The most recommended stand-up comedy books

Breathe Like a Bear is part of a series of seven books called Mindfulness Moments for Kids. I absolutely love this book as a way to immediately have real and effective tools to calm your toddler. The exercises in this book are simple, quick, and effective. Breathe Like a Bear is also illustrated so beautifully with vibrant colors to really keep young kids really engaged in the process. If you are looking to go further than identifying feelings and want to move into practices and tools to help regulate your child’s emotions, this is an excellent option. 

Nine years is quite the slowburn. That’s how long it takes Sheldon Horowitz to achieve revenge for his father’s murder in Derek B. Miller’s dark comedy thriller How to Find Your Way in the Dark.

Of course, a lot of other things happen throughout the course of what is arguably more of a coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of World War II than “YA,” but what hooked me in this story was Sheldon’s tenacity as he grows up, doggedly determined to find out who killed his father and why. The misadventures he gets into as a result, along with his cousins and best friend, are simultaneously bumbling and thrilling.

This is a masterclass in satirical writing but also just in novel writing. Coe manages to combine a gripping narrative and murder mystery with a scathing indictment of Great Britain in the 80s, when venal wealth was king and the country lost its soul. This was one of those books where I felt like I learned so much, about British culture, politics, corruption, and a 1961 comedy horror movie that shares its name with the book title, but I didn’t notice it because I was having such a good time. There are so many layers to the plot – and inventive dimensions to the way the story is told - and it’s one of my favorite books of all time.  

Curtis Sittenfeld has been a go-to author for me since I read and loved her debut, Prep, in 2005.

Her latest, Romantic Comedy, centers on Sally, a comedy writer at The Night Owls (a stand-in for Saturday Night Live) who finds herself the subject of affection of a very famous singer, Noah. I am a longtime fan of SNL, and I loved the inside look at sketch development and the hierarchy and competition among the writers and actors.

I alternated between relating to Sally and wanting to throttle her for not recognizing her own worth, but in a deeply invested in the story kind of way! And if you need one more reason to give this book a try, it was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick.

I love this book because I can’t recall the last time I laughed so much while reading. As Leslie would say, “This b*tch is crazy!” Leslie’s wild stories about how she navigated her way into standup comedy made me throw my head back and howl with laughter.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed her narration style. She didn’t seem to be reading at all, rather than just following the general topics of the chapters. I don’t think that reading a paper book of Leslie’s story would have been as entertaining. Her magnetic personality shined, and I felt like I was just hanging out with her while she riffed about her life, telling hilarious story after story while I moved about my day.  

If I didn’t already own a paddle board, I would have to acquire one, having picked up this book. Jo has explored the rivers, lakes, lochs, canals, harbors, coasts, and beaches of England, Scotland, and Wales and discovered ideal waterways for paddleboarding.

The photographs are tempting enough, but her sheer delight at the places she describes so beautifully drove me to make a list of places to visit on my motorbike. 

In this book, Park Hong unflinchingly excavates the silencing of marginalized people in American literature and culture at large, and articulates how one whose stories have been muted might find a way to speak and make themselves heard. By shining light—and not just any light, but a brilliantly sharp analytical beam—on people whose experiences and stories have been systemically dismissed or silenced, Park Hong offers expansive possibilities for our own lives, both private and public, and the political implications therein.

I was drawn to this book because I had always loved Dave Allen's humour.  

Through Ms. Soutar's book I learned of his early life in Ireland and how his attendance at strict Catholic schools run by nuns helped to shape his later stand-up comedy routines. Not everybody enjoys Dave's kind of irreverent humour, but for me he was a comedy legend.

Full disclosure: I know Chip Chinery. We both grew up in Cincinnati and we both got our “start” doing stand-up comedy as teenagers at a tiny, hole-in-the-wall comedy club named d.w. eye at the onset of the burgeoning 80’s comedy club boom.

What separates Chip’s memoir from other comedy biographies is the almost obsessive level of detail he provides in recounting his experiences as a young, Candide-like stand-up comic “finding himself” on the difficult and lonely midwestern comedy circuit road. (And yes, familiar comedy faces start to pop up regularly.) While dense with detail, this endearing memoir provides a hilarious, unflinching look at the realities of pursuing stand-up comedy far from home. For any aspiring comic, it's a must-read.

I can’t get enough of quirky, indefatigable teen sleuth Stevie Bell. She’s determined to solve a decades-old cold case, but must also navigate social awkwardness, anxiety, and people who literally want her dead.

I enjoyed how this book flip-flopped between the present-day narrative and the past. My friend and I got to see Maureen Johnson give a talk at a nearby bookstore, and we loved it; she’s basically a stand-up comedian.