Interviews with David Sedaris, Dave Barry, Jack Handey, Bob Odenkirk, and other humor-writing pros: "Sure to captivate anyone who loves a good comedy." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)If you aspire to write sitcoms, standup, screenplays, or satirical essays—or are just a connoisseur of comedy—you should learn from the professionals. With interviews from twenty-one top humor writers whose credits include everything from Marx Brothers movies to Borat

A NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLERNAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPRAmy Poehler, Mel Brooks, Adam McKay, George Saunders, Bill Hader, Patton Oswalt, and many more take us deep inside the mysterious world of comedy in this fascinating, laugh-out-loud-funny book. Packed with behind-the-scenes stories—from a day in the writers’ room at The Onion to why a sketch does or doesn’t make it onto Saturday Night Live to ho...

Named One of Vulture's Top 5 Humor Books of the Year!The novelization to the 1992 Gen X movie "Slouchers"It is the early 1990s in Seattle ... and the MTV video for Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has just premiered the previous week. Lethargy is in the air. Grunge fashion is all the logy rage. Something is brewing beneath these moist, overcast Seattle skies.Twenty-two-year-old Willow Montgomery has freshly arrived in town, having just graduated from an elite lib...

in Pink is the latest book from best-selling author Mike Sacks (And Here's the Kicker, Poking a Dead Frog, Stinker Lets Loose).Passable in Pink deftly sends up the 1980s and John Hughes movies while addressing the vital question: Will Addy Stevenson go to the senior prom?Addy is suffering through her sophomore year at suburban Chicago's Northridge High. She lives on the "wrong" side of the lake with her father, a struggling advertising copywriter ("Where t...

It's a ritual as time-honored among teenagers as prom or pretending to be sick to get out of changing for PE—glossy catalogs from colleges arriving by the dozen each spring. Aside from the faint odor of kiwi bubblegum vape smoke, Woodmont College's catalog, Welcome to Woodmont, is superficially not unlike the others. But there's no school quite like Woodmont College (no longer "university" due to a court order). And every page of this catalog is proof of this special uniqueness, w...

At long last ... the candid, shocking and previously untold story of Skippy "Batty" Battison, the universe's most radical, free-thinking, and honest comedian, comedy writer, satellite radio and podcasting star!Vulture's Best Books of 2022 (So Far!)Mike Sacks is a master of a particular type of writing that he probably invented or at least perfected - a dazzling, tricky act of written performance art, composing an entire manuscript from the point o...

Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason collects Mike Sacks's unique humor pieces--craigslist ads, lesser-known tantric positions, letters to famous authors, lists, jokes, and the occasional illustration--into one handsome volume.Ever accidentally sent a mass e-mail to your office describing your Not Safe-For-Work fantasy kingdom? Or been confused about the ground rules at a cuddle party? Looking to rent an overpriced room in the Hamptons from a co-dependent sociopath w...

"I Am Super Pumped! Let's Do This Shit!!!!!!!!!!!" is a collection of conversations between Mike Sacks and his PR guy to promote Sacks's 2022 book, PASSING ON THE RIGHT. A follow-up to the book PASSING ON THE RIGHT.

“An elegant and accessible” investigation of quantum mechanics—“highly recommended” for students of the sciences, sci-fi fans, and anyone interested in the strange world of quantum physics (Forbes)Rules of the quantum world seem to say that a cat can be both alive and dead at the same time and a particle can be in two places at once. And that particle is also a wave; everything in the quantum world can described in terms of waves—or entirely in terms of pa...

A journey into the alien depths of the sea, and into our possible future, from a marine biologist known for "nature writing at its most engaging" ( Sunday Express).A golden era of deep-sea discovery is underway as revolutionary studies rewrite the very notion of life on Earth and the rules of what is possible. In the process, the abyss is being revealed as perhaps the most amazing part of our planet, its topography even more varied and extreme than its lan...

**Winner of the Frances Fuller Victor Award for General NonfictionWinner of the Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western NonfictionFinalist for The Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book PrizeShortlisted for The William Saroyan International PrizeA Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year"Sharply insightful . . . A monumental piece of work."—The Boston GlobeAn award-winning author investigates the entangled history of her Jewis...

Featuring a new introduction by Ken Liu, this revised edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s first full-length collection of essays covers her background as a writer and educator, on fantasy and science fiction, on writing, and on the future of literary science fiction.“We like to think we live in daylight, but half the world is always dark; and fantasy, like poetry, speaks the language of the night.” —Ursula K. Le GuinLe Guin’s sharp and witty voice is on...