The 50 Funniest American Writers* *According to Andy Borowitz · an Anthology of Humor From Mark Twain to the Onion

Ever wondered who makes a very funny person laugh? Wonder no more. Brought together in this Library of America collection are America’s fifty funniest writers—according to acclaimed writer and comedian Andy Borowitz. Reaching back to Mark Twain and forward to contemporary masters such as David Sedaris, Nora Ephron, Roy Blount Jr., Ian Frazier, Bernie Mac, Wanda Sykes, and George Saunders, *The 50 Funniest American Writers* is an exclusive Who’s Who of the very best American comic writing. Here are Thurber and Perelman, Lenny Bruce and Bruce Jay Friedman, Garrison Keillor, Dave Barry, and Veronica Geng, plus hilarious lesser-known pieces from *The New Yorker* , *Esquire* , *The Atlantic* , *National Lampoon* , and *The Onion*. Who does “one of the funniest people in America” ( *CBS Sunday Morning* ) read when he needs a laugh? Here’s Andy Borowitz to tell you.

Contents:

A presidential candidate by Mark Twain

The lecture tickets that were bought but never used by George Ade

The ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry

From Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

From Gentlemen prefer blondes by Anita Loos

On conversation by Ring Lardner

Imperial purple by H.L. Mencken

More alarms at night by James Thurber

The waltz by Dorothy Parker

Farewell, my lovely appetizer by S.J. Perelman

Simple prays a prayer by Langston Hughes

The night the old nostalgia burned down by Frank Sullivan

Across the street and into the grill by E.B. White

The house of mirth by Peter De Vries

From The magic Christian by Terry Southern

From How to talk dirty and influence people by Lenny Bruce

The secret vice by Tom Wolfe

The counterfeit secret circle member gets the message, or The asp strikes again by Jean Shepherd

The Kentucky Derby is decadent and depraved by Hunter S. Thompson

A look at organized crime by Woody Allen

The tax man by Bruce Jay Friedman

Letters to Einstein by Philip Roth

A few words about breasts by Nora Ephron

Our white heritage by Henry Beard, Michael O'Donoghue, George W.S. Trow

Better read than dead : a revised opinion by Fran Lebowitz

Your action line by Charles Portis

In the morning post by Donald Barthleme

Curb Carter policy discord effort threat by Veronica Geng

Vacation '58 by John Hughes

The laws of cartoon motion by Mark O'Donnell

The Tip-Top Club by Garrision Keillor

Rolled in rare Bohemian onyx, then vulcanized by hand by Bruce McCall

Tough as bob war and other stuff by Molly Ivins

Corrections by Calvin Trillin

Tips for women : how to have a relationships with a guy by Dave Barry

Clinton deploys vowels to Bosnia by The Onion

Shiftless little loafers by Susan Orlean

Gothic baseball by Roy Blount Jr.

If I were in charge of the networks by George Carlin

Laws concerning food and drink ; Household principles ; Lamentations of the father by Ian Frazier

The writer's life by David Rakoff

From I ain't scared of you by Bernie Mac

Buddy, can you spare a tie? by David Sedaris

It's so hard by Wanda Sykes

What I'd say to the Martians by Jack Handey

Your three wishes : F.A.Q. by David Owen

Ask the optimist! by George Saunders

Awake by Jenny Allen

The pony problem by Sloane Crosley

If not an apology, at least a "my bad" by Larry Wilmore