Who are your favorite humorists--living and dead

[Haggis]

So...I need you to pick two. A dead one and a breathing one. And I'm talking about writers here--not stand-up comedians, not politicians, not AW Moderators.

Why? Just because. Humor me and let me know who you like(d) and why.

For my dead guy pick I've gotta go with Mark Twain. For multiple reasons. His stuff was always sharp, biting and satirical. But it was always, always funny. During his time he had his share of fame, but some people also denigrated his writing because he, after all, was only a "humorist." I don't know about you, but I'd consider that term a compliment.

For my living guy, I'm going with Garrison Keillor. No, not for his radio show (that would be outside the guidelines of my rules), but for his writing. He's written scads of novels, some dealing with Lake Woebegon, some not, but they all have the same, innocent, gentle, yet sometimes biting humor that's reminiscent of Twain in a way, but not quite as harsh. Want a fun read? Buy a copy of Book of Guys. You'll enjoy it.

Now, who are your favorites?

[cray]

well, since you stole twain from me i'm going with vonnegut as my dead guy.
if you need a sideways view on life vonnegut will give it to you.


living,....hmmm, i'll need a bit to think on this one,...

[Haggis]

well, since you stole twain from me i'm going with vonnegut as my dead guy.
if you need a sideways view on life vonnegut will give it to you.


living,....hmmm, i'll need a bit to think on this one,...

Vonnegut/Twain. Six of one....

I think the only difference is that Twain's tales could be read at different levels. For example, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are great kid adventure stories. It's only when you're older you are able to pick up the social satire laced throughout the pieces. But, Vonnegut? Yeah. Loved the guy.

[cray]

i can't think of a living humorist that i'd list as a fav...
the only guy i can think is woody allen. i have a love / hate relationship with the guy and i'm sure there are people that might argue the title of 'humorist' for him.

there. i guess i can't think of a living humorist that stands out as a favorite for me.


why not?

hmm.

[mscelina]

Will Rogers--only because my other option was Mark Twain and I like to be different. I think Rogers had a remarkably clear point of view for the times and an extremely pointed but good-natured wit.

As for living...um, I'm going to go out on a limb here and give Piers Anthony a thumbs-up. Not only has he been a consistently humorous writer in the SFF genre, but a lot of his work has cultural and social parallels that reflect the times in which he wrote each story. Any time you read one of Anthony's afterwords, you get a good idea of what inspired him to write the story and what it relates to--and there's a lot of common sense hidden there.

[Little Earthquake]

Living - Jen Lancaster
Not - Erma Bombeck

The reason I like them can be summed up in one of Bombeck's quotes:

"There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt."

Both authors find the ludicrous and laughable in mundane or downright painful situations. Some things are only funny because you're tired of crying about them!

[Haggis]

i can't think of a living humorist that i'd list as a fav...
the only guy i can think is woody allen. i have a love / hate relationship with the guy and i'm sure there are people that might argue the title of 'humorist' for him.

there. i guess i can't think of a living humorist that stands out as a favorite for me.


why not?

hmm.

Maybe nothing's funny any more? :Shrug:

But, yeah, you hit on a concern of mine. I really don't know very many current writers who could be called humorists. Dave Barry, would be one, and maybe Bill Cosby (for his books, not his comedy), but there must be others.

[Team 2012]

Christopher Moore

Donald Westlake

[JimmyB27]

I'm going to go for Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett.
I think their works have a lot in common, and not just the geeky nature of their chosen genres. Both show a great understanding of the way the human mind works, and use it incredibly well in their writing. Douglas with his Paranoid Android, for example, Terry with his headology.

[dolores haze]

Dead: Oscar Wilde. Just so damn witty.

Living: PJ O'Rourke. Never came across anyone else who could piss me off so bad, while still making me laugh so hard (well, except maybe my husband.)

[cray]

oh, oscar wilde....
that's an excellent choice!

[AmyDoodle]

Nonliving - Jean Kerr (Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Penny Candy, The Snake Has All the Lines). Because it's hard to be funny when you're no longer breathing, but she carries it off so well.

Living - P.S. Wall, although she ceased her humor column to take up novel writing. Sigh.

[Ken]

Deceased: Peter Benchley. Actually the only humorous author I've ever read. I don't really like reading humor. It fills me with feelings of inadequacy, since I write humor myself and can't help making comparisons between their works and my own, and concluding that I am not the least bit funny :-(

edt: Opps, meant Robert Benchley, not Peter.

[David Conner]

Deceased: Karl Marx. His brilliance was in how he was able to make us laugh at a disaster.

