The Funniest Books We've Ever Read

The world is in a crazy place right now, so to give you a bit of comedic relief, we've put together a list of our 10 favorite funny books. We hope that these books make you laugh as much as they did for us.
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Books mentioned in this episode:
1984 by George Orwell
amzn.to/4gsEY7C
Distant Star by Roberto Bolano
amzn.to/4aDDE05
Amulet by Roberto Bolano
amzn.to/42zB7lx
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The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
amzn.to/4aDElqd
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The Romantic Dogs by Roberto Bolano
amzn.to/3WEr8HW
2666 by Roberto Bolano
amzn.to/3CkhKT7
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The Tunnel by William H. Gass
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
amzn.to/4hsDhI6
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Something Happened by Joseph Heller
amzn.to/4hUqWNd
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Endurance by Alfred Lansing
amzn.to/40EdLIT
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The Invisibility Cloak by Ge Fei
amzn.to/4hfJjw1
Peach Blossom Paradise by Ge Fei
amzn.to/42C1N5u
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Thank you for Smoking by Christopher Buckley
amzn.to/4aVxMzL
Pay as You Go by Eskor David Johnson
amzn.to/3PXc4RX
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Same Bed, Different Dreams by Ed Park
amzn.to/40UTHDy
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A Naked Singularity by Sergio De La Pava
amzn.to/3CuCl78
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China Dream by Ma Jian
amzn.to/40U55Qg
A Bended Circuity by Robert S. Stickley
Natural Causes by Nina Lykke
amzn.to/4haDS1g
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JR by William Gaddis
amzn.to/40SRcBD
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White Noise by Don DeLillo
amzn.to/3QhYBVj
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Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
amzn.to/4hg9lzc
Troll by Dave Fitzgerald
amzn.to/3CvVR3a
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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
amzn.to/42vmD6o

[@kurtfox4944]

First mention of Pynchon. 37:26 0 - 2:38 Intro 2:38 - 5:35 Andy's current reads 5:25- 10:50 Tony's current reads 10:50 - end Funniest Books

[@Steven.Carey.]

Antkind by Charlie Kaufman takes the cake for me. Leaf by Leaf has a great review of it on his channel as well. Ranges from nose breath to laugh out loud to actual tears funny on nearly every page. Also just an incredibly imaginative and fresh work of postmodern fiction.

[@Lifeonbooks]

@@Steven.Carey. I have a copy. I should read it

[@philstrand]

Huge Kaufman fan. Been meaning to read Antkind for years. I know it'll be a treat.

[@cindyrosen8170]

The perfect line…”the trauma of the American experience.”

[@barabbas89]

The section in A Naked Singularity where the guy is telling the story about eating gas station burritos… I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt

[@filmswithjovi]

For the UK listeners - The Tunnel will be available in paperback in August this year, from Dalkey Archive Essentials, and on sale at Blackwell's! Pre-orders are already opened looks like!

[@kimshively3526]

Straight Man, by Richard Russo, is hilarious, IMHO. Laugh out loud funny.

[@MrLazyPhD]

I got my copy of A Naked Singularity from a charity bookshop for 5 quid! What a steal

[@Booklover32]

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy

[@jaelinfarrow2445]

It's been a long time since I've thought about it, but as a kid my Grandad would read excerpts of The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek to me (one of his favourite books). It's another satirical comedy about war which I believe inspired Joseph Heller in his writing of Catch 22. He would be crying laughing, but I definitely think I was too young to fully get it. So, maybe it's time I read it for myself!

[@chrismarcione]

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Absolute satire and very pertinent to our world right now.

[@nationalskaren]

The Nix by Nathan Hill is really funny, highly recommend amazing audiobook version. I laughed out loud walking my dog

[@brendanhanton1499]

A Naked Singularity is available in Australia on Kindle but physical books need to be purchased from overseas. Having said that I did manage to get a secondhand copy so if it ends up being a book club option I'm good to go 😅

[@ArjayGruff]

Good grief. I clicked this cos I needed some fun books to escape the news but couldn't get through what a bummer the first part was. Bait and switch from comedy to tragedy! 🎭 😂

[@drunkenmonkey254]

Anything by Charles Portis, anything by Kurt Vonnegut, anything by Douglas Adams, anything by Tom Robbins, any novel by Ismael Reed. Hunter S. Thompson, obviously. Dorothy Parker's work is free all over the internet and great and funny.

