Tag: Humor (11-20 of 37)

Oct 2 2012 11:04 AM ET

John Hodgman's 'That Is All' audiobook: Hear the first 10 minutes, guest starring Paul Rudd -- EXCLUSIVE

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Today sees the release of the paperback and audiobook edition of John Hodgman’s That Is All. It’s the final entry in the writer and Daily Show contributor’s whimsical Complete World Knowledge trilogy, a series that also includes the best-sellers The Areas of My Expertise and More Information That You Require.

Like all of Hodgman’s work, it’s fantastically dense, bitingly witty, and gut-bustingly hilarious. The audiobook is particularly fun, as it features not only Hodgman but guest stars like Jon Hamm, Rachel Maddow, Patton Oswalt, Brooke Shields, Wyatt Cenac, Stephen Fry, and musicians John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats) and John Roderick (The Long Winters).

Check out the exclusive premiere of the first 10 minutes of the audio edition of That Is All, which features a fantastic appearance by Paul Rudd.

READ FULL STORY »

Sep 25 2012 10:45 AM ET

Neil Patrick Harris announces memoir: 'My plan is to reprint Tina Fey's Bossypants'

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Image Credit: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Neil Patrick Harris has signed a deal to write a memoir.

Crown Archetype — of Random House’s Crown Publishing Group — has acquired the How I Met Your Mother star’s forthcoming book, which is expected to be published in spring 2014.

The book will chronicle Harris’ exciting life in a “nonlinear reading experience that breaks the boundaries of conventional memoir.”

“I’m excited to be writing a book of the observations and stories of my life,” Harris said of the news. “I read with great fondness Tina Fey’s Bossypants, so my plan is just to reprint those exact stories but change the names to people that I knew. What editor would take issue with that?” READ FULL STORY »

Sep 19 2012 04:20 PM ET

Two out-of-print Nora Ephron titles to be published as a single volume

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Any existing physical copies of Nora Ephron’s Crazy Salad: Some Things about Women and Scribble, Scribble: Notes on the Media are probably well-worn, underlined, and doggy-eared by now. Crazy Salad and Scribble, Scribble have been out-of-print as solo volumes since 1991 and 1984, respectively. Vintage will be giving these two landmark books a fresh printing as a single volume come Oct. 16. They will also be available in their entirety as e-books for the first time on that date.

Crazy Salad, originally published in 1975, contains Ephron’s famous, oft-quoted essay “A Few Words About Breasts.”

After Ephron died in June, did you go looking for her backlist only to have trouble finding these two titles?

Follow @EWStephanLee on Twitter.

Read more:
Nora Ephron’s life in books: Read some of her best quotes
A critic’s appreciation: Nora Ephron’s words are worth a thousand pictures
Nora Ephron: Our favorite film moments — VIDEO

Sep 18 2012 12:01 PM ET

See the irreverent trailer for Jenny McCarthy's memoir 'Bad Habits' -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

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The road from God-fearing Catholic schoolgirl to Playmate of the Year is always a complicated one, but it can also be quite funny. Jenny McCarthy has already written six best-selling books, but she’s never delved so deeply into her ultra-religious upbringing as she does in Bad Habits: Confessions of a Recovering Catholic (Oct. 2). Growing up, the former Playboy mainstay dreamed of becoming a nun rather than an actress/model, and the book chronicles the many twists along the way that took her life in a very different direction.

Check out the irreverent trailer for Bad Habits, which follows McCarthy as she attends a reading group for nuns. It looks to me like a preview for an actual reality show on Lifetime. READ FULL STORY »

Sep 18 2012 10:12 AM ET

Chelsea Handler writing a book called '50 Shades of Chartreuse'

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Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Aside from drunken exploits and her crazy family, late-night host Chelsea Handler’s favorite topic to write about is sex, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the title of her next book — 50 Shades of Chartreuse: This Time It’s Personal — spoofs E L James’ erotica phenomenon. Chartreuse will be released Oct. 2013 under Handler’s own A Chelsea Handler Book/Borderline Amazing imprint of Grand Central Publishing. While the title seems to promise the new book will have the same raunchy, sarcastic tone as her first three essay collections, its tagline — which it shares with Jaws: The Revenge — might suggest this tome might be a little more serious. Handler has been expressing recently that she wants to take her E! series Chelsea Lately in a slightly weightier direction. In a statement, a rep for Grand Central Publishing said, “The new book is groundbreaking. Bigger stories, smaller type.”

Are you looking forward to 50 Shades of Chartreuse?

