Recommendation for a classic in the humorous/comedy category. What classic have you read that made you lol
Recommendation for a classic in the humorous/comedy category. What classic have you read that made you lol ?
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The importance of being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
@Lynne I loved that one. Maybe I should reread it <3
Sarah Belisle Erdman It’s the only play of his I have read. It is so hilarious! Have you read any of his other plays? I did read his novel, the picture of Dorian Gray last year. Although the subject matter is quite somber there are very funny ironic scenes in the book.
It’s on my shelf Lol I need to read it
I saw a production of Earnest at the Gate in Dublin the Summer after President Clinton survive his impeachment trial. The mostly Irish audience felt this production was quite timely and, therefore, even funnier than usual. Interesting note about the first production of the play: “The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde’s career but also heralded his downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde’s lover, planned to present the writer with a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show. Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission. Their feud came to a climax in court, where Wilde’s homosexuality was revealed to the Victorian public and he was sentenced to imprisonment. Despite the play’s early success, Wilde’s notoriety caused the play to be closed after 86 performances. After his release from prison, he published the play from exile in Paris, but he wrote no further comic or dramatic work.” (Wikipedia)
Letters From The Earth – Mark Twain
The Diaries of Adam and Eve are priceless, too.
The Diary Of A Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith.
I second Mark Twain- Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer really made me laugh ?
Anything by PG Wodehouse, but especially the Mr Mulliner stories.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. It was hilarious!
This is horrible I can’t think of one.
@Christopher I know the feeling ? Pride and Prejudice wasn’t lol funny but it was enjoyable. The Importance of Being Earnest was funny and I had forgotten it until it was mentioned above <3
@Christopher Nope Christopher, nor me… But can think of lots that made me (nearly) cry. What that says about me I have no idea…??
Anything by Tom Sharpe, Mordicai Richler and Nora Ephron
Well, mine. ? But self-promo is against the rules.? Angela’s Ashes made me belly laugh, though. Maybe Tristam Shandy and Rousseau’s Confessions, too.
Yes, @Kevin! I chortled at Angela’s Ashes too! Not sure if you’d call it a classic but I also found Clive James’ Unreliable Memoirs to be a bit of a pant-wetter. Embarrassing when reading it on public transport.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas makes me laugh EVERY time I read it. Hunter Thompson.
Too funny, just happened to turn on the movie last night and after 5 minutes of watching I told my wife this is a book I want to read this year… she looked at me like I was psychotic. 🙂
@Christopher the book is so much better than the movie. Hard to get the gonzo zeitgeist on film.
Oh, I forgot – Thackeray’s Vanity Fair!! It’s a romp!
@Tante that one really has a bit of everything in it. Loved it.
Molierre’s Tartuffe is hilarious!
Dear Me! by Peter Ustinov
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series… not officially a classic but laugh out loud funny!
The darling buds of may by h.e.bates
Don Quixote cracks me up…lol
Cold Comfort Farm.
Honestly, Sense and Sensibility made me laugh a lot now and then, love Austen’s sarcasm!
Vanity Fair and Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome
Most of Austen’s works (especially Northanger Abbey and Emma), Wodehouse and his Jeeves And Wooster series, short stories by Somerset Maugham (Luncheon is very funny).
I like Shakespeare’s comedies. Some of them have surprisingly contemporary themes, like the gender-bending in Twelfth Night and As You Like It.
Importance of being Earnest by Oscar Wilde 🙂
Also, I belive ‘Do you find me handsome? ‘ spoken by beloved Rochester is a classic!! Haha, that’s Jane Eyre 😉
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes and Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. =)
Ubu Roi by Jarry, Alice in Wonderland, Nervous People by Zoshchenko, Candide by Voltaire, Confessions of Zeno by Svevo, Adventures of Monkey, Confederacy of Dundes by Toole.
The Pickwick Papers
Although these aren’t classics, but if you want to laugh, really laugh, read Irish writer Brenden O’Caroll’s books. Sometimes I need a break from the serious stuff and his books do it.
almost anything by Mark Twain
Moby-Dick is not a comedy by any stretch, but Melville’s natural humor is what surprised me most when I tackled the beast 10 years ago. I found the early chapters laugh-out-loud funny.
Again, not ‘classics’ but Terry Pratchett is the only author that’s made me properly lol.
I love the Discworld novels, but nothing beats Good Omens!
J.k. Jerome “Three men in a boat”
“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”.
A Confederacy of Dunces
That book was considered a political satire. Did you read it that way? Aside from that it is one of my best top five of ever read books.
I read it years ago and didn’t realize that at the time. But I’ve recently moved to New Orleans and was planning on reading it again so I’ll have to be more aware of that this time around!
@Laura my favourite funny book
Huckleberry Finn.
The Adventures of Tom Jones … and nearly every book written by Kurt Vonnegut (modern classics – dark humor)
Not quite a classic, but A Confederacy of Dunces might scratch that itch. https://www.powells.com/book/-9780517122709
I recommend anything written by P.G Wodehouse, especially his books featuring Jeeves. ?
I have the videos, too!
@Ruth I can certainly agree with you about P.J .Woodhouse. When I was younger his books amused me very much. I must read them again soon to see whether they have the same effect. I also found “ The Importance of Being Earnest “ very funny and clever some years ago and I wonder whether it would still make an impact.
@Bernadette I also enjoyed “The Importance of Being Earnest”. I must read it again soon.
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.. since I read it at a younger age and laughed to the core, I couldn’t find anything else matching it.
White Noise by Don DeLillo. I’m reading The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace which is more modern, but hilarious