The most recommended books about comedians

This will look like nepotism because Richard is a dear friend who provided a quote for my book cover, however I am mainly friends with him because we are of the same mind about most things, including death.

We both deal with it using a good dose of sarcasm and humour whilst also being big old existential softies who have our moments.

His book about his cancer diagnosis sees his coping mechanism of humour balanced with the honest sadnesses of potentially leaving behind young children who might forget him, before returning to humourous disapproval at his wife's imagined new man.

My own firmly held belief that you can't live well without the shadow of death also comes through as he starts to live better and healthier in recovery, thanks to his brush with the reaper. 

Nick Hornby is one of my favorite writers, and About a Boy is one of my favorite books of all time.

I love how his prose is pared down but so profound; every sentence, however simple, carries weight, and his characterization is wonderfully human. In this book, Hornby champions mainstream entertainment, something I’m passionate about, as I can’t stand cultural snobbishness.

It’s an homage to a golden age of light entertainment, and, like television comedy, this is a book that "makes us all part of something."

Jonathan Carroll is my favorite author. He’s also my wife’s favorite. We lovingly bicker over who gets to read his books first whenever a new one is released, oftentimes ending up with two bookmarks as we alternate reading it at the same time.

Sixteen novels in, Carroll has perfected his take on magic realism, where anything can happen and it’s no big deal while always grounding the story in observational truisms such as “You can love someone and still think they’re an idiot.”

I hope he has another book in him, and I hope it doesn’t take another 9 years.

I love Tina Fey and this book captures her personality and sense of humour perfectly. It's almost like she wrote it herself!

Even though I loved these awkward anecdotes about growing up, crappy jobs, trying desperately to lose her virginity - what is WRONG with American males? Look at her, she's beautiful! And she's a nerd! What more could you ask for? - and her rise to fame through improv, Saturday Night Live and the excellent 30 Rock, I feel there's probably even more to empathise with if you're a female person of the contradictory gender to myself (it's a Fawlty Towers reference, don't come after me in the comments about gender politics). Tina was a girl when she was young, and she grew into a young woman, and then an adult woman - the stuff you learn in autobiographies! - so persons who also had that journey will probably… show more.

Another memoir by another funny and talented writer. Subtitled “Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus,” this anecdote-rich, leisurely view of her life shows why Toksvig is a British National Treasure.

As in all memoirs, there is pain as well as pleasure, but Toksvig’s insights throw light into even the darkest of corners. And her observations of London, as it happens all around her from her front-row seat at the top of the bus, bring my city richly to life. 

Comedian Jessi Klein explores the nexus of American femininity and female masculinity in this hilarious memoir. I particularly love her pithy statements on how commercial culture sells a somewhat toxic form of femininity that can make even the most female-identified person reconsider their gender. She cuts to the heart of the tensions of growing up in a culture that places gender on a spectrum but continues to market it as an extreme binary.

There is so much wit and humor in this memoir that touches upon the immigrant experience from the perspective of the first-generation adult child. Deb goes on a journey to learn who his parents are as individuals and gains a perspective that is often difficult to achieve in the Indian community because parents don’t often share with their children who they are on the inside. The vulnerability with which Deb shares his childhood desire to blend into the white community in which he was raised was so relatable because I’d had a similar upbringing in another part of the country. This book made me laugh hard, think more deeply, and want to know my parents better.

I love the rawness of Samantha Irby’s writing—she says it like it is. When I read her essays, I’m peeking in on her uncensored thoughts about the mundane, which are unrefined, real, and hysterical to me. Like many of us, I enjoy reading/hearing someone not trying to “polish a turd.”

While reading her book, my mind equally thinks: "I CANNOT believe she just wrote that” and “Tell me MORE.” 

I have this weird rule. It’s more of a habit I developed while reading for the last few years: for every fiction book I read, I alternate with a nonfiction book afterward. It’s not that strange of a rule, but it has been what has felt right since 2019. And for nonfiction works, I tend to feast on memoirs by comedians. It’s just my thing.

Maniscalco’s coming-of-age memoir recounts his journey of venturing to LA as a humble youngin’, grinding away, to eventually develop his full-fledged star status. Food is an interesting device in this one, as it’s the backdrop, the motif, and the recipe for not only staying afloat but daring to thrive also.

Another good example of developing voice when it comes to food as an amorphous topic.

Rick Mercer is an authentic storyteller because all his stories are true. He has fought against the odds because he didn’t know he shouldn’t. He’s like a self-cleaning oven. He just shimmers every time he tells a tale of his climbing over the shards of a prior failure. They are his gold, that and his sharp wit and clear-eyed understanding of the human condition. He’s laugh-out-loud funny and deeply relatable as he doesn’t know to cover up any of the disasters that could have felled almost everyone else. All that and he is also whip-smart.

I am a dress designer, actress, author, and ‘inspirational’ speaker whose major talent is in revealing my failings. There are many… They are also what have given me a measure of success. I didn’t know any better not to. I like people who have taken chances against all odds. Rick Mercer is one of those… show more.