Recommendations for great comedies and satires?

[Theunderground]

I have had my fill of novels and short stories filled with gloominess,broken dreams,the macabre and pessimism.(maupassant,poe,dostoevsky et al.) I want comedy,optimism and zest for living.

What do the literary chefs suggest for a bon apetit?

[mal4mac]

Don Quixote - Cervantes
Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby - Dickens
Tom Jones - Fielding
Moll Flanders - Defoe

[First thoughts]

One of my favourite comedic writers is Terry Pratchett, I'd struggle to think of a better satire of the modern world than his Discworld novels.

Saki and P.G. Wodehouse did an equally brilliant job covering the early 20th century.
Catch 22 and Three men in a boat are others which come immediately to mind.

About the zest for living bit, few people live more than Dean and Sal in On the road, or the characters in The sun also rises. I've rarely seen a more apt single sentence book summary than that on the back of my On the road: 'A paean to what Kerouac described as "the ragged and ecstatic joy of pure being"'
Some people read these books as depressing, but others come away with a twisted feeling of hope, because, after all, the sun will always rise again, and none of it really mattered anyway.

[Seasider]

Anything by James Thurber and especially The Night the Bed Fell and /or
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Laugh out loud material.

[Syd A]

Catch-22 is the funniest book ever written. Old-school, pompous folk often dismiss it as juvenile and trashy, but it is brilliant, hilarious, and even a bit philosophical. A must read!

[mortalterror]

