funny books

With the recent arrival of hilarious books by Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris to eMusic, it’s a great time to dig into the audiobook archives and check out some humor titles. Click here! Humor is probably the most listenable category when it comes to audiobooks—funny books are instantly entertaining, and they don’t require intense, undivided attention. So if you’re a daydreamer like me you don’t have to worry about concentrating on every single word to appreciate and enjoy what’s going on. And, more importantly, with the help of some expert narration, audiobook editions are often way funnier than the original versions.

The gang from The Daily Show is particularly adept at putting out books that take on lives of their own when read aloud. Check out Jon Stewart’s America (The Audiobook), John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise, and Stephen Colbert’s I Am America (And So Can You) for their spot-on performances, surprising cameos, and an awesome fourth wall-breaking awareness that audiobooks are an art form in their own right. Meanwhile, NPR junkies will appreciate actually hearing their favorite radio personalities read from their books. See David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, and my personal favorite, David Rakoff.

Special props must be given to the book with the cleverest jacket art I’ve seen in a while. The cover of Wishful Drinking conveys the feel of Carrie Fisher’s hilariously depraved memoir with one perfect image. Poor, drunk Princess Leia.