[@philstrand]

The funniest novel I’ve read is Helen DeWitt’s Lightning Rods. Pure genius and entirely outrageous. As a man, I cannot even begin to offer a synopsis without being immediately canceled. As a bookseller, I just have to say trust me. NSFW for real…which is kind of the point and kind of meta. I can only bow to DeWitt and her intellect. The funniest stories I’ve read come from the comedy writer, Simon Rich. If comedic genius is a thing, he’s got it. His latest collection is Glory Days. The only writer to make me drool on myself from laughing so hard. Other fiction and nonfiction writers who make me laugh continuously: Damon Young, Percival Everett, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut, Monica Heisey, Rachel Ingalls, and Mona Awad.

[@NaeOnYT]

Currently reading: - "Several People Are Typing," by Calvin Kasulke, a quick and easy modern comedy about a guy who gets stuck in his company's slack messages. It hasn't made me laugh yet, but there have been some cute bits. - "Carrion Comfort," by Dan Simmons, a door-stopper horror novel about mind vampires. It's got a ton of trigger warnings and some weird race-related bits that I want to mention, but I'm not going to lie: I'm about halfway through and on the edge of my seat through most of it. I had a ton of library holds come in all at once -- "A Well-Trained Wife," by Tia Levings; " "Craft," by Ananda Lima; "Sour Candy," by Kealan Patrick Bruke; and "The Architect's Apprentice," by Elif Shafak -- so I'm probably going to have to make some tough choices about what to actually pick up for the next week or two when I finish "Carrion Comfort."

[@nathanhernandez6520]

Loved the episode. Question: Is Dalkey Archive putting out a reprint of the Tunnel this year? I feel like you have talked about this before and I’ve tried looking it up on their website but can’t find anything.

[@Lifeonbooks]

It was originally slated for this summer, but I've heard there's delays and it won't be available until next year.

[@greece9177]

A confederacy of dunces is also a funny book

[@williambartholmey5946]

The gold standard actually.

[@hr6280]

Iain Banks has a great command of humor in his prose

[@marcelhidalgo1076]

I got A Naked Singularity on the University of Chicago Press website.

[@marciajohansson769]

"The trauma of the American Experience". Good one Andy. In enjoyed the film adaptation of Thank you for Smoking with quite the ensemble cast.

[@williambartholmey5946]

DeLillo's funniest book is Amazons, published under the pen name Cleo Birdwell.

[@moss.neobisid]

Justin Isis makes me cry with laughter - especially the M-FUNK story in Welcome to the Arms Race

[@katiecampbell6130]

I bought A Naked Singularity no problem off Amazon in Canada. I’d love to do this book for book club. Hopefully it’s equally easy in other countries!

[@marcelhidalgo1076]

Something Happened kinda reminds me of White Noise

[@Mrbredking]

in the uk A Naked Singularity is on amazon for a relatively good price

[@marcelhidalgo1076]

Thank You for Smoking is a really good movie too. I should check out the book.

[@masonkiser]

Anything by Charles Portis

[@brycelinde8666]

William Kotzwinkle’s the Fan Man

[@kurtfox4944]

Have you read Dr. Rat by Kotzwinkle?

[@brycelinde8666]

I haven’t, it’s on my TBR though. How does it stand up to TFM?

[@kurtfox4944]

@@brycelinde8666 I haven't read it yet either, so I cannot say. I own it, but it is "lost" somewhere in the garage, but I believe it won the world fantasy book for that year.

[@teaguebates5807]

Check out Straight Man and Bonfire of the Vanities

[@reading_fastandslow]

Isn’t this the first time you’ve been able to get NYRB to respond? 😂

[@Lifeonbooks]

@@reading_fastandslow haha yes!

[@reading_fastandslow]

@@Lifeonbooksoh just made it to the later part of the video where you mention it directly lol

[@nicolalol91]

My Naked Singularity is £2.99 on kindle in the UK, if anyone uses a kindle

[@capridoscious6605]

I believe apartheid is actually a fruit because the seeds are INSIDE. Just sayin 2:08

[@kurtfox4944]

Not a fruit. It's a vegetable.

[@marcelhidalgo1076]

Inherent Vice

[@ryananditon]

My Naked Singularity story was so fun for me. I was looking all over for it at bookstores, used bookstores, etc. and went to several in my area with no luck. I ended up finding it at very small library sale for one dollar.