Essays & Memoirs Audiobooks | Comedy

Rookie Mistakes: A Grown-Up's Field Guide for Getting Your Act Together

Read by the author. In her highly anticipated nonfiction debut, comedian Kelly Bandas uses her trademark humor to recount stories of growing up and becoming a semifunctional adult in a dysfunctional world. Raised in a devoutly Catholic home, Kelly Bandas spent her entire childhood trying hard not to tick off "the man" or the Lord. And for the most part, she crushed it. But as she got older and began to navigate what it looked like to truly live in a world where gender roles, race, and politics weren't always so black and white, Kelly realized that her former worldview was beginning to feel like that pair of Forever 21 jeans that used to glide effortlessly over her hips but now required a lot of stretching and acrobatic maneuvering to shimmy into place. And she's not alone. In Rookie Mistakes, Kelly shares stories of growing up in a church-centered, male-dominated society and how those experiences shaped and primed her for a new chapter of life. In this debut collection of essays, Kelly shares: - Funny, fast-paced, and uplifting stories - Encouragement for women who are tired of feeling like they will never measure up-and kind of don't want to anyway - Inspiration to find your voice, your power, and your people Kelly shares everything from laugh-out-loud accounts of Oregon Trail-themed first kisses to heartfelt insights gleaned from navigating life as a Christian feminist doing her best not to screw up being a parent of a child with a disability, in a trans-racial family. Rookie Mistakes is the call-to-action millennial women everywhere have been waiting for.

Kelly Bandas (Author), Kelly Bandas (Narrator)

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How to Cuss in Western: And Other Missives from the High Desert

Where nature writing meets humor—a raucous, hilarious look at life in the high desert of Nevada, from the author of Raising Wild and Rants from the Hill Edward Abbey encouraged his readers to “be loyal to what you love, be true to the Earth, and fight your enemies with passion and laughter.” Here is Michael Branch’s response. Full of clear-eyed explorations of the natural world, witty cultural observations, and heart-warming family connections, How to Cuss in Western is a cranky and hilarious love letter of sorts to the western Great Basin Desert of Nevada.

Michael P. Branch (Author), David Marantz (Narrator)

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Prozac Monologues: A Voice from the Edge

She was going to stab her doctor, but she wrote a book instead. Years later, Willa Goodfellow revisits this account of her antidepressant-induced hypomania that hijacked a Costa Rican vacation and tells the rest of the story: the wrong medications, an overlooked diagnosis of Bipolar 2, and finally a path to recovery. Prozac Monologues: A Voice from the Edge is a book within a book, part memoir of misdiagnosis and part self-help guide about the bipolar spectrum. This edgy and comedic collection of essays offers information about a mood disorder frequently mistaken for Major Depression as well as resources for recovery and further study. Plus, Costa Rica. - If your depression keeps coming back . . . - If your antidepressant side effects are dreadful . . . - If you are curious about the bipolar spectrum . . . - If you want ideas for recovery from mental illness . . . - If you care for somebody who might have more than depression . . . . . . then she wrote this for you.

Willa Goodfellow (Author), Willa Goodfellow (Narrator)

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The Great Indoorsman: Essays

Many authors have traveled and explored the out-of-doors, both in life and then in their books, proving themselves stalwart, audacious, even heroic; Andrew Farkas is not among them. He is brave enough to admit that the outdoors isn’t for him. Instead, in these essays Farkas reports on his bold explorations of a very different territory: the in-of-doors, the waiting rooms, kitchens, malls, bars, theaters, roadside motel rooms, and other places that feature temperature control, protection from rampaging predators, and a higher degree of comfort than can be found outside. Farkas discovers that, just as the mannered and wonderfully (gloriously) artificial indoors influences us greatly, our lives are also controlled much more by fiction than by anything “real.” So come in out of the weather (it’s always terrible) and join the Great Indoorsman on his adventures, where he makes fun of pretty much everything, most of all himself.

Andrew Farkas (Author), Robert Fass (Narrator)

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I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood

The eagerly anticipated second essay collection from Jessi Klein, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling debut You’ll Grow Out of It. “Sometimes I think about how much bad news there is to tell my kid, the endlessly long, looping CVS receipt scroll of truly terrible things that have happened, and I want to get under the bed and never come out. How do we tell them about all this? Can we just play Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire and then brace for questions? The first of which should be, how is this a song that played on the radio?” In New York Times bestselling author and Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Jessi Klein’s second collection, she hilariously explodes the cultural myths and impossible expectations around motherhood and explore the humiliations, poignancies, and possibilities of midlife. In interconnected essays like “Listening to Beyoncé in the Parking Lot of Party City,” “Your Husband Will Remarry Five Minutes After You Die,” “Eulogy for My Feet,” and “An Open Love Letter to Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent,” Klein explores this stage of life in all its cruel ironies, joyous moments, and bittersweetness. Written with Klein’s signature candor and humanity, I'll Show Myself Out is an incisive, moving, and often uproarious collection.