423BC Aristophanes writes Clouds
422BC Aristophanes writes Wasps
421BC Aristophanes writes Peace
414BC Aristophanes writes Birds
411BC Aristophanes writes Lysistrata
411BC Aristophanes writes Thesmophoriazusae
234–184 BC Plautus writes The Pot of Gold, Amphytrion, The Haunted House, Miles Gloriosus, The Menaechmus Twins, and Pseudolus
60 Petronius writes Satyricon
1532 Rabelais writes Gargantua and Pantagruel
1583-1585 Richard Tarlton is comic for the Queen's Men
1589 Christopher Marlowe writes The Jew of Malta
1592 Shakespeare writes The Comedy of Errors based on a work by Plautus
1593 Shakespeare writes The Taming of the Shrew
1594 William Kempe joins The Lord Chamberlain's Men
1597 Shakespeare writes Henry IV part I
1598 Shakespeare writes Henry IV part II
1599 Shakespeare writes Much Ado About Nothing
1600 Shakespeare writes The Merry Wives of Windsor, Robert Armin joins Lord Chamberlain's Men
1602 Shakespeare writes Twelfth Night
1603 Shakespeare writes Measure for Measure
1605 Cervantes writes Don Quixote
1606 Ben Jonson writes Volpone
1664 Moliere writes Tartuffe
1675 William Wycherley writes The Country Wife
1676 George Etherege writes The Man of Mode based on his friend John Wilmot
1677 Aphra Behn writes The Rover
1684 John Wilmot writes Sodom, or the Quinetessence of Debauchery
1697 John Vanbrugh writes The Provoked Wife
1700 William Congreve writes The Way of the World
1707 George Farquhar writes the Beaux Stratagem
1728 John Gay writes The Beggar's Opera
1729 John Swift writes A Modest Proposal
1730 Marivaux writes The Game of Love and Chance
1738 Harry Woodward joins David Garrick's acting company at Drury Lane
1743 Carlo Goldoni writes The Servant of Two Masters
1759 Voltaire writes Candide
1761 Carlo Gozzi writes Love For Three Oranges
1764 Thomas Weston acts at Drury Lane
1773 Oliver Goldsmith writes She Stoops to Conquer starring Ned Shuter
1777 Richard Sheridan writes The School for Scandal and Thomas King stars in it
1780 Denis Diderot writes Jacques the Fatalist
1818 Thomas Love Peacock writes Nightmare Abbey parodying his friends Shelley and Byron
1836 George Buchner writes Leonce and Lena
1842 Nicolai Gogol writes The Inspector General
1876 Mark Twain writes Tom Sawyer
1878 Gilbert and Sullivan premiere H.M.S. Pinafore
1879 Gilbert and Sullivan premiere The Pirates of Penzance
1884 Mark Twain writes Huckleberry Finn
1885 Gilbert and Sullivan premiere The Mikado
1889 Jerome K. Jerome writes Three Men in a Boat
1892 Oscar Wilde writes Lady Windermere's Fan
1894 George Bernard Shaw writes Candida and Arms and the Man
1895 Oscar Wilde writes The Importance of Being Earnest
1911 Ambrose Bierce writes The Devil's Dictionary
1912 George Bernard Shaw writes Pygmalion
1914 Charlie Chaplin invents the Tramp
1921 Charlie Chaplin makes The Kid
1923 Harold Lloyd makes Safety Last!
1924 Buster Keaton makes Sherlock Jr.
1925 Charlie Chaplin makes The Gold Rush
1927 Buster Keaton makes The General
1928 Bertolt Brecht writes The Threepenny Opera based on The Beggars Opera
1931 Charlie Chaplin makes City Lights
1932 Ernst Lubitsch makes Trouble in Paradise
1933 The Marx Brothers make Duck Soup
1934 The Three Stooges sign with Columbia pictures to make a series of short films
1935 The Marx Brothers make A Night at the Opera, John Steinbeck writes Tortilla Flat
1936 Charlie Chaplin makes Modern Times, William Powell makes My Man Godfry
1937 Henny Youngman performs on the radio
1938 Abbott and Costello perfect "Who's on First", P.G. Wodehouse writes The Code of the Woosters, Cary Grant stars in Bringing Up Baby
1940 Charlie Chaplin makes The Great Dictator, W.C. Fields makes The Bank Dick, Tex Avery invents Bugs Bunny
1941 Bob Hope performs his first USO show
1942 Ernst Lubitsch makes To Be or Not To Be
1944 Frank Capra makes Arsenic and Old Lace
1946 Martin and Lewis form a duo
1950 Sid Caesar invents television comedy with Your Show of Shows, The Burns and Allen Show is televised
1951 Lucille Ball goes from radio star to television star with I Love Lucy
1952 Harvey Kurtzman launches MAD magazine
1955 Ingmar Bergman makes Smiles of a Summer Night, Billy Wilder makes The Seven Year Itch, Jackie Gleason stars in The Honeymooners, Humphrey Bogart and Peter Ustinov make We're No Angels
1957 Don Rickles mocks Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas
1959 Billy Wilder makes Some Like It Hot
