Interviews with David Sedaris, Dave Barry, Jack Handey, Bob Odenkirk, and other humor-writing pros: "Sure to captivate anyone who loves a good comedy." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)If you aspire to write sitcoms, standup, screenplays, or satirical essays—or are just a connoisseur of comedy—you should learn from the professionals. With interviews from twenty-one top humor writers whose credits include everything from Marx Brothers movies to Borat

Named One of Vulture's Top 5 Humor Books of the Year!The novelization to the 1992 Gen X movie "Slouchers"It is the early 1990s in Seattle ... and the MTV video for Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has just premiered the previous week. Lethargy is in the air. Grunge fashion is all the logy rage. Something is brewing beneath these moist, overcast Seattle skies.Twenty-two-year-old Willow Montgomery has freshly arrived in town, having just graduated from an elite lib...

It's a ritual as time-honored among teenagers as prom or pretending to be sick to get out of changing for PE—glossy catalogs from colleges arriving by the dozen each spring. Aside from the faint odor of kiwi bubblegum vape smoke, Woodmont College's catalog, Welcome to Woodmont, is superficially not unlike the others. But there's no school quite like Woodmont College (no longer "university" due to a court order). And every page of this catalog is proof of this special uniqueness, w...

in Pink is the latest book from best-selling author Mike Sacks (And Here's the Kicker, Poking a Dead Frog, Stinker Lets Loose).Passable in Pink deftly sends up the 1980s and John Hughes movies while addressing the vital question: Will Addy Stevenson go to the senior prom?Addy is suffering through her sophomore year at suburban Chicago's Northridge High. She lives on the "wrong" side of the lake with her father, a struggling advertising copywriter ("Where t...

A NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLERNAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPRAmy Poehler, Mel Brooks, Adam McKay, George Saunders, Bill Hader, Patton Oswalt, and many more take us deep inside the mysterious world of comedy in this fascinating, laugh-out-loud-funny book. Packed with behind-the-scenes stories—from a day in the writers’ room at The Onion to why a sketch does or doesn’t make it onto Saturday Night Live to ho...

"I Am Super Pumped! Let's Do This Shit!!!!!!!!!!!" is a collection of conversations between Mike Sacks and his PR guy to promote Sacks's 2022 book, PASSING ON THE RIGHT. A follow-up to the book PASSING ON THE RIGHT.

At long last ... the candid, shocking and previously untold story of Skippy "Batty" Battison, the universe's most radical, free-thinking, and honest comedian, comedy writer, satellite radio and podcasting star!Vulture's Best Books of 2022 (So Far!)Mike Sacks is a master of a particular type of writing that he probably invented or at least perfected - a dazzling, tricky act of written performance art, composing an entire manuscript from the point o...

Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason collects Mike Sacks's unique humor pieces--craigslist ads, lesser-known tantric positions, letters to famous authors, lists, jokes, and the occasional illustration--into one handsome volume.Ever accidentally sent a mass e-mail to your office describing your Not Safe-For-Work fantasy kingdom? Or been confused about the ground rules at a cuddle party? Looking to rent an overpriced room in the Hamptons from a co-dependent sociopath w...

By the author of the acclaimed bestsellers Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs, this is the definitive biography of Albert Einstein.How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson’s biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom.Based on newly released personal letters of Einstein, this book explo...

**Spirited and whip-smart, these laugh-out-loud autobiographical essays are "a masterpiece" from the Emmy Award-winning actress and comedy writer known for 30 Rock, Mean Girls, and SNL" (Sunday Telegraph).Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a come...

The first draft is the easy part…In Blueprint Your Bestseller, Stuart Horwitz offers a step-by-step process for revising your manuscript that has helped bestselling authors get from first draft to final draft. Whether you’re tinkering with your first one hundred pages or trying to wrestle a complete draft into shape, Horwitz helps you look at your writing with the fresh perspective you need to reach the finish line.Blueprint Your Bestse...

**Now a docuseries from Ken Burns on PBS!The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is “a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it…Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life” (The New Yorker).**Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson “deft...