Jessi Klein (Author), Jessi Klein (Narrator)

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Start Without Me: (I'll Be There in a Minute)

This program is read by the author. From New York Times bestselling author, and Family Guy writer Gary Janetti comes Start Without Me, a collection of hilarious, laugh out loud, true life stories about the small moments that add up to a big life. Gary Janetti is bothered. By a lot of things. And thank God he’s here to tell us. In Start Without Me, Gary returns with his acid tongue firmly in cheek to the moments and times that defined him. He takes us by the hand as we follow him through the summers he spends in his twenties, pursuing both the perfect tan and the perfect man to no avail and much regret. At his Catholic high school, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a nun who shares Gary's love of soap operas, which becomes a salvation to them both. And don't get him started on how a bad hotel room can ruin even the best vacation. This laugh-out-loud collection of true-life stories from the man “behind his generation’s greatest comedy” (The New York Times) is for anyone who has felt the joy in holding a decade-long grudge. Whether you are a new convert to Janetti or one of the million who follow him on social media for a daily laugh, Start Without Me will have you howling at Gary's frustrations and nodding along in agreement at the outrages of life's small slights. It's the literary equivalent of a night out with your funniest friend that you wish would never end. A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company.

Gary Janetti (Author), Gary Janetti (Narrator)

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Girls Can Kiss Now: Essays

Named One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2022 by Vogue, BuzzFeed, Bustle, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Electric Lit, Thrillist, Glamour, CNN, and Shondaland "Wickedly funny and heartstoppingly vulnerable…every page twinkles with brilliance." —Refinery29 Perfect for fans of Samantha Irby and Trick Mirror, a funny, whip-smart collection of personal essays exploring the intersection of queerness, relationships, pop culture, the internet, and identity, introducing one of the most undeniably original new voices today. Jill Gutowitz's life—for better and worse—has always been on a collision course with pop culture. There's the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life. And of course, the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill's own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture. Dusting off her own personal traumas and artifacts of her not-so-distant youth she examines how pop culture acts as a fun house mirror reflecting and refracting our values—always teaching, distracting, disappointing, and revealing us. Girls Can Kiss Now is a fresh and intoxicating blend of personal stories, sharp observations, and laugh-out-loud humor. This timely collection of essays helps us make sense of our collective pop-culture past even as it points the way toward a joyous, uproarious, near—and very queer—future.

Jill Gutowitz (Author), Jill Gutowitz (Narrator)

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Who Do I Think I Am?: Stories of Chola Wishes and Caviar Dreams

This hilarious and thoughtful memoir from comedy legend Anjelah Johnson explores questions of identity, belonging, and her two dreams as a kid: to be an actress and to be a chola. You may know Anjelah Johnson for her viral sketch "Nail Salon" (over 100 million views globally) or her beloved ghetto-fabulous MadTV character Bon Qui Qui, but it's her clean humor and hilarious storytelling that make her one of the most successful stand-up comedians and actresses today. With her razor-sharp wit, Anjelah recounts funny stories from her journey-from growing up caught between two worlds (do chips and salsa go with potato salad?) to unexpectedly embracing faith ("I love Jesus, but I will punch a 'ho") to her many adventures in dating (she may or may not have accepted dates simply for the food). Through it all, Anjelah transforms from a suburban-adjacent kid with Aquanet-drenched hair into a devoted Christian who abstains from drinking and premarital sex, into a mall-famous Oakland Raiders cheerleader, and then an actually famous comedian traveling the world and meeting people from all-walks of life, including Oprah. No biggie. (Huge biggie.) As she travels the world, Anjelah has eye-opening experiences, and she morphs from square, rigid Anjelah into "Funjelah," and learns that she can still ride with Jesus without squashing the other parts of her personality. Anjelah's stories explore subjects such as navigating your racial identity, finding your place in the world, chasing your crazy dreams, embracing the messiness of an evolving faith, and searching for belonging and meaning. Through her journey, Anjelah gets closer to discovering her true identity and encourages readers to have the audacity to dream big.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes (Author), Anjelah Johnson-Reyes (Narrator)

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Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means