1961 Joseph Heller writes Catch-22, Lenny Bruce performs at Carnegie Hall, The Dick Van Dyke Show begins
1962 Johnny Carson hosts the Tonight Show
1964 Peter Sellers acts in Dr. Strangelove
1966 Zero Mostel stars in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1968 Rowan and Martin's Laugh In "Sock it to me!"
1969 Monty Python's Flying Circus premieres on the BBC, as does The Benny Hill Show
1970 Douglas Kenney, Henry Beard, and Robert Hoffman launch National Lampoon Magazine
1971 Caroll O'Connor plays Archie Bunker on All in the Family, Richard Pryor performs Live and Smokin'
1972 Alan Alda stars in MASH and George Carlin performs Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Tv, Redd Foxx creates Sanford and Son, Hunter S. Thompson writes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
1973 William Goldman writes The Princess Bride
1974 Mel Brooks makes Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein
1975 Monty Python makes The Holy Grail, Andy Kaufman performs Mighty Mouse, SNL begins with Aykroyd, Belushi, and Chase
1977 Woody Allen makes Annie Hall, George Carlin performs at USC
1978 Steve Martin performs A Wild and Crazy Guy, John Belushi stars in Animal House, Cheech and Chong make Up in Smoke
1979 Douglas Adams publishes the novelization of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Richard Pryor Live in Concert, Monty Python's Life of Brian
1980 Caddyshack starring Dangerfield, Murray, and Chase, Dangerfield performs I Don't Get No Respect, Leslie Nielsen stars in Airplane!
1981 Howard Stern breaks out of radio anonymity, Richard Pryor performs Live on the Sunset Strip, Weird Al Yankovic performs Another One Rides the Bus
1982 David Letterman gets his first talkshow, Carlin performs at Carnegie
1983 Eddie Murphy performs Delirius, Bill Cosby Performs Himself, Rowan Atkinson creates Blackadder, Richard Pryor performs Here and Now
1984 The Bill Cosby Show, Sam Kinison gets his break on Rodney Dangerfield's Young Comedians Special, Eddy Murphy Beverly Hills Cop, Carlin on Campus
1986 Robin Williams performs Live At the Met, John Hughes makes Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1987 Eddie Murphy performs Raw, Ed O'Neill plays Al Bundy in Married with Children, Rick Moranis stars in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, Bill Cosby performs 49
1988 Roseanne Barr stars in Roseanne, Leslie Nielsen stars in The Naked Gun
1989 Jerry Seinfeld makes Seinfeld, Matt Groening airs the Simpsons on Fox, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill Hicks: Sane Man
1990 The Wayans Brothers create In Living Color, Sam Kinison performs Banned, Howard Stern gets his second television show where he plays games like Hooker Hollywood Squares, Lesbian Dating Game, and Guess the Jew
1991 Andrew Dice Clay performs at Madison Square Garden hickory dickory dock, Sam Kinison performs The Family Entertainment Hour
1992 Jay Leno hosts the Tonight Show, Denis Leary performs No Cure for Cancer, Martin Lawrence creates Martin, Bill Hicks performs Relentless, George Carlin Jammin' in New York, Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey make Wayne's World
1993 Mike Judge creates Beavis and Butthead, Bill Hicks performs Revelations, The Conan O'Brien Show airs, Jeff Foxworthy "You Might be a Redneck If"
1994 Kevin Smith makes Clerks, Jim Carry stars in Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber
1995 Kevin Smith makes Mallrats
1996 Chris Rock performs Bring the Pain
1997 Trey Parker and Matt Stone create South Park
1998 Seth MacFarlane creates Family Guy, the Coen brothers make The Big Lebowski, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik debut Penny Arcade
1999 Jon Stewart hosts The Daily Show, Chris Rock performs Bigger and Blacker while hosting The Chris Rock Show, Matt Groening creates Futurama, Kevin Smith makes Dogma, George Carlin performs You Are All Diseased
2000 Dave Chappelle performs Killin' Them Softly, Johnny Knoxville creates Jackass, Eddy Izzard performs Dress to Kill
2001 Ricky Gervais creates The Office
2003 Dave Chappelle hosts The Chappelle Show, Lewis Black performs Black On Broadway
2004 Chris Rock performs Never Scared
2005 Stephen Colbert creates The Colbert Report, George Carlin performs Life Is Worth Losing
2006 Mike Judge makes Idiocracy, John Lee and Vernon Chatman create Wonder Showzen
2008 George Carlin performs It's Bad For Ya

