Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Comedy & Humour

In this semi-autobiographical, laugh-out-loud novel, Carl Reiner details a young man's frustrations as he works as a machinist's helper and tries to break into show business. Along the bumpy path, the aspiring young actor tries to extricate himself from his overly protective parents—and his two girlfriends—and eventually lands an acting gig with a small theater troupe. Human, funny, and relatable, Enter Laughing is a warm tale of a young man with love in his heart and greasepaint on his face that guarantees to have everyone exit laughing.

Has Jeeves finally lost his grip? Wealthy, scatterbrained Bertie Wooster—with the aid of his ever-faithful butler, Jeeves—attempts to romantically link dreamy, soulful Gussie Fink-Nottle with soppy, sweet Madeline Bassett. But as soon as Bertie takes Gussie and Madeline's love connection into his own hands, things go disastrously wrong! Fortunately, Jeeves steps in to set matters straight. But the characters must endure tangled layers of comedic complications before they reach the invariably clever and satisfying finale.

Freudian slips, spoonerisms, double-talk, and nonsense from famous and infamous figures past and present, are all here in one digest that will have you howling with laughter. Imagine saying to the Beatles, "You'll never make it…Go back to Liverpool." That's what a Decca Records executive told the Fab Four in 1962. Senator S.I. Hayakawa allegedly pointed out, "The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep."

Take a wild and rickety ride through the philosophies of the East and West to discover madmen, dreamers, and unconventional wisdom seekers. Fun and irreverent, Crazy Wisdom synthesizes the most significant, compelling insights of the ages. Journey into the unorthodox teachings that have bubbled up through the words of such "crazy" visionaries as Rumi, Gautama the Buddha, Mark Twain, Lao Tzu, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Allen Ginsberg, and Lily Tomlin. Discover the common thread in these multiple perspectives and travel on a comedic course to enlightenment!

From basic training to World War II to the Gulf War, America's veterans share their funniest stories in this collection of Reader's Digest's popular "Humor in Uniform" column. Beneath the horror of war lies a rich tradition of comedy and satire, and these anecdotes have entertained fans for decades.

When Dave Barry goes mano a mano with the Information Superhighway, it's guaranteed to be a rip-roaring adventure. This self-proclaimed computer geek and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist starts with the motto, "Never read the instructions," and slides from there into the world of hardware, software, Windows 95, and the critical issue of RAM ("the bottom line is, if you're a guy, you cannot have enough RAM").

In vignettes both comic and sexy, the owner of a coffee shop recalls the day his first wife seemed to achieve a moment of simple perfection, while she remembers the women's softball game during which she was stricken by the beauty of the shortstop. A young couple spends hours at the coffee shop fueling the idea of their fierce love. A professor of philosophy, stopping by for a cup of coffee, makes a valiant attempt to explain what he knows to be the inexplicable workings of the human heart.

Without bothering to get approval from the President, the State Department, or even the FTC, Dave Barry's publishers sent him to Tokyo. You'd think they would have known better. Now the word is Barry has set back our diplomatic relations with the whole Pacific Rim by a couple of decades. Japanese culture, dining, sport, and industry all come under Barry's relentless scrutiny.

Forget Yiddish. Real Jewish is a secret language of complex twists, unexpected nuances, and hidden meanings of Jewish language and culture that draws you into competitions you never knew you entered. Here you will learn all the family secrets. This book will explain everything—The Positive Insult, The Negative Compliment, and The Shrugs, as well as The Buying of the Suit, The Returning of the Suit, and The Basic Psychology of Raising a Jewish Child—and with more guilt.

Political provocateur Bill Maher tells it like it is in a useful and hilarious guide for the many Americans who want to do more here at home to help the war effort, but are at a loss as to what. Thirty-three dynamic posters and several classics from our government's archive—accompanied by text from one of our leading pundits and cutting-edge comedians—make this the perfect book for this time in our nation's history, the zeitgeist of post-9/11 America. This is the book that will help Americans make the connections between what we do and how it can help our troops and ourselves.

