Funniest story you've read. Both on Lit and off:

[SimonDoom]

Another one: Joseph Heller, Catch-22. A great dark comedy.

 

[JGittes]

Has anyone tried The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde? It sounds hilarious and thought provoking.

I read it a long time ago. It was amusing and fun, but I hadn't read the source material and may have missed the lol connections.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is the funniest book I've read and funnier with multiple readings.

 

[Euphony]

To expand our scope, I'm opening it up to non-fiction.

The Year of Living Biblically - AJ Jacobs​

Not knock you down funny but his earnestness in keeping to the task (following religious commandments to the letter) sets up some real absurd situations and the dynamic between him and his increasingly aggravated wife (likely exaggerated for comedy) made me rip right through the tiny read.

Actually read it as part of his "Omnibus" collection (just 3 of his books marketed together) and was kinda surprised I went the whole way and with few true eyerolls.

 

[SimonDoom]

If we're going to include nonfiction, then I would add 2 books by Bill Bryson, who is an excellent writer with a great (and rather neurotic) sense of humor:

A Walk In the Woods -- often very funny account of hiking the Appalachian Trail
In A Sunburned Country -- his travels through Australia, with hilarious commentary on the perilous wildlife

 

[Euphony]

I also LOVE Jenny Lawson. I'm totally not her demo yet I can't help it.

She's a product of a ridiculously quirky family (see her collection of taxidermies on her covers and the deep backstories she gives each one)

It's nutty for sure. But it's also very poignant at times. She suffers legit mental illness and you sometimes want to laugh along with her "whatcha gonna do?" and other times cry for the brutality the american health care system does to people even well versed at "how to play their game."

She reads the audiobooks herself and I absolutely suggest that as the pinnacle experience.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir​

More origin story, family background. Probably *should* start here but it's not required. She'll really come into her own later on.

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things​

Less "I'm quirky here's why" way more "ok, we know I'm off but there are legitimate mental illness reasons why." It's probably my favorite ( her Halloween short "I Choose Darkness" is the best but it's an audible short so unfair to compare to the goodness needed to carry a full book release.)

It's funny but bittersweet as there's very much a sadness about life steamrolling her and these insane coping strategies she's been forced to develop in the face of everything.

​

Broken​

Less funny, more reflective. "Whatcha gonna do" vibe reigns here. Still, comedy as therapy and how you get through the absurdity that is health care. Less laugh out louds and more " I developed an incredible ability to laugh/make people laugh to keep crying at bay."

Still a must experience but I think you want her to woo you comedically with the others and/or get to know her through those so you can appreciate the honesty and depth of this one. (her demons are the monster on the cover)

I can absolutely see her quirk/natural Texas schtick/uncomfortable honesty turning people off but that's a shame because there's real comedic depth here. Comedy and tragedy being so intimately linked.

 

[SimonDoom]

To expand our scope, I'm opening it up to non-fiction.

The Year of Living Biblically - AJ Jacobs​

Not knock you down funny but his earnestness in keeping to the task (following religious commandments to the letter) sets up some real absurd situations and the dynamic between him and his increasingly aggravated wife (likely exaggerated for comedy) made me rip right through the tiny read.

Actually read it as part of his "Omnibus" collection (just 3 of his books marketed together) and was kinda surprised I went the whole way and with few true eyerolls.

I liked that one!

 

[Euphony]

I liked that one!

It's weird b/c I struggled to remember if that was the best of the bunch or one of the others (the ebooks were literary back to back and I didn't stop all the way through)

I think they all have a similar goofball style, heavy on the suffering for it wife, but I *think* this one was a hair better than the rest.

The medical experiments one was funny but scary "we DO that to (likely poverty stricken) people? And the "tell the truth was as funny as it was awkward (but I did loathe that Charles guy who used "telling the truth" as clear excuse to abuse people/grift)

The superfit one didn't land quite the same. And I've not done "Puzzles" or "Gratitude for everything" ones yet.

 

[HordHolm]

One that sticks in my memory is Clochemerle, by Gabriel Chevalier. It's a French farce set in the 1920s about the erection of a public urinal in a politically divided village. Fantastic stuff with beautiful character sketches.

 

[StillStunned]

If we're going to include nonfiction, then I would add 2 books by Bill Bryson, who is an excellent writer with a great (and rather neurotic) sense of humor:

I was just about to mention BB, and particularly The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.

Instead, I'll nominate any of the countless one-panel Far Side comics that tell a story all by themselves.

"Suddenly, Bobby felt very alone in the world."

"It seems that Agent 6373 has accomplished her mission."

"I'll tell you what this means, Norm -- no size restrictions, and screw the limit."

"And then Jake saw something that grabbed his attention."

"Now this end is called the thagomizer... After the late Thag Simmons."

 

[RejectReality]

An oldie I've always enjoyed. Came out about a year before "Megamind" hit theaters, about a ( not so ) evil genius and his superhero nemesis BetaGirl. 2 chapters, and they're not overly long.

https://www.literotica.com/s/and-soon-my-evil-plan-ch-01

 

[Ian_Snow]

Huge fan of Douglas Adams, Jenny Lawson, Bill Bryson, Jason Pargin, and Robert Brockway, and on any given day, I'd tell you any one of them was my favorite comedic writer.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

On Lit, the only memorable one that has made me laugh out loud was Bramblethorn's The Floggings Will Continue - anyone who has had to suffer a cringe-making work awayday will relate.

Elsewhere - Pratchett, Bryson, Douglas Adams, but I nominate Christopher Brookmyre's Jack Parlabane novels. Set in Scotland, our hard-boiled journalist gets embroiled in various crime-solving, with great one-liners. Be my Enemy is my favourite.