Living: Barack Obama, although his book is still being written. I suspect that he has been stealing some ideas from Marx.

[BWT79]

Living: Terry Pratchett once again

Dead: Lewis Grizzard, he was sidesplittingly funny.

[Kayley]

I don't read many humorous, but I did like Voltaire's Candide.

For humorous songwriting, however, I can say that I love The Lonely Island.

That's all I can think of for now. Maybe I should check out the humor section of the store sometime. :tongue

EDIT: I didn't notice that we needed both a living and dead one, but somehow I ended up with both. XD So it's all good.

[Mudcat]

For dead I'll say Richard Brautigan. I could have said Vonnegut but I figured I'd bring a new name into the discussion.

Living? It depends on the looseness of the definition of humorist. I find Irvine Welsh and Martin Amis very funny. Are they classified as humorists? Not sure. So I'll make a call.

Living - Irvine Welsh
Dead - Richard Brautigan

[Haggis]

And another funny dead guy--O. Henry. Not all his stories, of course, but a whole bunch of them.

[Matt Willard]

Admittedly, I've been reading the work of comedians more than the work of humorists. I like to laugh out loud, and few humorists have ever made me done that. Of course, they're based more on wit than outright comedy, so that's fine with me. Still, I mostly prefer good ol' Dave Barry and Robert Benchley. (If only my library had more Benchley-I'd really love to read more!)

[Ol' Fashioned Girl]

I can't - and won't - argue with your choice of Mark Twain, Haggis. And for a little-known and mixed bag filled with hillarious passages and heart-achingly sweet sentiment, have you read his Diaries of Adam and Eve? I highly recommend them.

Living... Gah. Can't think of a soul I'd put in the same category with Twain.

[Haggis]

I can't - and won't - argue with your choice of Mark Twain, Haggis. And for a little-known and mixed bag filled with hillarious passages and heart-achingly sweet sentiment, have you read his Diaries of Adam and Eve? I highly recommend them.

Living... Gah. Can't think of a soul I'd put in the same category with Twain.

I have read them, OFG and they're wonderful. But I think my favorite is A Dog's Tale (http://www.authorama.com/a-dogs-tale-1.html). It's bitter-sweet, but then again, so was Twain.

[KTC]

Mine are David Sedaris and Mark Twain. Some say Sedaris isn't a humourist, per se...but I cry real tears every time I read him. And Twain is a comic genius. His timing was always impeccable.

[cethklein]

Lewis Grizzard - I think while his humor was definitely hokey, it was also raw and easy to relate to for anyone, even if you didn't come from the south. I think those who have come since haven't really succeeded in capturing his brand of humor like he did. (Bill Engval comes close, those other blue collar guys, not so much).

Gallagher - He really got pigeonholed (ok so he did it to himself) because of the smashing fruit gimmick. But I never thought he got the credit he deserved for his spoken humor. Even most of his live performance videos really don't capture him at his best, you have to see him live when cameras aren't rolling. He's just.different. I saw him in Vegas about 12 years ago and he was great.

Richard Pryor - I think Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock have both tried to emulate him but never really could. They're both funny in their own right but just not the same. Pryor never minced words.

Redd Foxx - Probably my all time favorite comedian. The man was a genius who never got the credit he deserved.

Ok so a bunch of those were known more for their stand-up, so I'll also mention the obvious literary humorists like Wilde and O'Rourke.

And, since I've already violated every other rule of this thread, I'd may as well go ahead and nominate Haggis as well.

[Haggis]

Lewis Grizzard - I think while his humor was definitely hokey, it was also raw and easy to relate to for anyone, even if you didn't come from the south. I think those who have come since haven't really succeeded in capturing his brand of humor like he did. (Bill Engval comes close, those other blue collar guys, not so much).

Gallagher - He really got pigeonholed (ok so he did it to himself) because of the smashing fruit gimmick. But I never thought he got the credit he deserved for his spoken humor. Even most of his live performance videos really don't capture him at his best, you have to see him live when cameras aren't rolling. He's just.different. I saw him in Vegas about 12 years ago and he was great.

Richard Pryor - I think Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock have both tried to emulate him but never really could. They're both funny in their own right but just not the same. Pryor never minced words.

Redd Foxx - Probably my all time favorite comedian. The man was a genius who never got the credit he deserved.

Ok so a bunch of those were known more for their stand-up, so I'll also mention the obvious literary humorists like Wilde and O'Rourke.

And, since I've already violated every other rule of this thread, I'd may as well go ahead and nominate Haggis as well.

