Best of
Comedy

1989

The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book


Bill Watterson - 1989
    Filled with Watterson’s full-page Sunday strips, this collection is sure to please fans and newcomers alike.

The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide


Douglas Adams - 1989
    Plus, you'll find a perplexingly frank introduction by the author himself, giving a behind-the-scenes look at each book and the zany radio series that inspired them. But that's not all! You also get a ferocious giggle of a short story, starring the two-headed, three-armed, ex-president of the Universe -- Zaphod Beeblebrox. The saga begins and ends...The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--Arthur Dent, mild-mannered, out-to-lunch kind of guy, is plucked from Earth just before it is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Towel in hand, he begins his journey through space and time with his rescuer Ford Prefect, a traveling research for the Guide.The Restaurant at the End of the Universe--where the floor show is Doomsday and Arthur and Ford dine with Zaphod Beeblebrox, well-appendaged, ex-head honcho of the universe, and Trillian, his human girlfriend. The four friends begin their quest for answers to some of the most confounding questions challenging mankind. When will they finish eating? What is the question to the ultimate answer? (which happens to be 42).Life, the Universe and Everything--Everything important and then some is examined in this third book, when Arthur Dent and his companions find they must avert Armageddon and save the Universe for life as we know it (or think we know it!).So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish--Galaxy-weary space traveler Arthur Dent returns to Earth With his new voidoid gang to discover that it has been mysteriously reinstated. But more pertinent questions remain: Why did all the dolphins disappear? What is God's Final Message to His Creation? What really happened the day the Earth was demolished?And finally, in Young Zaphod Plays it Safe--the two-headed hero travels to the depths of the ocean floor to investigate the mysterious destruction of the ship that "could one hundred percent positively never crash." with the annoying assistance of the Safety and Civil Reassurance Administration, Zaphod learns some disturbing secrets...If you're just discovering Douglas Adams's galactic gangbuster of a series, don't panic--The More Than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide is your chance to have it all! (Towel not included.)--jacket

The PreHistory of The Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit


Gary Larson - 1989
    A Far Side retrospective, celebrating its tenth anniversary.

The Complete Yes Prime Minister


Jonathan Lynn - 1989
    Presented in the form of diaries, official documents, and letters, rather than simply transcribed scripts, this book is a companion to the successful BBC series, "Yes Prime Minister."

The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus: All the Words: Volume 1


Graham Chapman - 1989
    The minister of silly walks, the dead parrot, banter in a cheese shop - here is every silly, satirical skit, every snide insult, every saucy aside.

The Jeeves Omnibus Vol. 1: Thank You, Jeeves / The Code of the Woosters / The Inimitable Jeeves


P.G. Wodehouse - 1989
    'If I had Jeeves's brain I should have a stab at being Prime Minister or something.'Luckily for us, Bertie Wooster manages to retain Jeeves's services through all the vicissitudes of purple socks and policeman's helmets, and here, gathered together for the first time, is an omnibus of Jeeves novels and stories comprising three of the funniest books ever written: Thank You, Jeeves, The Code of the Woosters and The Inimitable Jeeves.

Red Dwarf Omnibus: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers & Better Than Life


Grant Naylor - 1989
    It all begins when Dave Lister is celebrating his twenty-fourth birthday on a Monopoly board pub crawl round London, and somehow ends up three million years from Earth, marooned in the wrong dimension of the wrong reality, and down to his last two cigarettes. Together with a dead man, a senile computer, a deranged sanitation mechanoid with an overactive guilt chip and the best-dressed entity in all six known universes, the last remaining member of the human race begins his epic journey home.

The Night of the Mary Kay Commandos Featuring Smell O-Toons


Berke Breathed - 1989
    Features the bonus, peel-away insert, Smell-O-Toons, the aromatic fragrance that is dabbed on more Commando pulse points than all other perfumes combined! Little, Brown.

Withnail and I: the Original Screenplay


Bruce Robinson - 1989
    Presents the screenplay of the classic cult film by Bruce Robinson, with an introduction by the director.

The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw


Patrick F. McManus - 1989
    nature tales originally published in such magazines as Field & Stream and Outdoor Living.Patrick F. McManus’s hilarious and comic stories of camping and other nature-oriented activities reach ridiculous proportions in The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw. From teaching his stepfather the methods of madness behind farm work through his best friend’s grandmother’s fear of bears, McManus reveals that human behavior is even wilder than the wilderness.

