Performing Arts

Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.

From the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump to the tragic events of Ferguson and Charlottesville, the subject of race has come to the forefront of American consciousness. Legendary satirist D. L. Hughley offers his own cutting observations on this contentious issue that continues to traumatize the nation, a wound made more painful by the ongoing comments and actions of the 45th president. Hughley uses humor to draw attention to injustice, sardonically offering advice on a number of lessons, like "How to make cops feel more comfortable while they're handcuffing you".

Richard Pryor journeys from his childhood in a family that worked in whore-houses and bars, through to his years in Hollywood - the money, the women, the drugs - and the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

The greats of comedy, when they were young and struggling, performing their great early routines.

By the tender age of five, Bernie Mac had found his calling: making others laugh. He has since become the star and cocreator of Fox’s hit sitcom The Bernie Mac Show; a stand-up legend; and a hit movie star in Head of State and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. Now, this amazing comedian delves deep down inside to retell the poignant and hilarious story of his childhood and the people who helped shape him into the comedian - and the strong and self-reliant man - he is today.

R. Eric Thomas didn’t know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he went - whether it was his rich, mostly White, suburban high school, his conservative Black church, or his Ivy League college in a big city - he found himself on the outside looking in. In essays by turns hysterical and heartfelt, Thomas reexamines what it means to be an "other" through the lens of his own life experience.

Scottie Price just started a new job and it's a real sausage fest. She's the only woman on a team filled with Brads and Chads. Expecting a bachelor pad atmosphere, she is quickly corrected when she finds out everyone is happily married.

Comedian Trevor Noah offers listeners a glimpse into his childhood during apartheid in South Africa in this award-winning memoir.

Before Liz Lemon, before Weekend Update, before Sarah Palin, Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: A recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV....

From a massively successful stand-up comedian and co-host of chart-topping podcasts “2 Bears 1 Cave” and “Your Mom’s House,” hilarious real-life stories of parenting, celebrity encounters, youthful mistakes, misanthropy, and so much more....

In the mid-70s, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up....

Outsider. Misfit. Criminal. Convict. . . . Movie star. Family man. Comedy legend. Joey Diaz has been called every name in the book (and then some). Now, for the first time, he shares the story of his unlikely rise to fame in his own words—with no punches pulled....

James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales raucously and revealingly take the SNL story up to the present, adding a constellation of iconic new stars, surprises, and controversies....

Comedian Pierre Novellie was on stage when a heckler suggested he was autistic. Usually, this disruption would be water off a duck's back but two things made this heckler different: first, he was himself autistic. Second, he turned out to be absolutely right....

Bob Odenkirk’s career is inexplicable. And yet he will try like hell to explicate it for you. Charting a “Homeric” decades-long “odyssey” from his origins in the seedy comedy clubs to a dramatic career full of award nominations, it’s almost like there are many Bob Odenkirks....

Robin Williams was a singularly innovative and beloved entertainer. He often came across as a man possessed, holding forth on culture and politics while mixing in personal revelations....

Why is every film or tv programme a sequel or a remake? Why are people so f***ing hung up about swearing? Why do the asterisks in that sentence make it okay? These and many other questions trouble David Mitchell. Join him on a tour of the absurdities of modern life....

David Mitchell’s 2014 best seller Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse must really have made people think - because everything’s got worse....

Decades ago, Paul Mooney set out not just make audiences laugh but to make them think. Black Is the New White is his blisteringly funny, no-holds-barred memoir of how he continues to succeed wildly at both....

At last, the definitive audiobook about perhaps the best cabin crew dramedy ever filmed: View from the Top starring Gwyneth Paltrow.....

Authors Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key build on the popularity of their 2022 Webby Award-winning podcast and delve deeper into the world of sketch, helped along with new essays created expressly for the book by comedy greats.

H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale of a polar expedition meeting unspeakable horrors is brought to life in the style of a 1930s radio drama....

From breakout stand-up comedian Iliza Shlesinger comes a subversively funny collection of essays and observations on a confident woman's approach to friendship, singlehood, and relationships....

Anyone who saw an episode of Saturday Night Live between 1999 and 2006 knows Rachel Dratch. She was hilarious! So what happened to her? Find out....

The entries in this compulsively listenable book bridge past and present with topics like getting ghosted, handling haters, and why dog owners rule (sorry, cat people)....

A hilarious and biting memoir from the actor, comedian, and Saturday Night Live alumnus....

The legendary writer and performer of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame takes listeners on a grand tour of his ascent in the entertainment world John Cleese’s huge comedic influence has stretched across generations....

From Naptown to Tinseltown - legendary stand-up comedian and actor Mike Epps finally tells all in this outrageous, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir....

In this book, Richard Ayoade - actor, writer, director, and amateur dentist - reflects on his cinematic legacy as only he can: in conversation with himself....