But Ceth, those posts of mine in P&CE weren't intended to be funny.

:D

[Matt Willard]

I tried Grizzard. I checked out one of his books from the library across the street, and it's on my desk right now. But he doesn't really work for me. Then again, a lot of humorists don't make me laugh.

[TedTheewen]

Hunter S. Thompson and Donald E. Westlake.

For me, Thompson could make you laugh and rage at the same time. Westlake has a great gift for telling a story that is just plain funny without being ridiculous.

Honorable mention to Dave Barry and H.B. Fox. I love Dave Barry's sarcasm and non-sequitor dives. I mean, two dogs, the main dog and their Emergency Back-up Dog, Zippy. Now that's just funny.

[Jim McLain]

I have one so obscure that I doubt any of you have ever heard of him. C.E.S. Wood. That woukl be Charles Ersken Scott Wood. His 'Heavenly Discourse' is wonderful.

[BigWords]

Dead: Ambrose Bierce.
Living: Stephen Fry.

[AdamH]

Dead: George Burns!!! (Someone who made me laugh until his dying day deserves three exclamation marks!)

Living: Can Stephen Colbert be considered a humourist? He makes me laugh. He takes clever pot-shots at the world in equally clever segments. He hates bears. Yep...I'm going with Stephen Colbert on this one.

[TurkeyLurkey]

Living - Barry

Dead - Twain

[mlazzer]

I'll go for Terry Pratchett and Kurt Vonnegut.

But it's tough how about Max Barry, Christopher Buckley and Paul Neilan for living people? And George Carlin is dead and wrote books, too!

[CACTUSWENDY]

Will Rogers

Dave Barry

[Grand_Maester]

Dead: Charles Dickens has a few wicked funny lines in a lot of his stuff, but it isn't his main thing. I gotta say Jonathan Swift.

Living: Does Bill Watterson count? If so... definitely him.

[vixey]

I loved Erma Bombeck. Dave Barry for current, though I don't see much of his stuff anymore.

[Haggis]

I loved Erma Bombeck. Dave Barry for current, though I don't see much of his stuff anymore.

I think Dave's sort of retired now. At least as far as the newspaper stuff goes.

And, yeah. Erma was cool. As are so many others mentioned in this thread.

When I first read Jonathan Swift I damn near busted a gut. Vonnegut, same thing. So many years apart and yet, funny is still funny. Even when it's a bitter-funny.

The older writers--and the Swift reference brought me to this--sometimes appreciating their humor requires a knowledge of the historical context in which they're writing. But, by damn, humor's been with our species for one hell of a long time. Would that we could make out what the Neanderthals were actually saying on those cave paintings. Outside of the boasting and bragging about how they made the kill, I have no doubt they must have thrown something in about Og wetting himself when the mastodon stepped on him.

[C.bronco]

In elementary school, I loved Bill Cosby's album, which included "The Chicken Heart from New York City," and Dick Van Dyke's book (can't remember what it was called). I also loved Yogi Bear, who made me laugh on a full length special like I'd never laughed before.
In middle school, I read Steve Martin's "Cruel Shoes," and I was affected permanently.
I watched a lot of SNL in middle school while babysitting, and have a Mr. Bill mirror to prove it.
By high school, I could quote Mel Brooks's "High Anxiety" ad nauseum. "Excuse me. Sorry to have DISturbed you. It was the TV. I've turned it down." Love Chloris Leachman. Blazing Saddles has brought me hours of joy, as has History of the World, part II. I saw Spaceballs in the theater.
In college, I was enamored with "Arsenic and Old Lace." Cary Grant was hot, and I wanted to charge San Juan Hill and retire at Happydale Sanitarium.
Will Ferrell has provided the necessary outlet for me as of late, and I also am thankfull for "Tropic Thunder" and Tenacious D's "Master Exploder," as well as all of the works of Flight of the Conchords, on which I have hooked my Dad.
Humor has been a wonderful way for me to get through all of the bologna, and "We don't stand for bologna, you know!"
There are too many pieces to mention, but I think I've gotten in the ones that have been most meaningful.

[Williebee]

Will Rogers

Christopher Moore (with a nod to Tim Dorsey)



"The chicken heart lived in a vat..."

bm-boom, bm-boom

[scottishpunk]

Mark Twain, Dave Barry, Douglas Adams, Mitch Hedberg (stand-up comedian, but still...)

[Matt Willard]

Mark Twain, Dave Barry, Douglas Adams, Mitch Hedberg (stand-up comedian, but still...)

