before he can retire or get promoted—whichever comes first. Unfortunately, Jeff isn’t your typical genie. He’s a cosmic entity with an attitude problem, a hatred of paperwork, and a flair for granting wishes in the most inconvenient, ridiculous ways possible.

Christmas is over. And so is my marriage… Twenty years of marriage. Twenty years of ignored red flags. And one very smug ex-girlfriend. He seemed perfect at first. Don’t they always? I fell fast, and I fell hard. So when I discovered his secret double life, suddenly all those years of...

Larry Fumble is the kind of man who trips over wireless internet. From the moment he was born during a power outage (caused by a squirrel, obviously), Larry’s life has been a nonstop parade of accidents, awkward encounters, and full-scale flaming disasters—sometimes literally. But when one absurd mishap after another accidentally launches him from small-town punchline to mayor, then global taco mascot, and eventually an international keynote speaker, Larry begins to realize something: Maybe all this bad luck… is weirdly good.

Getting stranded in the freezing wilderness with my archenemy wasn’t on today’s to-do list. But somehow, that’s where I’ve ended up. Harry Matheson, my political rival, has always been smarmy, arrogant, and entitled. It figures that even this plane crash has barely ruffled his well-coiffed hair. It’s all fine, though, because our pilot has gone to call for help and rescue should be imminent.

DO NOT take on a leadership role until you have listened to this! Buy this for your new boss and put it on their desk. An essential listen, self-help what not-to-do leadership book like no other. Following on from his publication of “Throwing Fruit at Drug Dealers”, Ian Dandleroar has matured from the inane and profane to practical advice for future leaders drawn from over 30 years of military and civilian flying.

Los Otis una familia norteamericana, compran el antiguo castillo inglés de los Canterville; nunca imaginaron estar a punto de romper una tradición de siglos: convivir con un fantasma auténtico. Sir Simon de Canterville ha aterrorizado y acosado a generaciones enteras durante siglos con el fin de llevarlos a la muerte con sus terribles apariciones. Una vez instalados realizan una vida completamente normal a pesar de los esfuerzos del fantasma por aterrorizar a los inquilinos; ¿Conseguirá el fantasma atemorizar a la familia Otis?.

From sharp-tongued satire to moments that break your heart, Resonance is the most unflinching volume yet in the acclaimed Conversations with the Devil collection. Not every conversation here involves the Devil himself. One begins with a phone call no parent should ever receive. Another follows a woman who’s masked her entire life without realizing she’s on the autism spectrum. Elsewhere, a comedian takes verbal swings at a trial lawyer, and the Devil’s familiar bite returns in stories that skewer ego, vanity, and the absurdities of human nature.

Meet The Nearly Dearly Departed Club. Four random strangers thrown together with only one thing in common. They’re all dead. Or maybe not....

Originally published in 1925, Heart of a Dog by Russian author and playwright Mikhail Bulgakov, is a dark, fantastical satire of the failures inherent in the dream of a Communist utopia. When a respected surgeon decides to transplant human body parts into a stray dog, he creates a monster—drunken, profligate, aggressive, and selfish. It seems the worst aspects of the donor have been transplanted as well. As his previously well-regulated home descends into riotous chaos, the doctor realizes he will have to try to reverse the operation, but the dog isn’t so keen.

Michelle, a queer, wannabe writer exasperated by student loans, bad teeth, and the poor decisions of her loveable sitcom-worthy family, believes a sugar daddy is written in her destiny as firmly as she believes her idol, Alanis Morissette, holds the musical blueprint to the life she desires most. With a salt-of-the-earth Chicano father who's convinced aliens will eventually rule the world, a white mother who maxes out her credit cards on fast food, and a sugar-hyped 7-year-old nephew, Michelle diagnoses herself as self-parentified with a core mistrust in the world’s unreliability.

Seventeen-year-old Alan can’t stand rows. But, though the Second World War has ended, peace hangs by a fine thread at home: his troublesome sister Madge creeps off for night-time liaisons with a German POW; their ineffectual father – broken by the hardships of war and an unhappy marriage – can’t put food on the table despite the family’s middle-class manners; his mother pursues her escapist fantasies in romantic novels and love affairs. Obedient, faithful Alan is trapped among them all, the focus of their jibes and resentment, as inexorably the family heads towards disaster.

Stephanie Bloom is a forty-something single mom chasing a dream she nearly gave up on—to become a global pop star. Juggling three kids, nosy school mums, and the crumbling restaurant left by her late husband, Stephanie is barely keeping her Spanx—and her sanity—intact. But when a life-changing chance to record with The Most Famous Rapper In the World lands in her lap, she must choose: play it safe for her family, or risk it all to follow her dreams.