[fjkdsi]

I find Dostoevksy hilarious but Ilf and Petrov (2 writers that wrote together) have 2 books called 12 chairs and Little Golden Calf that I think are hilarious.

[Ghuyuran]

I have never laughed so much while reading a literary work than with Byron's Don Juan. Hilarious.

[Paulclem]

I really enjoyed The Barber of Seville play - Beaumarchais

I laughed out loud reading it way back when.

David Nobbs - a Brit - wrote the fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin which is way funnier than the series.

If you want a gentler humour, the James Herriot's books about his time a s aYorkshire vet are good. In a similar vein, Lillian Beckwith writes about life on the Isle of Skye in the forties.

[Theunderground]

Thanks for the suggestions,especially the list by mortal terror. (i think he has gleaned what kind of humour i like,very perceptive!)
Any offers on humourus short stories or novellas?
I did actually find notes from underground very funny in parts,ditto some of poes' and maupassants' work,but as a whole i wouldnt say i come away from their general works in comic mood. (to say the least.)

[sixsmith]

Some that have not been mentioned:

White Noise - Don De Lillo
Something Happened - Joseph Heller
The Information - Martin Amis
Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis
The Great American Novel - Philip Roth
Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth

[keilj]

I recommend Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Also, I am surprised that no one mentioned Mark Twain - he might be the greatest writer of satire that ever lived - plus he used what George Carlin described as the sledgehammer approach to hypocrisy. Anyway, read Twain's A Cure for the Blues - no way you can get through it without laughing out loud at least a dozen times

[OrphanPip]

I would second much of Mortal's recommendations. Though I think the Renaissance comedies are not quite what the OP was looking for. For theater at least, I think he would have more in mind the tradition of "laughing comedies" that arose out of the Restoration but has parallels with Aristophanes.

Aristophanes is good fun, but he makes so many topical allusions that it helps to have a well annotated text. It's easy to miss the relevance of him making fun of some local politician if you have no idea who he is talking about, but with a good footnote you can get the kind of "type" the joke is based on.

And while I know that The Rover is Behn's most highly regarded play (I think largely off of the basis of Rochester inspiring the main character), I much prefer The Lucky Chance.

[JamesRhodes]

Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock is a great parody of the Romantics, written by one of their friends. Coleridge's counterpart Mr Ferdinando Flosky is hilarous.

[marcolfo]

what about vonnegunt´s slaughterhouse 5.

[jlb4tlb]

Cool list! But no Lenny Bruce??

