Dov Greenstein, a comedian a bit past his prime, is doing a night of stand-up in a dive in a small Israeli city. In the audience are some whom Dov knew as a boy, an awkward, scrawny kid who walked on his hands to confound the neighborhood bullies. Gradually Dov's patter becomes a kind of memoir: we meet his mother, a Holocaust survivor in need of constant monitoring, and his punishing father, a striver who had little understanding of his creative...

Wheelchair-bound middle school student Jamie Grimm's recent victory in the Planet's Funniest Kid Comic Contest leads to a television sitcom based on his life, but being the star of the show forces him to balance his newfound success with the responsibilities of being a good friend.

To the outside world, Mose Sharp appears to have the ideal life, a thriving career, a loving family, and an amazing outlook, but Mose hides a secret which threatens to overshadow all his happiness.

In this searing novel, Caryl Phillips reimagines the life of the first black entertainer in the U.S. to reach the highest levels of fame and fortune.After years of struggling for success on the stage, Bert Williams (1874—1922), the child of recent immigrants from the Bahamas, made the radical decision to don blackface makeup and play the “coon.” Behind this mask he became a Broadway headliner–as influential a comedian as Chaplin,...

"Franny Steinberg knows there's powerful magic in laughter. She's witnessed it. With the men of Chicago off fighting WWII on distant shores, Franny has watched the women of the city taking charge of the war effort. But amidst the war bond sales and factory shifts, something surprising has emerged, something Franny could never have expected. A new marvel that has women flocking to comedy clubs across the nation: the Showstopper. When Franny steps into...

"Jen has dumped Andy, and he's handling the breakup in exactly the way all his friends and family might have expected: very, very badly. Crashing at his mother's house and obsessively photographing his hairline, Andy embraces the rites and rituals of every breakup--the ill-advised decision to move onto a houseboat, the forced merriment of a lads' night out, the accidental late-night text to the ex--all resulting in a never-ending shame spiral. Even...

"From stand-up comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish comes The Last Black Unicorn, a hilarious, edgy, and heart-wrenching collection of autobiographical essays that will leave you laughing through tears. Tiffany Haddish grew up in one of the poorest parts of South Central Los Angeles. Her mother wound up with a debilitating brain injury after surviving a car accident. Tiffany never fit in anywhere: not in the households she rotated through in the foster...

"Dana Diaz is an aspiring stand-up comedian--a woman in a man's world. When she meets a tough computer programmer named Amanda Dorn, the two bond over their struggles in boys' club professions. Dana confides that she's recently been harassed and assaulted while in L.A., and Amanda comes up with a plan: they should go after each other's assailants, Strangers on a Train-style. But Dana finds that revenge, however sweet, draws her into a more complicated...

In 1977, aging comedian Koo Davis, friend to generals and presidents, and veteran of countless USO tours to boost morale, is kidnapped by the five remaining members of the self-proclaimed People's Revolutionary Army who want to bring their cause back to life.

"There's a new principal at Ella Mentry School. Yes, it's true! Mr. Klutz is retiring and the president of the Board of Education, Dr. Carbles (Boo! Hiss!), has hired the best person for the job--or at least the funniest. But stand-up comedian Mrs. Stoker will have to face Vice Principal Mrs. Jafee in a big joke-off duel to defend her new job. Will Mrs. Stoker have the last laugh? Or will she lose her audience when things get serious?"--