As a busy mother of six, Laura Bennett is on an impossible mission: raising a brood of fast-moving, messy, wild sons (and one happily civilized daughter) in the jungles of Manhattan. What other choice does she have than to sit back, grab a martini, and let the boys be—er—boys? In Didn't I Feed You Yesterday?, Laura gives her irreverent take on modern motherhood and proves that a strong sense of humor and an even stronger self of self-care are the mother's milk of sanity.

Roger Folger, age 61, recently lost his wife, Stella, but her spirit hasn't wandered far. In an all-too-earthly way, Roger converses with her disembodied voice in the privacy of the home they shared for many years, and you can bet Stella talks back. Roger fills her in on the latest about their kids and neighbors, while she tells Roger what heaven's like—picture the Ritz-Carlton in Florida, managed by Saint Peter. Worried that Roger is lonely, Stella decides that he needs a new woman in his life. But once he begins to date, Stella grows jealous.

The disastrous banjo-playing of Bertram "Bertie" Wooster has driven the otherwise steadfast gentleman's gentleman Jeeves to give notice—because even butlers have limits. In anger, Bertie disappears to the country with his new valet Brinkley as a guest of Lord “Chuffy” Chuffnell, who has employed the services of the recently resigned Jeeves. Bertie soon finds himself in no shortage of trouble as he encounters his ex-fiancée Pauline, her formidable father, and the eminent looney-doctor Sir Roderick Glossop.

Though celebrated playwright Wendy Wasserstein was firmly rooted in New York's cultural life, her appeal is universal. Shiksa Goddess collects her urbane, inspiring, and deeply empathetic essays, all written when she was in her forties, and all infused with her trademark irreverent humor. The full range of Wasserstein's mid-life obsessions are covered in this eclectic collection—everything from Chekhov, politics, and celebrity to family, fashion, and real estate.

Successful TV political commentator Arthur Vandameer—host of WNIN's Speaking Truth to Power—is rich, famous...and miserable. He has risen to the top of the city's glittering media heap only to find nothing. His teenage daughter—privileged, glamorous Allison—is blonde, beautiful, and wants nothing more than to go to film school. Her boyfriend, Joselito Diaz (aka Goonie), is special to her only because she knows her father cannot stand him. When Allison disappears, a madcap cast of characters gets into the act, stirring a citywide web of intrigue, insanity, political values and personal agendas.

Entranced by romantic tales of heroism and chivalry, Don Quixote—self-proclaimed knight errant—embarks on a delusional quest for fame and adventure. The eccentric Spanish country gentleman and his companion Sancho encounter an array of unforgettable characters and undertake some of the most famously foolhardy exploits in literature. Listeners will delight in following their chivalrous misadventures to right wrongs and punish evil in this timeless, laugh-out-loud tale.

"Take my wife—please!" Henny Youngman, the king of one-liners, delivers a classic collection of jokes. For more than sixty years, Henny Youngman provoked giggles, roars, and belly laughs for audiences on stage, in nightclubs, and on radio television. In his famous style, Henny delivers rapid-fire jokes in succession. He adds even more zest to this recording with a variety of anecdotes featuring the greatest names in show business.

There are certain defining events that occur to people—the sort of things we use as markers in the timetables of our lives: Birth and Deaths. Marriages and Divorces. Windfalls and Calamities. For Tom Bodett, it was the day he got electrocuted. On May 27, 1975, about seven o'clock in the morning, Tom Bodett was “exploded” in Medford, Oregon.

Eleven-time Emmy Award winner and icon of American comedy, Carl Reiner, performs a sweet, wry, and whimsical collection of two dozen multi-dimensional short stories—some true and others merely tales. Included in this collection are stories about a man too handsome for his personality, a lifetime bond that is created by a football accident, and a widower's nostalgic trip to the live chicken market. Together they represent the poignant, nostalgic, and laugh-out loud funny genius of this comedic superstar.

From the minds that brought you The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook comes a wickedly funny send-up of the most dangerous trend ever to strike love, romance, and relationships—sexual correctness. In the be-sensitive-or-else era, everyone needs a guide to the essential don'ts and don'ts of sexual behavior and courtship. If a man compliments his date on her dress, should she go to the police? If a businesswoman licks her lips during a meeting, should she be fired without pay? Is a girlfriend just another unpaid sex worker?