Namaste

Jeff




423BC Aristophanes writes Clouds
422BC Aristophanes writes Wasps
421BC Aristophanes writes Peace
414BC Aristophanes writes Birds
411BC Aristophanes writes Lysistrata
411BC Aristophanes writes Thesmophoriazusae
234–184 BC Plautus writes The Pot of Gold, Amphytrion, The Haunted House, Miles Gloriosus, The Menaechmus Twins, and Pseudolus
60 Petronius writes Satyricon
1532 Rabelais writes Gargantua and Pantagruel
1583-1585 Richard Tarlton is comic for the Queen's Men
1589 Christopher Marlowe writes The Jew of Malta
1592 Shakespeare writes The Comedy of Errors based on a work by Plautus
1593 Shakespeare writes The Taming of the Shrew
1594 William Kempe joins The Lord Chamberlain's Men
1597 Shakespeare writes Henry IV part I
1598 Shakespeare writes Henry IV part II
1599 Shakespeare writes Much Ado About Nothing
1600 Shakespeare writes The Merry Wives of Windsor, Robert Armin joins Lord Chamberlain's Men
1602 Shakespeare writes Twelfth Night
1603 Shakespeare writes Measure for Measure
1605 Cervantes writes Don Quixote
1606 Ben Jonson writes Volpone
1664 Moliere writes Tartuffe
1675 William Wycherley writes The Country Wife
1676 George Etherege writes The Man of Mode based on his friend John Wilmot
1677 Aphra Behn writes The Rover
1684 John Wilmot writes Sodom, or the Quinetessence of Debauchery
1697 John Vanbrugh writes The Provoked Wife
1700 William Congreve writes The Way of the World
1707 George Farquhar writes the Beaux Stratagem
1728 John Gay writes The Beggar's Opera
1729 John Swift writes A Modest Proposal
1730 Marivaux writes The Game of Love and Chance
1738 Harry Woodward joins David Garrick's acting company at Drury Lane
1743 Carlo Goldoni writes The Servant of Two Masters
1759 Voltaire writes Candide
1761 Carlo Gozzi writes Love For Three Oranges
1764 Thomas Weston acts at Drury Lane
1773 Oliver Goldsmith writes She Stoops to Conquer starring Ned Shuter
1777 Richard Sheridan writes The School for Scandal and Thomas King stars in it
1780 Denis Diderot writes Jacques the Fatalist
1818 Thomas Love Peacock writes Nightmare Abbey parodying his friends Shelley and Byron
1836 George Buchner writes Leonce and Lena
1842 Nicolai Gogol writes The Inspector General
1876 Mark Twain writes Tom Sawyer
1878 Gilbert and Sullivan premiere H.M.S. Pinafore
1879 Gilbert and Sullivan premiere The Pirates of Penzance
1884 Mark Twain writes Huckleberry Finn
1885 Gilbert and Sullivan premiere The Mikado
1889 Jerome K. Jerome writes Three Men in a Boat
1892 Oscar Wilde writes Lady Windermere's Fan
1894 George Bernard Shaw writes Candida and Arms and the Man
1895 Oscar Wilde writes The Importance of Being Earnest
1911 Ambrose Bierce writes The Devil's Dictionary
1912 George Bernard Shaw writes Pygmalion
1914 Charlie Chaplin invents the Tramp
1921 Charlie Chaplin makes The Kid
1923 Harold Lloyd makes Safety Last!
1924 Buster Keaton makes Sherlock Jr.
1925 Charlie Chaplin makes The Gold Rush
1927 Buster Keaton makes The General
1928 Bertolt Brecht writes The Threepenny Opera based on The Beggars Opera
1931 Charlie Chaplin makes City Lights
1932 Ernst Lubitsch makes Trouble in Paradise
1933 The Marx Brothers make Duck Soup
1934 The Three Stooges sign with Columbia pictures to make a series of short films
1935 The Marx Brothers make A Night at the Opera, John Steinbeck writes Tortilla Flat
1936 Charlie Chaplin makes Modern Times, William Powell makes My Man Godfry
1937 Henny Youngman performs on the radio
1938 Abbott and Costello perfect "Who's on First", P.G. Wodehouse writes The Code of the Woosters, Cary Grant stars in Bringing Up Baby
1940 Charlie Chaplin makes The Great Dictator, W.C. Fields makes The Bank Dick, Tex Avery invents Bugs Bunny
1941 Bob Hope performs his first USO show
1942 Ernst Lubitsch makes To Be or Not To Be
1944 Frank Capra makes Arsenic and Old Lace
1946 Martin and Lewis form a duo
1950 Sid Caesar invents television comedy with Your Show of Shows, The Burns and Allen Show is televised
1951 Lucille Ball goes from radio star to television star with I Love Lucy
1952 Harvey Kurtzman launches MAD magazine
1955 Ingmar Bergman makes Smiles of a Summer Night, Billy Wilder makes The Seven Year Itch, Jackie Gleason stars in The Honeymooners, Humphrey Bogart and Peter Ustinov make We're No Angels
1957 Don Rickles mocks Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas
1959 Billy Wilder makes Some Like It Hot
1961 Joseph Heller writes Catch-22, Lenny Bruce performs at Carnegie Hall, The Dick Van Dyke Show begins
1962 Johnny Carson hosts the Tonight Show
1964 Peter Sellers acts in Dr. Strangelove
1966 Zero Mostel stars in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1968 Rowan and Martin's Laugh In "Sock it to me!"
1969 Monty Python's Flying Circus premieres on the BBC, as does The Benny Hill Show
1970 Douglas Kenney, Henry Beard, and Robert Hoffman launch National Lampoon Magazine