Well, I like to watch and study stand-up comedians too.

[Forbidden Snowflake]

Mark Twain, awesome, Christopher Moore, brilliant, Stephen Fry, sigh.

BUT

Ephraim Kishon. My hero, always.

[CatSlave]

Another vote here for Mark Twain.

If you ever have a chance of seeing Hal Holbrook's stage portrayal of Twain, don't miss it.

Living humorist: Florence King.
Brilliant, witty, and fearless.
She admits to supporting herself during the lean years by writing porn using a male pseudonym.

[Haggis]

Another vote here for Mark Twain.

If you ever have a chance of seeing Hal Holbrook's stage portrayal of Twain, don't miss it.

Living humorist: Florence King.
Brilliant, witty, and fearless.
She admits to supporting herself during the lean years by writing porn using a male pseudonym.

I was fortunate to see Holbrook's Twain performance several years ago. So I'll add a "ditto" to what you said.

[CatSlave]

I was fortunate to see Holbrook's Twain performance several years ago. So I'll add a "ditto" to what you said.
Quick thread derail...
Vincent Price's stage portrayal of Oscar Wilde was also outstanding.

I saw both performances (at different times) at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC, which added an 'old-time' ambiance to the evening.

[Haggis]

Quick thread derail...
Vincent Price's stage portrayal of Oscar Wilde was also outstanding.

I saw both performances (at different times) at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC, which added an 'old-time' ambiance to the evening.

GAH! I loved VP. That would have been worth a trip to DC.

[dgiharris]

Dead: Red Fox, Richard Pryor, Bernie Mac, Robin Harris

Alive: Titus (his comedy has the most dynamic emotional range), Chris Rock (social genius in his comedy), Dave Chappelle (flat out too funny), Lewis Black (funniest political comedian ever)

Strictly writers: Al Frankin's books are hilarious. Douglas Adams of course.

Mel...

[Bryan V]

Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams are my top two.

[C.bronco]

Steve Martin (Cruel Shoes)
Shakespeare.
Are Moe, Larry and Curly still alive?

[AlvySinger]

Living: David Renwick

Dead: Dave Allen/Spike Milligan/Flann O'Brien

They're tied, by the way... I prefer Woody Allen and a few others to all three of them but David Renwick is my fave by far.

[Stew21]

Dave Barry and Bill Bryson are two of my favorites.


And I adore Dave Sedaris.

[sleepsheep]

I love this thread, even though Mark Twain has already been claimed.

For dead, I'll go with Douglas Adams.
For alive, I'll go with Woody Allen (most specifically for Side Effects and Without Feathers).

Are notable mentions allowed? I'll add Sholem Aleichem, Ian Frazier, Ogden Nash, Jerome K. Jerome, and S. J. Perelman.

[Stew21]

Christopher Moore goes on my list too.



ooh, and Vonnegut.

[scope]

Ernie Kovacs --- a true blast from the past.

[Cella]

Dead:

As of recently, Frank McCourt. He made me laugh all the way through his life story, which was frankly not a funny life.

I like when people can find teh humor in anything.

Living:

Toby Young;How to Lose Friends and Alienate People: A Memoir

Hilarious. Absolutely the funniest thing I've read. I read it about twice a year. This guy just made so many laughable mistakes...oh man...it's a riot.

[Cliff Face]

Dead: Douglas Adams (my favourite author until I've reread his books too many times...)

Alive: I can't pick between Terry Pratchett (so up my alley) and Bill Bryson (an excellent traveller's companion).

[Cliff Face]

Oh, another alive humourist writer - Joss Whedon. Absolute crack up.

[Sweet Tea]

I am a HUGE Lewis Grizzard fan - I have an extensive collection of his autographed hardbacks. He had a way of telling people to go f*** themselves, and they never even knew it.

[Sitka]

Deceased: James Thurber, Josh Billings, PG Wodehouse
Alive: Simon Rich

[SirOtter]

Deceased: James Thurber, Josh Billings, PG Wodehouse

Yeah, those, along with Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, Ogden Nash, Don Marquis and Thorne Smith. And Lewis Grizzard and Jerry Clower, although it helps to be a Southerner to truly appreciate them.

Living: Dave Barry. There's a cheerful surreality about his best stuff that reminds me of Marquis's skewed slant on things.

[SirOtter]

Oh, and Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Don Martin, Dave Berg, George Woodbridge and the rest of the Usual Gang of Idiots.

[JeanneTGC]

How did I miss this thread?

