Funniest Thing You've Read

[layers]

I have TWO question pour vous:

1. What is the funniest read you've come across? Can be an atricle, short story or a whole novel.

2. I'm looking for a humor book with the humor being along the lines of Married with Children, or Allo Allo. What would you recommend me?

a few examples:

Edith: Tonight I will sing as I have never sung before.
René: What, in tune?

Flying Officer Carstairs: Look at my knees
[lifts up his "skirt"]
René: Why is he showing you his knees?
Michelle Dubois: He was a scrubber at ze nunnery.
René: No wonder they threw him out.

Officer Crabtree: I was pissing by the door when I heard a shat.

[Yvette has brought more hot water for René's bath, because the boiler's broken.]
Yvette Carte-Blanche: The old boiler is in a terrible state.
René: I do not know why I married her in the first place.

Peggy: I want sex.
Al: So do I, but I see no reason to drag *you* into it.

Peggy: Did you miss me?
Al: With every bullet, so far.

AL BUNDY
[Marcy has appeared at the Bundy's door with a raw chicken] Congratulations, Marcy. I didn't even know you were expecting.


PS: and noo, I did not find The Hitchhikers funny - the robot was a boss though

[Poppa1956]

Perhaps a different type of humor from what you are describing, but I could not help laughing out loud reading "The Stupidest Angel" by Christopher Moore

[crich70]

One short story by Issac Asimov that has a good deal of humor (IMO) is "Christmas on Ganymede."

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by layers

2. I'm looking for a humor book with the humor being along the lines of Married with Children, or Allo Allo. What would you recommend me?

Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once…

Some of the very funniest comedic sf/fantasy I've personally read, which I think are kind of 'Allo 'Allo-esque in having

• zany situations
• eccentric characters with wisecracking banter
• spoofing of "known universe" customs & conventions
• increasingly hilarious bizarrely convoluted revealed "surprise" plot twists
• occasional bad puns
• and are based primarily on finding/dealing MacGuffins which are basically an extended reason to extend the zany eccentric wisecracking spoofing puns
• but nevertheless tell a good and satisfying comedic action/adventure romp that wraps up nicely at the end

are the books by Nick Pollotta and John Zakour and John Moore (writing separately, not together).

Nick Pollotta writing as Jack Hopkins did the wonderfully hilarious "Satellite Night" trilogy for Ace Books in the 90s, about a futuristic news team which chases (and sometimes makes) the breaking stories. Sadly, it does not seem to be available in e-book format.

But his "Bureau 13" paranormal Alphabet Agency elite commando squad (think X-Files meets A-Team) books are not too far off from being as good, and you can get them for a low cost at Fictionwise when they have the weekend discount coupons (keep checking in the Deals forum; they usually get posted if the discount is over 30%).

John Zakour, with the occasional co-write from Lawrence Ganem, does the "Zach Johnson, last P.I" series set in in a spoofy mid-21st century future that's basically Pop Culture Ideas of Tech/Sci-Fi Gone Wild. They're very funny and have good whodunnits in them as well. The first 2 books are available in an e-book omnibus, but after that there's a gap and only the last few are also digital.

John Moore writes some very humorous similar fantasy which spoofs fairy tale tropes. Unfortunately, only one of his books, Slay and Rescue which follows the career of Prince Charming, is available in e-format (and in the near-obsolete Secure eReader format, at that) but it's one of my favourites.

However, Moore does offer for free download from his website a complete unpublished comedy technothriller in PDF. And I'd say it's worth hunting down his other books in the used bookshop.

The above may not turn out to be quite your thing, but I'd say they're at least worth sampling some excerpts to see if you want to try.

Also, the late John Morressy did the excellent "Kedrigern" series about a wizard who lived in a standard fantasy medieval-ish setting which kind of ported certain ideas from our modern world for humourous effect (annual convention-holding professional organization-like "guilds", building codes standards for castle dungeons, and so forth).

A bit more "serious" than the books recommended above, but still very funny and enjoyable. But they're severely out of print and the author is unfortunately dead as were his immediate next-of-kin, and the publishing company which was going to revive them engaged in a murder-suicide pact with its upcoming releases list, so they're not likely to come out in e-book format or even be all that easy to find used. Still well worth it, IMHO.

[Apache]

I thought Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story, by Christopher Moore was the funniest book he wrote.
Apache

[carpetmojo]

Any political manifesto....

[cearbhallain]

The Princess Bride is hilarious.

[dmspen]

Try Bored of the Rings, a funny parody of... let's not be obvious, shall we?

[layers]

Thanks to all above, my bucket list keeps growing.

Originally Posted by dmspen

Try Bored of the Rings, a funny parody of... let's not be obvious, shall we?

would it work if I have never read them

[banjobama]

Hands down, the funniest book I've read is Three Men in a Boat. Not sure it fits your criteria, though. It's more of a dry, sarcastic, wordy humor than a "zinger" type humor.

[dmspen]

Originally Posted by layers

Thanks to all above, my bucket list keeps growing.



would it work if I have never read them

It would still be OK but the parody of LOTR is what makes this book shine.

[Darqref]

Originally Posted by layers

Thanks to all above, my bucket list keeps growing.

Two funny books, one sf, the other standard literature, or maybe memoir

1. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. sort of a time-travel takeoff on 3 men in a boat, but the side effects of time traveling too often are hilarious.

2. The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowat. Never cry wolf is good too, but the Dog is just classic.

I haven't bothered to look for these in e versions, I have them in paper from years ago.

[RareBird]

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series never fails to give me a chuckle.

[boydcarts]

+1 for "To Say Nothing of the Dog"
+1 for Christopher Moore

I've also found Tim Dorsey's "Serge Storms" series to be extremely funny. (be aware it's heavy on murder and drug use.)

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by banjobama

Hands down, the funniest book I've read is Three Men in a Boat. Not sure it fits your criteria, though. It's more of a dry, sarcastic, wordy humor than a "zinger" type humor.

If you liked that one, try Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith, a satire on Victorian middle class social climbing (keeping up with the Joneses).