Comedy Books

My son loves listening to tiptoes stories eventhough he is eight. I think tiptoes is a great birthday present to any young child.

It is an unusual Balzac masterpiece about love, passion and crime - a medieval story, fun to read, with a King turned into a detective and his avaricious silversmith, with the King's maried daughter who has a lover on the side, and the lover who tries to get closer to her by moving in with the Kings Silversmith... And above all these intrigues, the King is missing royal valuables and suspects one after the other...

This is one of the first comedy CD's that is funny all the way through the end. John Pinette had me laughing so much,I was crying. People were staring at me on the freeway wondering what was going on. John uses no profanity nor does he tear down anyone but of course himself. I've been passing this CD on to my family and friends and they love it too!

This sophisticated and revealing comedy supposes a middle-age reunion in as Vegas between Noel Coward and Esme Wynne-Tyson, his real life, oldest, closest, and most exacting female friend. I strongly recommend it.

Make a snack, sit down in your favorite chair and get ready for all there is to know about the Marx Brothers. This book is a reference guide to dates, names, films and darn near anything else that occurred in the life of this amazing team. It is chock full of interesting stories, fascinating facts and just plain silly stuff that kept me captivated the whole way through. Its one drawback was that it is picture free. It is pure reference material. For the true fan or just for the person who would like to know everything about them without starting a library this one is for you. If the price is the only thing holding you back be reassured...it is worth every penny and more!

Gee, How exciting to be the first and only reviewer of this item.
First as a girl who grew up listening to lots of old radio shows
with my Dad--this is a nice reminder. This is a radio
based satirical game show with the topic being the story of
Christopher Columbus. The two contestants use whatever audiotory means to convey this to the audience. I giggled the entire time
as I listened to it on my headphones--so much my husband had to
leave the room to avoid my laughter. As everyone knows I just
love Tim Robbins. This is done by him based from another man's
book. For those who are fans of his know about a group he formed
as a young man called the "Actor's Gang" Most if not all of these
folks are involved in this project. Tim Robbins as always shines
in this. I myself--although happily married enjoy curling up in
comfy spot and hearing Tim's sexy voice. This is truly a fun
thing to listen to. I think you will enjoy it:)

I was a student of John S. Weld at Harpur College, Binghampton NY . His teaching was filled with a great zest and comic spirit . His love for Shakespeare and his dramatic sense made his teaching of the plays a great delight. If this book contains just a small part of his generous and enthusiastic spirit it will be very worthwhile indeed.

I picked up Measure for Measure knowing nothing about the play other than it was not an early work and that it was a comedy. I knew Shakespeare as an enjoyable Wit and was looking forward to a virtuoso display of the English Language. I certainly got this, but this is by no means a "light" play. In fact, the more I looked into it, the more disturbing it became.

The plot is quite involved with many twists and turns, based on many unlikely situations. Read it like any other comedy and you will be fine.

The characters are what's disturbing. There are no clear "white hats" in this story. Claudio sets his sister up which causes much of the story. The Duke handles people like puppets. Angelo is certainly not worthy of trust and there are some hints that the Duke even knows this when he leaves him in charge. Isabella? Well, there are two strong attributes to her personallity - Future Nun and also as Harold Bloom described her, the sexiest female character in Shakespeare.

There are many "lowlife" characters as well. Most important and probably most interesting would be Lucio who moves the plot around. Also quite interesting and infuriating would be Pompey.

I read it in the New Cambridge Edition. Brian Gibbons gives an interesting introduction which goes over the original context for the play, a discussion of its sources, as well as a production history. His notes to the text are also quite good. My eyes glazed over a bit on the textual analysis...not interesting to me at this point.

If you want "uplifting" or "inspirational", pick something else. If you are willing to let these interesting, ambigious characters into your mind, you will have a fine time as one of the finest artists of the English Language leads you around their stories.

This is probably the finest book on the minstrel show which I have encountered. Many threads involving race, history and popular art are connected, giving some new slants on this curious, but still very resonant, cultural phenomena.

Menander remains a mystery for most theater-goers. This work, carefully put together by two outstanding exponents of the classical stage, gives a fine concise overview of the Greek theater and the playwright. If you love the stage and stage history you should find this book a worthwhile and even engrossing read. As you will discover, it's really true that there's very little new under the sun! Menander did indeed create modern comedy, and the examples covered bear this estimate out.
The book does not require a knowledge of either Greek or Latin, and the prose is that rara avis among academic tomes - fluent, natural and stylish. Although not an especially long work the chapters present a significant amount of material, well-organized and presented - on finishing you should know more about Menander and his works than all but the specialists!
After this work you will probably wish to read a full play - and two are now available - after 2,000 years of oblivion.
All in all an excellent book and most deserving to join any collection covering the Greek theater.