The exercises in this book will get you off the couch and onto the stage, helping you develop the skills necessary to envision, and achieve, a successful career in comedy....

In these fresh and hilarious personal essays, Mindy Kaling gives the inside scoop on her new role as single mom, the perks of being her own husband, and how she deals with social anxiety even at the most glamorous A-list parties....

Scottie Price just started a new job and it's a real sausage fest. She's the only woman on a team filled with Brads and Chads. Expecting a bachelor pad atmosphere, she is quickly corrected when she finds out everyone is happily married. In an effort to impress her boss, Scottie mentions her nonexistent husband in a company meeting. But eagle-eyed Chad points out her lack of wedding ring.

Technology promises to save humanity. How's that working out? In this comedy-science podcast, comedy legends Richard Ayoade (determinedly pessimistic) and Warwick Davis (inexplicably cheerful) venture beneath Audible HQ to the Future Tense lab, fully equipped to interrogate the future we're all being told to look forward to.

‘Hey, how you doing readers? Adam Buxton here… Let's begin with a recap. No, don't skip it! It's great stuff in the form of a montage of scenes from a film that would certainly revive the flagging fortunes of the cinema were it to be made: The Adam Buxton Story…’ So begins Love You, Bye – Adam Buxton’s wonderful follow up to the bestselling Ramble Book.

Look. You know how some people just can’t resist pushing a big red “Do Not Push” button? That’s me. Except the button is my pants. And the warning sign is usually a friend yelling something like, “Kristin, for the love of GOD, not HERE.” I remember it vividly. The sky was the color of an overcooked egg yolk, and the beach was crawling with families, volleyball bros, and at least one bachelorette party in matching hot pink “Bride Squad” tank tops. A totally normal beach day. Which is exactly why I knew I had to get naked. Now, don’t get me wrong—I was trying to be normal ...

So listen. If you’re holding this book right now, you’re either A) naked, B) thinking about getting naked, or C) fully clothed but dangerously close to unbuttoning your jeans just to see where this is going. All are welcome. Except Brad from yoga—you still owe me ten bucks and an apology for what you called a “communal stretch.” I’m Kristin. I’m 38, mildly lactose-intolerant, very much single, and living my best naked life. And when I say naked, I mean Naked. Capital N. Like, naked in the woods, naked at brunch, naked while unclogging my own shower drain (a humbling experience...

It always starts the same way: someone opens a cooler, someone else says “we should totally do it,” and then someone (usually me) gets peer-pressured out of her bra and into a suspiciously warm body of water while yelling “YOLO” with the misplaced confidence of a woman who clearly has not learned her lesson. Hi. I’m Kristin. And skinny dipping? It’s kind of my thing. Not intentionally. I didn’t set out to become the person who’s always half-naked in a lake at 1 a.m. with strangers, soggy tortilla chips, and one sandal. But life, like water, is slippery. And somehow, every ...

There comes a time in every woman’s life when she says, “You know what? To hell with it,” and takes her pants off in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon while eating a sleeve of saltines and watching Murder, She Wrote reruns with crumbs in her bra. Except, in my case, there was no bra. And there were no pants. And I was not well. Hi. I’m Kristin. I’m 38, once tried to exfoliate my thighs with a loofah glove and a dream, and this is the story of how I had a full-blown life meltdown, took my clothes off, and somehow clawed my way back to joy, peace, and the kind of sweaty confidence ...

Let me start by saying this: I didn’t grow up thinking, “You know what would make my adult life better? Fewer pants.” No. I grew up like most people—squirming into Spanx, fighting with underwire, and crying in Target dressing rooms under the soul-crushing glow of fluorescent lighting. Nudity was for showers and sex, and sometimes not even then. But one fine Tuesday afternoon, while trying to air out a rash (don’t ask), sipping wine from a coffee mug (don’t judge), and scrolling through the internet with a fan aimed directly at my crotch, I stumbled upon an article titled ...

Let’s get one thing clear right out the gate: just because I’m standing here with my boobs flapping in the breeze like two proud, liberated breakfast pancakes does not mean I’m not running the damn show. That’s right. These jugs are out, these cheeks are exposed, and my leadership style is stronger than your Wi-Fi signal at a Starbucks. You might be thinking, “Wait—can you really lead, manage, inspire, and dominate while stark naked?” To which I say: bitch, watch me. This book isn’t about nudity for nudity’s sake. It’s about ownership. Confidence. Command. Boobs and ...

Let me paint you a picture: it’s a Sunday morning. I’m standing in my kitchen, gloriously nude, coffee in one hand, half a cinnamon roll in the other, Fleetwood Mac humming softly through the Bluetooth speaker. The window’s open. My butt is catching just enough breeze to feel like a Disney princess who’s emotionally healed. I am at peace. Enter my then-boyfriend, Josh. Wearing flannel pajama pants like a man who’s not yet learned that crotch ventilation is self-care. He looks at me—bare, radiant, lightly glazed in cinnamon roll icing—and says: “Don’t you think you’re a ...