Read more:
Chelsea Handler gets her own imprint and a three-book deal
Which Chelsea Handler stories should be turned into episodes of ‘Vodka’?

Aug 22 2012 12:01 PM ET

Barnes & Noble finds its inner goddess with 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

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Image Credit: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images

Haters, say what you will about Fifty Shades of Grey, but it just may be responsible for saving one of the largest bookstore chains out there.

Barnes & Noble Inc. reported a smaller than anticipated loss for its fiscal first quarter, and it seems that may be due at least in part to the phenomenal sales of E L James’s erotic series.

Barnes & Noble’s net loss numbered $41 million last quarter. This may sound bad, but if we compare it to the same quarter in 2011 (when the company reported a loss of 56.6 million) it’s actually an improvement. Furthermore, Barnes & Noble saw its total revenue rise 2.5% to $1.5 billion. READ FULL STORY »

Apr 4 2012 03:32 PM ET

Poll: What book has the weirdest title?

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Each year, the U.K. publishing magazine The Bookseller and the Diagram Group open a vote to the British public to decide which author should win the coveted prize of weirdest book title of the year. The 2011 Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year went to Cooking with Poo by Saiyuud Diwong. The title might sound unsavory in English, but “Poo” is the Thai word for crab, and it’s also chef and author Diwong’s nickname. Strangely enough, another similarly titled book, Cooking with Pooh as in Disney’s Winnie, existed before Diwong’s culinary guide. (Clearly the potty humor wasn’t lost on the Amazon customer reviewers.)

Just for fun, vote for our own favorite bad/weird title out of the 10 finalists below! Or tell us about some of your other weird titles in the comments. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 29 2012 02:01 PM ET

Rachel Dratch talks her new memoir, '30 Rock,' Amy Poehler, and her new pilot

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Image Credit: Jason LaVeris/Getty Images

The number-one question that Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch gets is some variation of, “Why aren’t you on 30 Rock?” After her SNL stint ended, Dratch’s friend Tina Fey offered her the role of Jenna on 30 Rock — until the powers that be decided to de-emphasize sketch comedy on the show and replaced her with Jane Krakowski. In her funny new memoir Girl Walks Into a Bar, Dratch dishes on everything you wanted to know about the highs and lows of her comedy career — for a time, she was only offered parts playing “Lesbians. Secretaries. Sometimes secretaries who are lesbians… I am solely offered the parts which I like to refer to as “The Unf—ables.” But she also focuses on personal stories, like her misadventures in dating and her unexpected pregnancy at age 43. Read on for more Dratch! READ FULL STORY »

Mar 10 2012 10:49 AM ET

Kristen Johnston talks about her drug addiction, her life-threatening illness, her recovery, and her new memoir, 'Guts.'

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In the new issue of Entertainment Weekly there is a lengthy Q&A with actress Kristen Johnston in which she talks about how her addiction to Vicodin caused her stomach to explode, her subsequent recovery, and her new memoir, Guts. But the 3rd Rock from the Sun star had far more to say than we could fit in the pages of the magazine. Below, Johnston talks further about her travails, her time on 3rd Rock, and why James Frey is not completely “full of s—.”

READ FULL STORY »

Feb 21 2012 04:58 PM ET

Stephen Colbert to release a children's book about a pole

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Image Credit: Martin Crook/Comedy Central

Stephen Colbert previewed his children’s book I Am a Pole (And So Can You!) during his hilarious Colbert Report interview with Maurice Sendak last month. The wonderfully blunt Sendak, author of the kids’ classic Where the Wild Things Are, called Colbert’s pseudo attempt at writing for young people “terribly ordinary” but also added, “The sad thing is, I like it.”

Earlier today, Grand Central Publishing officially announced the May 8 release of I Am a Pole, which follows a flag pole on his search for his life’s purpose. Is there hidden symbolism there? Probably not, as it’s meant to be Colbert’s send-up of a children’s book hastily written by a famous person. In a statement, Colbert said, “I hope the minutes you and your loved ones spend reading it are as fulfilling as the minutes I spent writing it.”

In October, Grand Central will also be releasing Colbert’s next book for adults, America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t.

Colbert returned to his Comedy Central series this week after a short hiatus to take care of his ailing mother.

Follow Stephan on Twitter

Read more:
The conclusion of Maurice Sendak’s brilliant appearance on ‘The Colbert Report’ — VIDEO
Bill O’Reilly book on JFK assassination coming this fall. A children’s book is also in the works

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