Rick Montoya, eager to experience more of his Italian mother's culture, heads to Rome to start his own translation business. He's armed with curiosity and an appetite for local food and wine. Rick's maternal uncle is a Roman cop with one eye to his nephew's welfare and another to how Rick might be useful, perhaps widen his career choices. So Commissario Piero Fontana pulls Rick into an investigation: the murder of Count Umberto Zimbardi.

In From JAMROCK to THE ROCK, Theo Drackett turns culture shock into comedy, chronicling his journey from Point Hill to America with wit as quick as island rain. Through hilarious childhood stories, sharp social observations, and moments of unexpected tenderness, he reveals what it really means to trade mango trees for mortgages and sunshine for “foreign” snow.

WINNER OF THE 2022 BRITISH BOOK AWARDS AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR: NON-FICTION The funny, frank and full autobiography of the nation's favourite comedian. 'It's the first time I've done this. Other people have written about me - or for me - but this time it's just my own life in my own words' In his...

Award-winning actor, creator of a myriad of memorable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, Miriam Margolyes is a national treasure. Now, at last, at the age of 80, she has finally decided to tell her extraordinary life story. And it's far richer and stranger than any part she's played.

Bob Mortimer’s life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for his hilarious and moving memoir, And Away....

Life hasn't always been straightforward for Daisy May Cooper: growing up in rural poverty in Gloucestershire with her brother, Chaz, she had to work a myriad of low-paid and unrewarding jobs just to make ends meet. Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her is the endearingly honest and hilarious memoir from the creator and star of award-winning BBC comedy This Country.

Confronted by the realities of adulthood, Romesh Ranganathan must face an uncomfortable truth: this is not quite how he imagined it. Watching his friends descend into middle age, his waistline thicken and his finances dwindle to fund his family’s middle class aspirations, Romesh reflects on the demands of daily life and the challenges of adulting in the modern world.

Written to take advantage of the brief window between the end of lockdown and Jimmy getting cancelled for saying something unforgivable to Lorraine Kelly, this book is as timely as it is unnecessary. Because you might be interested in Jimmy's life but he's damn sure you're a lot more interested in your own, Before & Laughter is about both of you. But mainly him.

People 'know' my on-stage comedy persona or my scripted ballsy characters and wrongly assume that, at home, I must stomp around all day in designer dresses, eviscerating those who dare to cross my path and denouncing the existence of men in general. But mostly, I just sit eating pickles and being nice to some dogs. I'm often asked how I developed my lurid level of courage and assurance and for tips on how others can match. The Audacity is my chance to share my blueprint for just that.

Come round to Louis Theroux’s house where the much-loved TV documentary-maker, podcaster and bestselling author of Gotta Get Theroux This finds himself in unexpected danger . . . Like millions of others, Louis’ plans were mothballed by the onset of Covid. Unable to escape to the porn sets...

The hysterical, shocking and incredibly intimate memoir from one of the most original and unique comedians alive today. Hello! I’m Brian Limond, aka Limmy. You might know me from Limmy’s Show. Or you might not know me at all. Don’t worry if you don’t. They asked me to write a book about...

We know him best for his unforgettable roles on Monty Python - from the Flying Circus to The Meaning of Life. Now, Eric Idle reflects on the meaning of his own life in this entertaining memoir that takes us on a remarkable journey from his childhood in an austere boarding school through his successful career in comedy, television, theatre and film.

Jennifer Saunders' comic creations have brought joy to millions. From Comic Strip to Comic Relief, from Bolly-swilling Edina in Ab Fab to her takes on Madonna or Mamma Mia, her characters are household names. But it's Jennifer herself who has a place in all our hearts. This is her funny, moving...

Multi-award-winning Hannah Gadsby broke comedy with their show Nanette. Now they take us through the defining moments in their life and their powerful decision to tell the truth—no matter the cost. Harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette traces Gadsby’s growth as a queer person, to their ever-evolving relationship with comedy, and their struggle with late-in-life diagnoses of autism and ADHD, finally arriving at the backbone of Nanette: the renouncement of self-deprecation, the rejection of misogyny, and the moral significance of truth-telling.

‘Pacy, witty and affectionate’ Guardian Rob Beckett never seems to fit in. At work, in the middle-class world of television and comedy, he’s the laddie, cockney geezer, but to his mates down the pub in south-east London, he’s the theatrical one, a media luvvie. Even at home, his wife and...