Chuck Amuck: The Life and Time of an Animated Cartoonist


Chuck Jones - 1989
    Winner of three Academy Awards and numerous other prizes for his animated films, Chuck Jones is the director of scores of famous Warner Bros. cartoons and the creator of such memorable characters as the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepe Le Pew, and Marvin Martian. In this beguiling memoir, Chuck Jones evokes the golden years of life at "Termite Terrace," the Warner Bros. studio in which he and his now-famous fellow animators conceived the cartoons that delighted millions of moviegoers throughout the world and entertain new generations of fans on television. Not a mere history, "Chuck Amuck" captures the antic spirit that created classic cartoons-such as Duck Dodgers in the 241/2 Century, One Froggy Evening, Duck Amuck, and What's Opera, Doc?-with some of the wittiest insights into the art of comedy since Mark Twain.

It's Always Something


Gilda Radner - 1989
    I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned the hard way that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end."The world fondly remembers the many faces of Gilda Radner: the adamant but misinformed Emily Litella; the hyperkinetic Girl Scout Judy Miller; the irrepressibly nerdy Lisa Loopner; the gross-out queen of local network news, Rosanne Rosannadanna. A supremely funny performer, Gilda lost a long and painful struggle in May 1989 to "the most unfunny thing in the world"--cancer. But the face she showed the world during this dark time was one of great courage and hope. "It's Always Something is the story of her struggle told in Gilda's own remarkable words--a personal chronicle of strength and indomitable spirit and love undiminished by the cruel ravages of disease.This is Gilda, with whom we laughed on Saturday Night Live: warm, big-hearted, outrageous, and real. This is Gilda's last gift to us: the magnificent final performance of an incomparable entertainer whose life, though tragically brief, enriched our own lives beyond measure.

Старуха = The Old Woman


Daniil Kharms - 1989
    Edition in Russian and English.

I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise


Erma Bombeck - 1989
    I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise (Children Surviving Cancer)

Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers


Grant Naylor - 1989
    But Lister didn't have a choice. All he remembered was going on a birthday celebration pub crawl through London. When he came to his senses again, with nothing in his pockets but a passport in the name of Emily Berkenstein.So he did the only thing he could. Amazed to discover they would actually hire him, he joined the space corps----and found himself aboard Red Dwarf, a spaceship as big as a small city that, six or seven years from now, would get him back to Earth. What Lister couldn't forsee was that he'd inadvertently signed up for a one--way jaunt three million years into the future---a future which would see him the last living member of the human race, with only a hologram crew mate and a highly evolved cat for company. Of course, that was before the ship broke the light barrier and things began to get really weird...

Illegal Aliens


Nick Pollotta - 1989
    Rajavur and his 'First Contact Team' had been patiently waiting years for aliens to land on Earth. Leader Idow and the crew of the starship, All That Glitters, were just looking for an unknown planet where they could land and have a little fun teasing the primitive natives. So it was pure bad luck that the first humans the alien tricksters encounter is a ruthless New York City street gang, the Bloody Deckers. With more starships landing and the world in chaos, Rajavur and his First Contact Team have to move fast in a desperate plan to rescue the innocent aliens from the evil street gang! Then again, maybe they should join forces with the street gang to protect the Earth from the furious aliens? Best-Selling author Nick Pollotta and Hugo award winning illustrator Phil Foglio have packed this one-of-a-kind science fiction comedy full of thrilling combat, nuclear agents, planetary blockades, Omega Gas, the galactic police, Russian-doll-style Dyson spheres, a giant flying refrigerator, big juju, a high-stakes game of poker, space battles, warobots, the trail of the millennium, bar fights, naughty lingerie, lost civilizations, the United Nations Space Marines, lost civilizations, group sex, and delicious fried chicken.

The End of the Road


Tom Bodett - 1989
    Where New Age missionaries make appearances in the bowling alley, and the police chief weeps over the plight of Bambi. And the mayor stays in office mostly because they don't want the bother of trainin' up a new one...Similarities between the characters in this narrative and individuals either living or dead doesn't seem at all surprising.-Tom Bodett, from the Introduction

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten; It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It


Robert Fulghum - 1989
    Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:Share everything.Play fair.Don't hit people.Put things back where you found them.Clean up your own mess.Don't take things that aren't yours.Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.Wash your hands before you eat.Flush.Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.Live a balanced life.Take a nap every afternoon.When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.From the Trade Paperback edition.

A Look Inside For Better or For Worse : The 10th Anniversary Collection


Lynn Johnston - 1989
    In A Look Inside For Better or For Worse you'll find the evolution of Lynn Johnston's strip. From the turmoils of toddlerhood to the shock of "a teenager in the house," For Better or For Worse presents a decade of entertainment.

The First 200 Years of Monty Python


Kim Howard Johnson - 1989
    Photos throughout.

Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night


Lewis Grizzard - 1989
    He's gentler. He's one unusual American with a whole lot to say about the things that vex us all: like Rice Krispies, funeral preaching, news that's unfit to print (or even think about for that matter), uncommon dawg tales, and the unavoidable light at the end of the tunnel.