From the host of NPR affiliate’s Forum with Michael Krasny, a compendium of Jewish jokes that packs the punches with hilarious riff after riff and also offers a window into Jewish culture. Michael Krasny has been telling Jewish jokes since his bar mitzvah, and it’s been said that he knows more of them than anyone on the planet. He certainly states his case in this wise, enlightening, and hilarious book that not only collects the best of Jewish humor passed down from generation to generation, but explains the cultural expressions and anxieties behind the laughs. 'What’s Jewish Alzheimer’s?' 'You forget everything but the grudges.' 'You must be so proud. Your daughter is the President of the United States!' 'Yes. But her brother is a doctor!' 'Isn’t Jewish humor masochistic?' 'No. And if I hear that one more time I am going to kill myself.' With his background as a scholar and public-radio host, Krasny delves deeply into the themes, topics, and form of Jewish humor: chauvinism undercut by irony and self-mockery, the fear of losing cultural identity through assimilation, the importance of vocal inflection in joke-telling, and calls to communal memory, including the use of Yiddish. Borrowing from traditional humor and such Jewish comedy legends as Jackie Mason, Mel Brooks, and Joan Rivers, Larry David, Sarah Silverman, Jerry Seinfeld and Amy Schumer, Let There Be Laughter is an absolute pleasure for the chosen and goyim alike.

Michael Krasny (Author), Michael Krasny (Narrator)

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Tell Everyone On This Train I Love Them

Deeply funny, moving, and urgent writing about a country that can feel broken into pieces and the light that shines through the cracks, from Irish comedian Maeve Higgins, author of Maeve in America. As an eternally curious outsider, Maeve Higgins can see that the United States is still an experiment. Some parts work well and others really don't, but that doesn't stop her from loving the place and the people that make it. With piercing political commentary in a sweet and salty tone, these essays unearth answers to the questions we all have about this country we call home; the beauty of it all and the dark parts too. Maeve attends the 2020 Border Security Expo to better understand the future of our borders, and finds herself at The Alamo surrounded by queso and homemade rifles. A chance encounter with a statue of a teenage horseback rider causes her to interrogate the purpose of monuments, this sends her hurtling through the past, connecting Ireland's revolutionary history with the struggles of Black Americans today. And after mistaking edibles for innocent candies, Maeve gets way too high at Paper Source. Most of all, Maeve wants to leave this country and this planet better than she found it. That may well be impossible, but it certainly means showing love. Lots of it, even when it's difficult to do so. Threaded through these pieces is love for strangers, love for friends who show up right on time, love for trees, love for Tom Hardy, love for those with differing opinions, love for the glamorous older women of Brighton Beach with tattooed eyeliner and gold jewelry, love for everybody on this train.

Maeve Higgins (Author), Maeve Higgins (Narrator)

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Britons Through Negro Spectacles

Brought to you by Penguin. 'We shall therefore confine our walk to Central London where people meet on business during the day, and to West London where they meet for pleasure at night. If you will walk about the first City in the British Empire arm in arm with Merriman-Labor, you are sure to see Britons in merriment and at labour, by night and by day, in West and Central London.' In Britons Through Negro Spectacles Merriman-Labor takes us on a joyous, intoxicating tour of London at the turn of the 20th century. Slyly subverting the colonial gaze usually placed on Africa, he introduces us to the citizens, culture and customs of Britain with a mischievous glint in his eye. This incredible work of social commentary feels a century ahead of its time, and provides unique insights into the intersection between empire, race and community at this important moment in history. Selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation. © ABC Merriman-Labor 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Abc Merriman-Labor (Author), Bernardine Evaristo, Mohammed Mansary (Narrator)

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Odd Woman Out

Trying to crawl inside the television set to get her parents' attention, but blocked by the tubes and wires, she went the long way around to get herself seen onscreen. In thirty-five stand alone essays and stories comprising a very late in life love story, a person who feels fictitious learns to become real from the roles she plays. Chartoff exposes her artistry and love blunders in her hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful memoir Odd Woman Out. From her 1950s childhood in a suburb she describes as an 'abusement park' to performing Molière on Broadway, to voicing characters on the popular Rugrats cartoon series, Melanie Chartoff was anxious 'out of character,' preferring any imaginary world to her real one. Obsessed with exploring her talent, fame came as a destabilizing byproduct. Suppressing a spiritual breakdown while co-starring on a late-night comedy show, Chartoff grew alienated. Given a private audience with a guru, she finally hears her inner voice, '70s soul singer Barry White, crooning, 'Get out, baby!' All the while, she's courted by men with homing pigeons and Priuses, idealized by guys who want the girl du jour from TV to be their baby rearer or kidney donor. Go backstage on Broadway, behind the scenes on network television, and inside the complicated psyche of a performer struggling in the role of a complete human. ITrying to crawl inside the television set to get her parents' attention, but blocked by the tubes and wires, she went the long way around to get herself seen onscreen. In 35 stand alone essays and stories comprising a better-late-than -never love story, a person who feels fictitious learns to become real from the roles she plays. Chartoff exposes her artistry and love blunders in her hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful memoir Odd Woman Out.

Melanie Chartoff (Author), Melanie Chartoff (Narrator)

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Essays & Memoirs Audiobooks in Comedy