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Books that made you laugh out loud?









Common as Mook

Not Posh as Fook
Jul 26, 2004
5,642
Not read any Tom Sharpe so time for a try I think. Any recommendations on a particular book to start with, or is Riotous Assembly a good a start as any?

Riotous Assembly is pant wetting funnily. Definitely start there and then move on to the Wilt series.
 








Mtoto

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2003
1,858
Riotous Assembly is pant wetting funnily. Definitely start there and then move on to the Wilt series.

Is that the one where they recreate the Zulu war at the end? Or was that the sequel?
Almost had a seizure reading one of his on a train many years ago, it was the bit in The Throwback involving the condom and the oven cleaner...
 


Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,160
Truro
I read quite a bit but have never found 'funny' books compelling to read. I'm not really an autobiography reader so that puts me at a disadvantage. Spike Milligan books were the last ones I enjoyed.

Yeah, I've just started his memoirs - "Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall". Genius, a different and unexpected way of looking at life - I think it's the sudden connections in the mind/brain that make you laugh out loud. Bill Bryson used to have that effect, but I find him a bit predictable now.

Mind you, I did have a few LOL moments with Dickens' Great Expectations recently - I've read it before, but this time it was the language rather than the plot that struck me.
 


Badger

NOT the Honey Badger
NSC Patron
May 8, 2007
13,108
Toronto
I have never read a book as funny as this. I, Partridge We need to Talk About Alan, is simply a work of comedy genius that ties together the whole Alan Partridge story from the man himself. There is barely a paragraph that goes past that isn't funny.

I've been reading it while getting Youtube clips from the relevant shows as well. Can't recommend the book enough to anybody that has even had a passing interest in Partridge over the years.

You can hear Alan's voice in your head saying the words as you read it. I love all the little touches like the list of songs to play at specific parts of the book (e.g. The Ski Sunday theme tune), the footnotes on every page and the hilariously detailed index at the back.
 




catfish

North Stand Brighton Boy
Dec 17, 2010
7,677
Worthing
The Hap & Leonard books by Joe R Lansdale combine laugh out loud dialogue with some very near the knuckle hard boiled action. Also another vote for Spike Milligan's war memoirs.
 


pasty

A different kind of pasty
Jul 5, 2003
31,040
West, West, West Sussex
Riotous Assembly is pant wetting funnily. Definitely start there and then move on to the Wilt series.

Another classic example of a book being far better than a film. Wilt, the book was superb. Wilt, the film was utter shite.
 








Cheeky Monkey

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
23,883
This for me, introduced to it by my brother who himself bought it at Victoria and laughed on the commuter train all the way back to Brighton. The Timewaster Letters: Amazon.co.uk: Robin Cooper: 9781843171089: Books

That is a very funny book.

As is this:

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kevo

Well-known member
Mar 8, 2008
9,805
This for me, introduced to it by my brother who himself bought it at Victoria and laughed on the commuter train all the way back to Brighton. The Timewaster Letters: Amazon.co.uk: Robin Cooper: 9781843171089: Books

Yes, Timewaster Letters is brilliant. I lent it to a friend and he liked it so much I had to buy it for him for his birthday.

If you're into music, I'd recommend Stuart Maconie's 'Cider with Roadies' - absolutely hilarious in parts. Maconie's 'Pies and Prejudice' is also very funny.
 




Questions

Habitual User
Oct 18, 2006
25,513
Worthing
Tom Sharpe for me. I still laugh if I am ever reminded of Constable Els and the trophy on his fireplace.
 


Dave the OAP

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
46,762
at home
Not read any Tom Sharpe so time for a try I think. Any recommendations on a particular book to start with, or is Riotous Assembly a good a start as any?

the only book I have ever read and had to put down as I was crying with laugher was Ancestral Vices by Tom Sharpe...

Although not a book, but more like blogs are postings on Ocean cruising by a guy who goes under the name of Neil Down ( and his wife Ida) ....he is a travel writer and posts on cruise.co.uk, and rips some cruise lines to shreds, but as with this site, people answer him and totally miss the sarcasm and irony in his posts. He slags off P&O as Butlins on sea and calls their top ship The Azura a Chav-magnet Hell hole. You shoud read some of the things people write back...it makes the banter on here read like shakespeare.
 










braintree

Member
Jan 12, 2010
35
You can hear Alan's voice in your head saying the words as you read it. I love all the little touches like the list of songs to play at specific parts of the book (e.g. The Ski Sunday theme tune), the footnotes on every page and the hilariously detailed index at the back.

I downloaded the audio book to listen to in the car, narrated by Coogan as Partridge - absolutely brilliant.
 


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