Dear Dad: Letters from an Adult Child


Louie Anderson - 1989
    In letters that are poignant and often angry, yet touched with the humor that characterizes his monologues, Dear Dad chronicles Anderson's hard journey from shame and fear to understanding.Anderson's many appearances on The Tonight Show, his specials on HBO and Showtime, and his concerts across the country have won him wide acclaim. But when he found that, despite his considerable success as a comic, he felt no relief from his pain, Anderson entered therapy and joined an Adult Children of Alcoholics group. Only then was he able to break a lifelong pattern of denial.Includes an introduction by Anderson and a selection of letters from Dear Dad readers about their own experiences."Compelling, tender, funny, and well-written. . . . I respect Louie's courage for talking so openly. Writing the book may have helped the writer in his healing process, but it will also assist readers in theirs."--Melody Beattie, author of Codependent No More

Fish Whistle: Commentaries, Uncommentaries, And Vulgar Excesses


Daniel Pinkwater - 1989
    Included are two previously published articles in addition to commentaries written originally for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered".

Raising Arizona


Joel Coen - 1989
    The cultish humor, original characters, fresh cinematography, catchy soundtrack, and zany yet well-structured plot to be found in this film are all Coen brothers trademarks. Nicholas Cage plays a veteran criminal who marries a prison guard named Edwina (Holly Hunter). Because he and his wife cannot conceive, our convict-hero kidnaps, with only the most earnest intentions, one of the famous "Arizona Quintuplets." A hellacious bounty-hunting biker and two old pals who have just escaped from the pen make it very hard for the couple to raise their child properly.This is a movie—and a screenplay—marked by breathless chases, improbable scenes, and hilarious dialogue throughout.

Morningside World Of Stuart Mclean


Stuart McLean - 1989
    Funny and charming, poignant and nostalgic, McLean's essays illuminate a world most of us take for granted. Among Stuart's favourites in this collection are:- the shocking truth about household dust- the importance of hardware stores- the sad, true tale of Anne, the street lady- an ode to the Popsicle, "one of the world's most perfect foods"- the story of the greatest game of Monopoly ever played.

Rumpole at the Bar


John Mortimer - 1989
    

Dogen, The Zen Master: A Search And A Fulfillment


Osho - 1989
    Not only is the moon a symbol for the mirror of our consciousness, but it is also a transforming agent. "The master is the possibility for this transformation...the universe our university." The running theme of Dogen's message of 800 years is the eternity of our consciousness, a consciousness with no limitations and that exists through all changes of form. Something inner which moves from one climate to another, which is beyond form, birth, death, beyond life, which simply is - isness.

The Healing Power of Humor


Allen Klein - 1989
    The author presents a series of proven techniques for overcoming the negative effects of loss, setbacks, upsets, disappointments, trials, and tribulations.

Dangerous Liaisons: The Film: A Screenplay


Christopher Hampton - 1989
    This stage adaptation of Laclos' novel of decadence and corruption in pre-revolutionary France concerning the conspiracy between the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont to debauch a young girl, has now transferred to the screen.

Chaplin and American Culture: The Evolution of a Star Image


Charles J. Maland - 1989
    Charles Maland focuses on the cultural sources of the on-and-off, love-hate affair between Chaplin and the American public that was perhaps the stormiest in American stardom.

The Groo Chronicles, Book #1


Sergio Aragonés - 1989
    Collects:- Groo the Wanderer #1-#2

Lum: Urusei Yatsura


Rumiko Takahashi - 1989
    Wishing to spare Freeman and tame the sword's malevolent spirit, Tiger Orchid, Freeman's wife, takes the blade to Kowloon to train with a legendary swordmaster. But she'll need to find him in Kowloon Castle, a slum so riddled with crime and destitution that it does not officially exist. But its dangers are all too real, and even a possessed sword may not be enough to stop a gun-toting criminal army bent on selling Tiger Orchid into slavery!Written by the legendary Kazuo Koike, creator of Lone Wolf and Cub, and illustrated by the incomparable Ryoichi Ikegami, Crying Freeman is adult manga at its most challenging: dark, violent, morally complex, erotically charged and regarded worldwide as one of the classics of adult graphic fiction.

Jason Cosmo


Dan McGirt - 1989
    Even the aid of the wizard Mercury Boltblaster is not enough to combat the Demon Lords and the Dark Magic Society. And to make matters even more dangerous, the Gods decide that Jason must become the Mighty Champion in deed as well as name. He must Overcome All Odds to wrest the magic Superwand from Deadly Enemies. For no one else would be foolish enough to stand against the magical forces to restore the dread power of the long-vanquished Evil Empire!

Without Feathers, Getting Even, Side Effects


Woody Allen - 1989
    Compilation for Book of the Month Club

Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends


Penn Jillette - 1989
    The authors, who appear regularly on "Saturday Night Live", "The David Letterman Show" and "Tonight", will tour 11 cities.

