Biography Humor

'The Complete Diaries' includes: Part One - Integration Part Two - Invasion Part Three - Consolidation Part Four - Conclusion Please see individual diary descriptions and reviews for more information.

‘Making Friends – A Spanish Memoir’ is a book of reminiscences based on real people and events, commencing in the late summer of the year 2000. A humorous, informative and sometimes poignant account of a young Englishman’s discovery of a whole new world beyond the boundaries of the expat teaching community, his friendships with Antonio, Dominic, Pedrín and others at first complicate then enrich his life in the Spanish city of Murcia. In an account that takes us from seedy bars, through rock group rehearsals, to valiant attempts to help the eccentric and rather unstable Antonio sell...

We all make mistakes in life from which we draw valuable lessons. I, on the other hand, cannot seem to learn my lessons the normal way. I must mess up spectacularly, sometimes multiple times, for my thick skull to allow a lesson to pass through it. This book is a reflection on some of the lessons my brain somehow held on to and the crazy, funny, and outright stupid situations that led to these lessons learned.

For the first time, comedian Jack Dee reveals the highs and lows of his early life and disastrous day jobs. You don't just wake up jaundiced and bitter; it's taken Jack years of dedication and commitment to brew his unique cocktail of disillusionment and bile. What turned this once optimistic young man into a grumpy middle-aged git? Was it working in an artificial-leg factory?

Growing up on the Falls Road in 1990s Belfast, Alix O'Neill has seen it all—burnt-out buses blocking the route to school, the police mistaking her father for a leading terrorist and a classmate playing hide-and-seek with her dad's prosthetic hand (blown off making a device for the IRA). Not that she or her friends are up to speed with the goings-on of the resistance. They’re too preoccupied with the obsessions of every teenage girl—booze, boys and Boyzone—to worry about the violence on their doorstep.

Who is Rampaging Roy Slaven? An Australian icon, a raconteur, an athlete of unsurpassable - and some may say improbable - sporting feats. Whether it was riding Rooting King to another Melbourne Cup victory, commentating the Olympics or hobnobbing with the country's upper crust, Rampaging Roy Slaven has lived an extraordinary life.

On December 22, 1953, Mort Sahl took the stage at San Francisco's hungry i and changed comedy forever. Before him, standup was about everything but hard news and politics. In his wake, a new generation of smart comics emerged - Shelley Berman, Mike Nichols, and Elaine May, Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart, Dick Gregory, Woody Allen, and the Smothers Brothers, among others.

Robin by Dave Itzkoff shows how Robin Williams struggled mightily with addiction and depression - topics he discussed openly while performing and during interviews - and with a debilitating condition at the end of his life that affected him in ways his fans never knew. Drawing on more than a hundred original interviews with family, friends and colleagues, as well as extensive archival research, Robin is a fresh and original look at a man whose work touched so many lives.

Ade Edmondson smashed onto the comedy circuit in the 1980s, stormed The Comedy Store and, alongside Rik Mayall, brought anarchy to stage and screen. How did a child brought up in a strict Methodist household – and who spent his formative years incarcerated in repressive boarding schools – end up joining the revolution? Well, he is part Norse. Could it be his ‘berserker’ heritage? With wisdom, nostalgia and uniquely observed humour, Ade traces his journey through life and comedy.

It s Belfast, 1977. The King is dead and a 14-year-old boy wearing Denim aftershave has just been appointed breadboy in the last Ormo Mini-Shop in the world, delivering bread to the residents of the Upper Shankill on Saturday mornings. He s all grown up now, so he is, and nearly shaving. The Bee Gees fill the airwaves, everyone is in love with Princess Leia, and Breadboy s love of peace and pets is soon rivalled by his interest in parallel universes and punk...and girls, especially Judy Carlton who sits opposite him in chemistry.

1947: Die jüdische Familie Redlich kehrt aus dem Exil in Kenia nach Deutschland zurück - in ein vom Krieg zerstörtes Land voller Trümmer und Not. Der Start in eine neue Existenz ist hart: Besonders Regina, der Tochter, fällt das Leben in dem für sie fremden Land schwer. Zu sehr vermisst sie ihre wahre Heimat Afrika, wo sie glücklich war. Und in Deutschland gibt es kaum Verständnis für diejenigen, die das vermeintliche Paradies in Kenia verlassen haben.

From poignant to bizarre, the "writers" of these 25 letters are a diverse group with the strangest requests. The cleverly written songs are even funnier than the letters.

Brit Happens chronicles Mullinger’s lifetime of adventures, from his beginnings as a shy and nervous kid collecting comedy records at the neighborhood video store, to rising through the ranks of GQ magazine and meeting his personal idols Jerry Seinfeld and Paul McCartney, to imagining the possibility of another life in Canada. From the highs and lows of London to beginning anew in New Brunswick, Brit Happens tells gut-busting stories of success and failure and the unpredictable grind of stand-up comedy.

Award-Winning Finalist in the Narrative: Non-Fiction category of the 2020 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book FestIn 1988, a young, mid-level employee named Art Bell pitched a novel concept - a television channel focused 100 percent on just one thing: Comedy - to the chairman of HBO. The station that would soon become Comedy Central, with celebrated programs like South Park, Chapelle’s Show, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report, was born.

Trailer-park owners never use the word “trailer” and certainly not the term “trailer park.” At some point in time, even the Mobile Home Park Owners Association (MHPOA for short) realized that the word “trailer” had a negative connotation. When was the last time you saw a “trailer park community” advertised on TV? “Trailer park” has come to represent, in the minds of most Americans, men in stained work shirts dotted with drippings of food fat and car excrement returning home to take out life’s shortcomings on the innocents in their lives—the ol’ lady, the dog, and ...

A hilarious window into the world of comedian and social-media star Arron Crascall, as he embarks on a life-changing journey of discovering what truly makes him happy. In the same vein as his favourite TV show, The Wonder Years, old Arron (full of See Ya Later wisdom) meets young 13-year-old Arron and tackles all the big stuff. As he revisits some of the key moments in his life, Arron will give his young self some words of wisdom on how to navigate the big issue of being a contented and fulfilled grown-up.

I was at my wit's end. I'd had enough of this job, this life, and my relationship had broken up. Should I eat chocolate, or go to India, or fall in love? Then I had a revelation: Why not do all three, in that order? And so it was that I embarked on a journey that was segmented into three parts and was then made into a major motion picture. Later, I woke up on an airplane with a hole in my face and a really bad hangover. I was ushered brusquely off the plane by my parents who took me to a rehab.

Single and Sixty is a poignant, honest and funny look at one woman's quest to survive and then thrive after divorce later in life. Janie J writes like a friend who is willing to give you self-help advice in the form of sharing her own foibles and failings. This isn't a self-improvement book. It simply shows you how one woman applied herself toward motivating herself, building relationships, building back her self-esteem, and even finding a bit of spiritual awakening.

G-Is for String is the story of a gullible college girl who dreamed of being a dancer all her life. When her friends encouraged her to enter an amateur dance contest in Rochester, New York, she fell into the world of exotic dancing and stripping. She spent the next thirteen years of life perfecting her performance art in places where artistry was a pleasant surprise.

In The Texas Spirit David M. Smith has written a series of spirited and insightful essays about the chemical industry, events and personalities in his life, and his views on trends in the national economy and other aspects of American life that concern him.