1971 Caroll O'Connor plays Archie Bunker on All in the Family, Richard Pryor performs Live and Smokin'
1972 Alan Alda stars in MASH and George Carlin performs Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Tv, Redd Foxx creates Sanford and Son, Hunter S. Thompson writes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
1973 William Goldman writes The Princess Bride
1974 Mel Brooks makes Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein
1975 Monty Python makes The Holy Grail, Andy Kaufman performs Mighty Mouse, SNL begins with Aykroyd, Belushi, and Chase
1977 Woody Allen makes Annie Hall, George Carlin performs at USC
1978 Steve Martin performs A Wild and Crazy Guy, John Belushi stars in Animal House, Cheech and Chong make Up in Smoke
1979 Douglas Adams publishes the novelization of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Richard Pryor Live in Concert, Monty Python's Life of Brian
1980 Caddyshack starring Dangerfield, Murray, and Chase, Dangerfield performs I Don't Get No Respect, Leslie Nielsen stars in Airplane!
1981 Howard Stern breaks out of radio anonymity, Richard Pryor performs Live on the Sunset Strip, Weird Al Yankovic performs Another One Rides the Bus
1982 David Letterman gets his first talkshow, Carlin performs at Carnegie
1983 Eddie Murphy performs Delirius, Bill Cosby Performs Himself, Rowan Atkinson creates Blackadder, Richard Pryor performs Here and Now
1984 The Bill Cosby Show, Sam Kinison gets his break on Rodney Dangerfield's Young Comedians Special, Eddy Murphy Beverly Hills Cop, Carlin on Campus
1986 Robin Williams performs Live At the Met, John Hughes makes Ferris Bueller's Day Off
1987 Eddie Murphy performs Raw, Ed O'Neill plays Al Bundy in Married with Children, Rick Moranis stars in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, Bill Cosby performs 49
1988 Roseanne Barr stars in Roseanne, Leslie Nielsen stars in The Naked Gun
1989 Jerry Seinfeld makes Seinfeld, Matt Groening airs the Simpsons on Fox, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill Hicks: Sane Man
1990 The Wayans Brothers create In Living Color, Sam Kinison performs Banned, Howard Stern gets his second television show where he plays games like Hooker Hollywood Squares, Lesbian Dating Game, and Guess the Jew
1991 Andrew Dice Clay performs at Madison Square Garden hickory dickory dock, Sam Kinison performs The Family Entertainment Hour
1992 Jay Leno hosts the Tonight Show, Denis Leary performs No Cure for Cancer, Martin Lawrence creates Martin, Bill Hicks performs Relentless, George Carlin Jammin' in New York, Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey make Wayne's World
1993 Mike Judge creates Beavis and Butthead, Bill Hicks performs Revelations, The Conan O'Brien Show airs, Jeff Foxworthy "You Might be a Redneck If"
1994 Kevin Smith makes Clerks, Jim Carry stars in Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber
1995 Kevin Smith makes Mallrats
1996 Chris Rock performs Bring the Pain
1997 Trey Parker and Matt Stone create South Park
1998 Seth MacFarlane creates Family Guy, the Coen brothers make The Big Lebowski, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik debut Penny Arcade
1999 Jon Stewart hosts The Daily Show, Chris Rock performs Bigger and Blacker while hosting The Chris Rock Show, Matt Groening creates Futurama, Kevin Smith makes Dogma, George Carlin performs You Are All Diseased
2000 Dave Chappelle performs Killin' Them Softly, Johnny Knoxville creates Jackass, Eddy Izzard performs Dress to Kill
2001 Ricky Gervais creates The Office
2003 Dave Chappelle hosts The Chappelle Show, Lewis Black performs Black On Broadway
2004 Chris Rock performs Never Scared
2005 Stephen Colbert creates The Colbert Report, George Carlin performs Life Is Worth Losing
2006 Mike Judge makes Idiocracy, John Lee and Vernon Chatman create Wonder Showzen
2008 George Carlin performs It's Bad For Ya

[mortalterror]

Lenny Bruce is right there in 1961.

[Sulla]

I think you'd also have to add A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole,

Also, Fight Club by CP would have to rank somewhere. It's hard to remember now but CP was capable of writing good stuff.

[ponty]

Douglas Adams brings a wry smile. Stephen Fry if you like bawdy. But the best I have come across would be short stories by Frank O'Connor- 'the genius' and 'my oedipus complex'. Very funny. Agree with Catch-22 also

[dfloyd]

Sinclair Lewis -
Babbit
Main Street
Elmer Gantry
Evelyn Waugh -
Black Mischief
Scoop!
John Steinbeck -
Cannery Row
Tortilla Flat
Joyce Cary -
The Horse's Mouth
Henry Fielding -
Joseph Andrews
Mark Twain -
A Connecticut Yankee

[WyattGwyon]

JR by William Gaddis
The Russian Debutante's Handbook by Gary Shteyngart
The Winner of the National Book Award by Jincy Willet
Anything by Douglas Adams