My Ratbag Relations


Kerry Cue - 1989
    Kerry Cue seems to have hundreds; and the heroes and heroines of Kerry's saga of life in a small town are back again in a brand new book.The chaos and havoc of family life – the Police picnics, the mother-daughter night at school, weddings, Christmas, an Guy Fawkes night – can get even more complicated of you live at the Police Station.

Once Upon a Time


Graham Oakley - 1989
    Albert may be more than a little dim, but luckily his page, Tyke, knows his fairy tales.

Laughing Wild and Baby with the Bathwater: Two Plays


Christopher Durang - 1989
    In Laughing Wild, two comic monologues evolve into a man and a woman’s shared nightmare of modern life and the isolation it creates. From her turf battles at the supermarket to the desperate clichés of self-affirmation he learns at his “per­sonality workshop,” they run the gamut of everyday life’s small brutalizations until they meet, with disastrous inevitability, at the Harmonic Convergence in Central Park.

Family Planning: A Comedy


Frank Vickery - 1989
    Gran, who is permanently ensconced in bed on stage, knows all, sees all and attempts to pave the way for Tracy's announcement.4 women, 3 men

The Complete Prose of Woody Allen


Woody Allen - 1989
    Brings together three hilarious pieces by America's comic genius: Without Feathers, a secret journal that addresses life's "big" questions; Getting Even, Woody as psychologist, historian, and philosopher; and Side Effects, Woody's take on UFOs and more.

Driving Your Own Karma: Swami Beyondananda's Tour Guide to Enlightenment


Swami Beyondananda - 1989
    Swami Beyondananda, whose syndicated columns, tapes, and live performances have delighted millions, has the ultimate answers for you.

Whatchagot Stew: A Memoir of an Idaho Childhood, with Recipes and Commentaries


Patrick F. McManus - 1989
    "Read the memoir first . . . (or) you might select one of my mother's recipes and foolishly believe that because the recipe is included in a cookbook, it must be something to eat".--Pat McManus.

The Naughty Victorian Hand Book: The Rediscovered Art of Erotic Hand Manipulation


Burton Silver - 1989
    Practiced a century ago by Victorian upper classes, "furtling" is a wondrous erotic journey into the human hand's secret folds and furrows, one that delivers pleasure most vitalizing, lifts melancholy from the desponding mind, and restores wounded spirits. Just place the book on a flat surface, position the fingers in the appropriate manner, life the page, and--Eureka!--behold The Heavenly Twins, Toungue & Cheeks, The Crocodile, or Happy Valley. In all, thirteen meticulous black-and-white engravings of turn-of-the-century ladies and gentleman-each with a die cut in exactly the right place-will profoundly change one's relationship with the hand. 79,000 copies in print.

When Sniglets Ruled the Earth (Snig'lit : Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, But Should)


Rich Hall - 1989
    Publication based on a segment from HBO's "Not Necessarily The News".

Five Tales for the Theatre


Carlo Gozzi - 1989
    Gozzi's stage becomes a multiscenic home for adventures, loves, enmities, and dazzling visual effects. This collection brings together for the first time modern English translations of five of Gozzi's most famous plays: The Raven, The King Stag, Turandot, The Serpent Woman, and The Green Bird, each annotated by the translators and preceded by the author's preface. Ted Emery's Introduction places Gozzi in his social and historical context, tracing his world view in both the content and the form of his tales. In the ten works he called fiable or fairy tales, Gozzi intermingled characters from the traditional and improvised commedia dell'arte with exotic figures of his own invention. During Gozzi's lifetime, Goethe and Schiller translated and produced some of his dramas at the Weimar Theatre. In our century, the dramas have reasserted themselves under the direction of Max Reinhardt, Vsevolod Meyerhold, George Devine, and Benno Besson, as well as in operatic adaptations by Puccini and Prokofiev. The powerful conflicts, the idyllic and fearsome settings, and the startling transformations in these plays offer exceptional opportunities to actors, directors, and designers. The lively translations are faithful to Gozzi's Italian, while being eminently playable for English-speaking audiences today. Two of the translations have already had highly successful stagings by Andrei Serban at the American Repertory Theatre and on tour.

It Came from Beneath the Pew


Rob Suggs - 1989
    There's no escape from laughter when you enter this bizarre cartoon world created by Rob Suggs.

My Gorgeous Life


Dame Edna Everage - 1989
    The seeds of stardom were planted in Melbourne, Australia when her career as a performing artiste was strictly a cult following. In the 1960's, she did a series of one-woman shows and occasional stage and TV appearances in England with Barry Humphries. She spends her time visiting world leaders and jet-setting between her homes in Malibu, London, Sydney, and Switzerland. Her hobbies are having afternoon tea with Stephen Hwking and doing compassionate photography.Dame Edna Everage is the creation of and played by Barry Humphries.

Grimtooth's Traps Ate


Steven Crompton - 1989