 

[onehitwanda]

Funniest ever? Probably bits of "Good Omens," especially the Four Other Bikers of the Apocalypse.

 

[Handley_Page]

"The colour of magic"
"Men at Arms"
by Terry Pratchett.

 

[onehitwanda]

Another one: Joseph Heller, Catch-22. A great dark comedy.

"Why did you walk with crab apples in your cheeks?” Yossarian asked again. “That's what I asked.”
“Because they've got a better shape than horse chestnuts,” Orr answered. “I just told you that.”

Non-sequitur after non-sequitur interspersed with real darkness like the bit about Kid Sampson.

 

[StillStunned]

And the dead man in Yossarian's tent.

It's been a while since I read Catch-22, but aren't Orr and Yossarian the only ones who survive?

 

[ElectricBlue]

And the dead man in Yossarian's tent.

It's been a while since I read Catch-22, but aren't Orr and Yossarian the only ones who survive?

A school mate and I read it once a year for four years in high school, aged 14 - 18, to the point where we'd act out scenes.

Orr paddles his life-raft out through the Straits of Gibraltar, all the way across the Bay of Biscay, up the English Channel and gets to Norway, I think. That's why he keeps ditching his plane, to get in practice.

The book ends with Yossarian grabbing a life-raft, pushing it off a beach, and starts paddling.

 

[MajorRewrite]

I only have 3 stories from the Humor category in my favorites list. I should add more. I do enjoy a good funny/sexy story.

The already mentioned White Castle Christmas by MelissaBaby.

AI (Advanced Incest) by Moonburns. AI never goes the way you plan.

Bedroom Conversations Ch 4 by LynnGKS. The story is told as a series of conversations in bed. Excellent dialogue.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I only have 3 stories from the Humor category in my favorites list. I should add more. I do enjoy a good funny/sexy story.

The already mentioned White Castle Christmas by MelissaBaby.

AI (Advanced Incest) by Moonburns. AI never goes the way you plan.

Bedroom Conversations Ch 4 by LynnGKS. The story is told as a series of conversations in bed. Excellent dialogue.

I read your story 'Intervention Wife,' last night. I thought it was one of the better stories I've read on here. It was really funny, sexy and sweet, too. I'm sure I'll read it again, I enjoyed so much.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

...ahem...

White Castle Christmas

View attachment 2274530

I just read this, and it was really funny. I can see why won, it was so well done. You really captured the mood of a lonely Christmas eve, and how kind people can be.

 

[jsmiam]

…

"Now this end is called the thagomizer... After the late Thag Simmons."

And true story, the science community now uses the term “thagomizer”, since there was no official name for that part of the tail of Dinos of the stegosaurus family. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I haven't read anything that made me laugh on lit. I guess I self-select out of humorous content because when I'm in a horny mood and wanna read erotica, I'm all business.

Otherwise, I recently read We are Legion (We are Bob), a speculative Sci Fi where in an otherwise really grim and dystopian universe, a sentient spaceship slings cringey dad jokes while trying to save humanity. It's wonderful.

 

[SimonDoom]

A school mate and I read it once a year for four years in high school, aged 14 - 18, to the point where we'd act out scenes.

Orr paddles his life-raft out through the Straits of Gibraltar, all the way across the Bay of Biscay, up the English Channel and gets to Norway, I think. That's why he keeps ditching his plane, to get in practice.

The book ends with Yossarian grabbing a life-raft, pushing it off a beach, and starts paddling.

Sweden. There's a funny exchange between, I think, Yossarian, and another character, about his successful escape, that goes something like:

"Orr?"
"Sweden!"
"Sweden?"
"Orr!"

My favorite passage in the book, though, is this one:

“Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three. Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was.”

 

[HordHolm]

This thread has forced me back to some boxes of books that had to be stored due to a lack of shelf space. Out of sight, out of mind, there they were: two books by the English satirist Tom Sharpe. Set in Apartheid South Africa (from which he was deported) the first, Riotous Assembly, is hugely funny, focusing on the incompetence of the police investigating the murder of an African cook by his white employer (and lover), and all the while attempting to cover it up. So far, so good.

And then, once a breath is drawn, on to the sequel, Indecent Exposure, which is simply the funniest book I have ever read. I have gurgled in public (London Underground) reading this book, observers surely concluding that the book contained a canister of laughing gas as I navigated an increasingly insane plot containing a paranoid, sex averse secret policeman concocting a plan to chemically castrate his extremely unwilling subordinates to stop them sleeping with African women. At the same time, he also sends a group of undercover agents out into the field with some of the most garbled instructions ever with results that made me cry and reach for the paper bag to stop hyperventilating.

In themselves, these two books are not political, but they are actually two of the most savage indictments of political extremism, all done in a way that makes you crawl into the fetal position as you desperately search for air. I have actually had to stop reading this book at points so as to compose myself enough to be able to continue.

 

[Bramblethorn]

This thread has forced me back to some boxes of books that had to be stored due to a lack of shelf space. Out of sight, out of mind, there they were: two books by the English satirist Tom Sharpe. Set in Apartheid South Africa (from which he was deported) the first, Riotous Assembly, is hugely funny, focusing on the incompetence of the police investigating the murder of an African cook by his white employer (and lover), and all the while attempting to cover it up. So far, so good.

And then, once a breath is drawn, on to the sequel, Indecent Exposure, which is simply the funniest book I have ever read.

Oh god yes. The electroshock and the wildlife photos.