Whether you're rolling the acid wit of Dorothy Parker over your tongue or laughing out loud at the unfortunate antics of a P. G. Wodehouse hero, there are few pleasures like that of sitting down with a book that you know will bring a warm smile to your face.
Ever since Chaucer's day, when the host of the Tabard Inn in Southwark rose to welcome the Canterbury Pilgrims with a joke, the After Dinner Speech, designed, if possible, to reduce the assembled company to helpless merriment, has presented the ultimate challenge.
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No one was quicker off the mark with a wisecrack than Dorothy Parker, who kept the tables of New York and Hollywood in a roar in the 1920s and 30s.
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From vaudeville tours across America to A Night at the Opera, the Marx Brothers wise-cracked their way into entertainment legend. To paraphrase Groucho, from the moment you pick up this book until the moment you lay it down, you will be convulsed with laughter.
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It was in writing for magazines such as The New Yorker that Woody Allen found his comic voice. This first ever illustrated edition of his essays, short stories and playlets will find you revelling in some of the sharpest comic writing of the last 40 years.
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Ambrose 'Bitter' Bierce was immortalised by The Devil's Dictionary. His series of satirical definitions and irreverent aphorisms first appeared from 1881 to 1886 in the columns of a provincial newspaper, impaling the sacred cows of civilised life - and much else besides - upon the spikes of his own mordant wit.
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From simple slapstick to cool sophistication, these stories share a genius for setting off life's fireworks.
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They are what Churchill called 'the gleaming toys of history' – a collection of entertaining stories, many of them biographical, that light up past and present and fix them in our memories.
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Devastatingly incisive and irresistibly funny, this collection of character sketches by E. F. Benson introduces us to the inhabitants of that most rarefied haunt of civilisation – the Mayfair of the Edwardian heyday.
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The unconventional and fascinating Mitfords epitomised the great political divide of their day. In this sparkling and moving memoir, Jessica, the 'red sheep' of the family, recounts her rebellious and remarkable early life.
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Mark Twain's reputation grew ever larger as the rest of the world caught up with his wickedly dry wit. In these stories, satires, travel pieces, speeches, letters and anecdotes, Twain pokes fun at himself and other Americans in places as diverse as the Mississippi riverboats and the castles of Europe
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David Niven was a member of Hollywood's inner circle during its golden age, so when he published his hilarious memoir, it delighted readers around the world with its uproarious mixture of racy reminiscences and intimate portraits of show-business legends.
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David Niven was a member of Hollywood's inner circle during its golden age, so when he published his hilarious memoir, it delighted readers around the world with its uproarious mixture of racy reminiscences and intimate portraits of show-business legends.
Add to basket Price: US$ 54.95
The name of Oscar Wilde has become synonymous with wit. This volume brings together some of the finest and most biting examples - chosen by his grandson from a wide range of essays, stories, plays and poetry - all of them the authentic product of the man who claimed he had nothing to declare but his genius.
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