Showing titles in Comedy & Humour

Comic and man of the world Bert Kreischer shares his wisdom and life with you.

In Neither Here nor There Bill Bryson brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe as he shoulders his backpack, keeps a tight hold on his wallet, and journeys from Hammerfest, the northernmost town on the continent, to Istanbul on the cusp of Asia.

As anyone who has ever had a pet knows, animals are a constant source of joy, but they also connect us to the world and to each other, touching on a deeper, older human need for companionship. Full of the leftfield humour, wit and wisdom that has made Bill Bailey such a beloved performer around the world, My Animals, and Other Animals is the story of Bill's life, but more than that, it's the story of how all of our lives are enriched by the animals who accompany us on that journey.

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 between two men on the street; collecting Romanian insults, or being taken round a Japanese parasite museum. There's a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party - lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs. These diaries remind you that you once really hated George W. Bush, and that not too long ago, Donald Trump was a harmless laughingstock, at least on French TV.

Ted Wallace is an old, sour, womanising, cantankerous, whisky-sodden beast of a failed poet and drama critic, but he has his faults too. Fired from his newspaper, months behind on his alimony payments and disgusted with a world that undervalues him, Ted seeks a few months repose and free drink at Swafford Hall, the country mansion of his old friend Lord Logan. But strange things have been going on at Swafford....

The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course, there's a catch to the invitation....

If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris' cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong. When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself.

Meet three Mummy Bloggers - followed, idolised, imitated, taunted and trolled online. Elle Campbell is a glossy, lycra-clad mum with a 10-year plan. Abi Black has quit sugar, moved to the country and is home-schooling her kids. Leisel Adams slogs away at the office every day before rushing home to see her kids. When each of them are nominated for a top blogging award with a hefty cash prize, it sets the scene for a brutal and often hilarious battle to win those all-important clicks....

Penelope Keith stars in the much-loved sitcom about an aristocrat forced to part with her family home. When her husband's death leaves her financially strapped, Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton has no choice but to sell her beloved Grantleigh Estate. With butler Brabinger in tow, she decamps to the tiny Old Lodge cottage, where she keeps a close - and disapproving - eye on the new squire: the nouveau riche Richard DeVere, a wholesale food magnate of Czech descent.

David Mitchell hosts the hilarious panel show which turns honest men into lying cheats. In this devious and delightfully funny competition, four comedians have the audacity to lie through their teeth for victory. They compete against each other with lies, untruths and dishonesty. Tall tales, white lies, blatant bluffs and misdirection rule. Can they smuggle the truth past each other, or will they be caught in the act of lying?

An achingly funny story from the author of the best-selling You Had Me at Hello. When Edie is caught in a compromising position at her colleagues' wedding, all the blame falls on her - turns out that personal popularity in the office is not that different from your school days. Shamed online and ostracised by everyone she knows, Edie's forced to take an extended sabbatical - ghostwriting an autobiography for hot new acting talent, Elliot Owen. Easy, right? Wrong.

Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents - horsemanship, facility with foreign languages, and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. What was Harry Flashman doing on the slopes of Little Bighorn, caught between the gallant remnant of Custer's 7th Cavalry and the attack of Sitting Bull's braves?

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime… In reality it was a business trip, prettied up as a romantic mini break, but the man behind the wheel was meant to be Candice Hart’s boss and (married but separated, I swear!) lover. Not Danny the new guy! Not only is Candice faced with a new driver, but the office’s far too handsome hipster expects her to share the cramped space inside his “fully” restored VW Beetle, aka The Love Bug, and put up with his constant opinions about her life…

Where do comedians come from? Why is it that one person is a funny bloke down the pub while another actually makes a living by standing up in front of an audience telling jokes? And where does all that material come from? Well, young Lee McKillop used to wonder that too. Growing up in his parents’ pub, small and wiry in a world of bigger and chunkier specimens, Lee quickly learned that cracking jokes was a way to get attention.

After a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, The Pythons made their last performance together in 1983 in the hugely successful Monty Python's Meaning of Life. Writing and acting in films and television then took over much of Michael's life, culminating in the smash hit A Fish Called Wanda (for which he won a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor) and the first of his seven celebrated television journeys for the BBC.

In Everthing Is F*cked, Mark Manson turns his gaze from the inevitable flaws within each individual self to the endless calamities taking place in the world around us. Drawing from the pool of psychological research on these topics, as well as the timeless wisdom of philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, and Tom Waits, he dissects religion and politics and the uncomfortable ways they have come to resemble one another. He looks at our relationships with money, entertainment, and the internet, and how too much of a good thing can psychologically eat us alive.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, read by Russell Tovey. Nick Hornby's first novel, an international best seller and instantly recognized by critics and readers alike as a classic, helps to explain men to women and men to men. Rob is good on music: he owns a small record shop and has strong views on what's decent and what isn't. But he's much less good on relationships.

In this classic TV soundtrack, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie explore a seemingly inexhaustible list of subjects with a delicious turn of phrase and elaborate wordplay. The hilarity includes regular acts such as not so super spy Tony Mercheson and his boss Control, yuppies, John and Peter and the critics. With four brilliant series of great satire, comic genius and hilarious use of language, the show cemented Fry & Laurie as a double act and paved the way for their future stardom.

Despite the title, Dickens's portrayal of early industrial society is less relentlessly grim than that in novels by contemporaries such as Elizabeth Gaskell or Charles Kingsley. Hard Times weaves the tale of Thomas Gradgrind, a hard-headed politician who raises his children Louisa and Tom without love and to have no empathy, their lives completely devoid of beauty, culture, or imagination. Only after a series of crises does their father realise that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives.

As a new decade begins, hopeless romantic and big dreamer Ellen is finally moving on from her hometown. In Galway she takes a job in a bookshop, and somewhere between the dusty bookshelves and the quiet afternoons, a bookseller called Ben finds a place in her heart. Fast forward, and the bright lights (and cosy flats) of London are calling Ellen's name. There she meets Leo, a charming, attentive City banker who's everything she's ever wanted. And wherever she goes, her heart beats in time with her childhood friend, Danny - though they never seem to be in the right place at the right time.