"In the tradition of Paul Johnson's Intellectuals, Creators, and Heroes, a new book of biographical portraits of the greatest humorists and wits in modern history"--

Jackie "Moms" Mabley was an African-American stand-up comic and showbiz pioneer who emerged from the Chitlin' Circuit of African-American Vaudeville to become a mainstream star on the stage and TV. Mabley pushed the boundaries of comedy by tackling topics such as gender, sex, and racism, making her one of the first taboo-pushing comedians on the comedy circuit. Once billed as "The Funniest Woman in the World," she performed up until her death in 1975....

""I'm not funny at all. What I am is brave." -Lucille Ball With powerhouses like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Amy Schumer dominating the entertainment landscape and memoirs from today's most vocal feminist comediennes shooting up the bestseller lists, women in comedy have never been more influential. Marking this cultural shift, The Girl in the Show provides an in-depth exploration of how comedy and feminism have grown hand in hand to give women a stronger...

"Illustrated retrospective of American humorist James Thurber's art. Work. First book to assemble the range of Thurber's art, from decades of cartoons that established the New Yorker to illustrations for advertisements, children's books, and others' books. Includes previously unpublished art"--

Presents a history of humor, from fart jokes on clay Sumerian tablets all the way up to the latest Twitter memes, that tells the story of how comedy came to rule the modern world. "For millennia of human history, the future belonged to the strong. To the parent who could kill the most animals with sticks and to the child who could survive the winter or the epidemic. When the Industrial Revolution came, masters of business efficiency prospered instead,...