Parks and Recreation actor Nick Offerman shares his humorous fulminations on life, manliness, meat, and much more in his first book. Growing a perfect moustache, grilling red meat, wooing a woman—who better to deliver this tutelage than the always charming, always manly Nick Offerman, best...

Part autobiography, part self-help, part confession, part celebration of being a common-or-garden woman, part collection of synonyms for nunny, Sarah Millican's debut audiobook delves into her super normal life with daft stories, funny tales and proper advice on how to get past life's blips - like being good at school but not good at friends, the excitement of IBS and how to blossom postdivorce.

In his first memoir, Josh Widdicombe tells the story of a strange rural childhood, the kind of childhood he only realised was weird when he left home and started telling people about it. From only having four people in his year at school, to living in a family home where they didn't just not bother to lock the front door, they didn't even have a key. Using a different television show of the time as its starting point for each chapter, Watching Neighbours Twice a Day... is part-childhood memoir, part-comic history of '90s television and culture.

In Alan Partridge: Nomad, Alan dons his boots, windcheater and scarf and embarks on an odyssey through a place he once knew - it's called Britain - intent on completing a journey of immense personal significance. Diarising his ramble in the form of a 'journey journal', Alan details the people and places he encounters, ruminates on matters large and small and, on a final leg fraught with danger, becomes not a man (because he was one to start off with) but a better, more inspiring example of a man.

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of the hugely successful The Fry Chronicles, brilliantly read by Stephen Fry himself. Thirteen years ago, Moab is my Washpot, Stephen Fry's autobiography of his early years, was published to rave reviews and was a huge bestseller. In those thirteen...

INCLUDES AN EXCLUSIVE BONUS PODCAST WITH JOE CORNISH ‘An affectionate and revealing account … Funny, sad, real, rueful.’ The Times ‘Warm, rambling and self-aware’ Guardian The long-awaited, rambling, tender, and very funny memoir from Adam Buxton Ramble /ˈramb(ə)l/ Verb 1. walk for...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of We Need to Talk About... Kevin Bridges. Aged 17, Kevin Bridges walked on stage for the first time and brought the house down. He only had a five-minute set but he discovered he really could earn a living from making people laugh...

When Jo Brand hosted Have I Got News For You late last year, her calm explanation of the effects of sexism on women to a bemused all-male cast turned into a viral phenomenon. There has been a whole tradition of books over hundreds of years where a father shares his wisdom with his son - started by Lord Chesterfield in the 18th century - while women have been silent (aka bullied into thinking their advice wasn't worth writing down). This book puts a stop to all that.

The British comedian of Nigerian heritage and co-executive producer and writer of the CBS hit series Bob Hearts Abishola chronicles her odyssey to get to America and break into Hollywood in this lively and humorous memoir. According to family superstition, Gina Yashere was born to fulfil the...

'Between the Stops is a sort of a memoir, my sort. It's about a bus trip really, because it's my view from the Number 12 bus (mostly top deck, the seat at the front on the right), a double-decker that plies its way from Dulwich, in South East London, where I was living, to where I sometimes work - at the BBC, in the heart of the capital. It's not a sensible way to write a memoir at all, probably, but it's the way things pop into your head as you travel, so it's my way'.

Read by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey with exclusive bonus material contributed by Rainn Wilson, Creed Bratton, Oscar Nunez, Brian Baumgartner, Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Ellie Kemper, Kate Flannery and Jennifer Garner. An intimate, behind-the-scenes celebration of beloved The Office co-stars...

From Conan O’Brien’s longtime assistant and cohost of his podcast, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, a completely hilarious and irreverent how-to guide for becoming a terrible, yet unfireable employee, spilling her trade secrets for minimizing effort while maximizing the rewards. Sona...

Mention Milton Jones to most people and the first thing they think is 'Help!' So he's set out on a mission to help anyone, anywhere—whether they need it or not. Armed with a new motto, 'No problem too problemy', and accompanied by his faithful assistant Anton and landlady Pauline, he sets out to assist people in any way he can.

Dinnerladies is a classic BBC sitcom based around the lives of the staff of the canteen at Manchester factory HWD Components. Written by and starring Victoria Wood a Brenda, these eight classic TV episodes are brilliantly funny, where the jokes fly as thick and as fast as granary torpedoes. Along with the day to day feeding the faces of folk, the canteen staff Bren, Twink, Jean (and all the others!) have to contend with the arrival of a royal onsite, a Japanese-themed party complete with costumes and the controversial delivery of new uniforms.