On the eve of Keith Jefferson’s retirement, Aliens invade the Earth with one demand, that they be worshipped. Keith worshipped no one. And having lost his pension and other financial instruments when the banks and other financial institutions exploiting the invasion kept everyone’s assets because they could, Keith vowed revenge and became a one-man resistance movement in a world that complacently accepted the alien leaders as, just some other people they didn’t vote for who now were in charge.

In a moment of mutual, playful, drunken, eroticism Tricia, a female Lycanthrope, flashes into WereWolf form and gives her longtime human lover Derek, unaware she’s “Of The Pack”, a love bite on the neck and just barely breaks the skin. In the morning, to her horror, she realizes what she has done. That night when the full moon rises, Derek will become a WereWolf, and with dread, she needs to break the news to him before it happens, exposing her secret, and teach him skills to live and survive in his new life, like eating CSI, Crime Scene Investigation, responsibly.

Y’all, let me just start by saying this book should probably come with a warning label like a gas station burrito: “May cause unexpected tingling and a strong desire to take your pants off.” My name is Kristin. I’m a 37-year-old woman with a solid B-cup chest, a lifetime of questionable decisions, and a deep love for two things: carbs and being naked. I didn’t choose the nude life—okay yes I did—but let’s not pretend this journey was glamorous or well-thought-out. I didn’t wake up one day and say, “You know what would make laundry easier? NEVER HAVING TO WEAR PANTS AGAIN...

In the sleepy town of Aspil, Mayor Bert – ‘just Bert’ to his adoring folks – rules with a grin and a promise of riches. When he warns a meteor is hurtling toward their quaint square, the townsfolk don’t panic; they cheer. Bert’s solution? A world-first marvel: the largest trampoline ever built, designed to bounce the cosmic threat back to the stars. Enter Mr. Slick, a silver-tongued stranger from Baddelbury, peddling blueprints and insurance against celestial incursion, but one lone doubter questions whether the sky’s really falling – or if something earthier is afoot. Peter...

Hilarious misadventures. Christmas at Hill Top Inn, is a light-hearted tale that captures the spirit of Christmas and the warmth of a group of coach travellers unexpectedly thrown together in a snowstorm. The unexpected arrival of the guests leads to a series of comic situations, highlighting Molly and Dave's naivety at running a pub and the eccentricities of the guests. The situation is saved by the ever talented, Jack. A local handyman who lives in a caravan down in the valley, who comes to their rescue time and time again, becoming a good friend in the process. Unexpected twists and ...

Following the break from the first half of their support group session, Chicago WereWolves & WifWolves, Male & Female Lycanthropes continue their meeting to support one another and share life hacks. Among them are: How to end school bullying with five simple words, “Don’t Make Me Eat You.”. What happens when WereGirls Go Wild abroad? How to adjust to Moon Lag, a condition in which your body suddenly starts TranZing at the time of the full moon in the place of your birth rather than the one you’ve just arrived in. WereWolf friendly clothing that expands to Were proportions and then ...

For more than six decades, Joe Besser brought gales of laughter to millions—in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio, in motion pictures, and on television. From his days working as a bumbling assistant to the world-famous Thurston the Magician, he carved out success with his own act—that of a childlike sissy who brandished his foils with a flick of the wrist and such hilarious verbal assaults as “Ooh, you crazy you!” and “Not so f-a-s-t!

Look, I didn’t wake up one morning and decide, “You know what would make me feel really in control of my life? Taking off my bra in front of strangers.” That would be weird. Even for me. And I once tried to make banana bread in the nude and accidentally sat on a hot oven mitt, so my threshold for “weird” is alarmingly high. But here we are. I’m Kristin. I’m a loud, semi-responsible, mid-to-late-thirties lady who has gone through more phases than Susan has gone through boyfriends she met at Whole Foods. I’ve been a try-hard corporate chick with power blazers and stress-...

In Which the Coffee is Black, the Rain is Eternal, and the Future is a Joke In the brooding city of Invercrane—where the buildings lean like they’re whispering secrets and the fog never quite clears its throat—a streetlamp flickered like it owed someone money. Somewhere, a crow laughed. Or choked. Hard to tell with crows. Three figures stood in a semi-circle outside a coffee shop called The Weird Brew. It was two hours past closing, and the neon sign buzzed like a drunk bee trying to remember its name. The windows were fogged, smeared with occult symbols traced in espresso foam and, ...

Here are some of the most convincing UFO accounts of all time. Some accounts contain dozens or hundreds of eye witnesses