Dead: Mark Twain, Robert Benchley (my #1 for all time), James Thurber, George Burns, Erma Bombeck

Living: Terry Pratchett, Dave Barry, P.J. O'Rourke, Patrick McManus, Woody Allen, David Sedaris, Bob Newhart, Joss Whedon, Christopher Moore, Steve Martin

And undoubtedly more for both lists that I'm forgetting at the moment.

[cray]

g'day jeanne.
how's tricks??
it's been ages since i've annoyed you, eh?








*outlines plan*

[JeanneTGC]

g'day jeanne.
how's tricks??
it's been ages since i've annoyed you, eh?

*outlines plan*
Hey there, Cray. I've been around, just not around on a lot of threads. :D Tricks are good (and not just for kids), and good luck on the annoying. Your plan looks a little light to me...;)

[Lavern08]

Ernie Kovacs --- a true blast from the past.

Yep, Ernie was absolutely brilliant!

Living: Chevy Chase still cracks me up! :roll:

[Sean Craven]

I'm extremely fond of many of the choices listed so far. The temptation to make out a shopping list here is nigh irresistable...

But I'm gonna stick to one dead, one living, as per the initial post.

Dead: Brian o'Nolan, who wrote novels as Flan o'Brien and a newspaper column as Myles na cGopaleen. Absolutely brilliant and frustrating, and his capacity for spite is admirable and disturbing at the same time.

Alive: Roy Blount, Jr. He's one of those humorists who's fixated on language to a degree that makes poets look like musicians. He's also someone who's been known to try and come to grips with himself on the page. In his book Be Sweet, he talks about the importance of self-loathing to a humorist in a way that is both hilarious and wrenching, the kind of thing that makes you reevaluate yourself.

Both of these writers improve your prose by osmosis.

I'd better go before I succumb to the temptation to make that laundry list.

[Sean Craven]

Actually, that would be through osmosis.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Dead, I used to love Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune.

Living, I can't think of one humorist writer who I find funny. Seems humor today is based on spite, anger, and personal insults.

[Haggis]

Dead, I used to love Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune.

Living, I can't think of one humorist writer who I find funny. Seems humor today is based on spite, anger, and personal insults.

Ferret, you need to get out of the house more. There are all kinds of people--like many of those mentioned above--whose humor isn't based on spite, anger or insult. Mind you, there's nothing wrong per se with humor based on spite, anger or insult, but there are a whole lot of writers who use other forms for their funny stuff.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Hey, is that guy who plays piano and makes political comments still alive? He always appeared on PBS. What was his name?

[Haggis]

Hey, is that guy who plays piano and makes political comments still alive? He always appeared on PBS. What was his name?

There were two of 'em.

The first was Tom Lehrer (Vatican Rag, So Long Mom, I'm Off to Drop the Bomb, National Brotherhood Week), and the other was the guy you're talking about. I can't remember his name, but the act was similar..

[regdog]

There were two of 'em.

The first was Tom Lehrer (Vatican Rag, So Long Mom, I'm Off to Drop the Bomb, National Brotherhood Week), and the other was the guy you're talking about. I can't remember his name, but the act was similar..

Mark Russell

[Haggis]

Mark Russell

Bingo.

I mean, "Bingo, Heather's right," not, "Bingo is the guy's name."

But you knew that, didn't you?

[regdog]

Maybe

[SirOtter]

Allan Sherman

[Haggis]

Allan Sherman

Hello Muddah, hello Faddah.

[wyntermoon]

Dead: Bombeck - I can relate ;)
Alive: Dave Barry even though his sitcom sucked rocks.

[JeanneTGC]

Allan Sherman
I KNEW there was one I was forgetting!

"Camp Granada"...and every other song...so hilarious...

Oh, and lest we forget...God Bless Tiny Tim. And Johnny Carson.

Swear I'm stopping now...

[Chumplet]

My favourite dead humourist is Stephen Leacock (1869-1944). His mild satire never failed to make me chuckle. I have a dog-eared paperback filled with his humorous short stories called Laugh With Leacock. Some of the stories inside are from his Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.

A few years ago I came across my dad's large hardcover copy of Canada's War At Sea, released the year Leacock died. The first half was written by him, and even then he managed to make World War II funny.

Living humourists? There are so many I'm just beginning to know thanks to my bookworm daughter, but I really like the way Michael Palin presents his travel books, Sahara and Himalaya. The way he describes the crackpot characters he encounters makes me laugh out loud, plus he makes traveler's diarrhea funny.

[SirOtter]

Allan Sherman

All day, all night, Cary Grant.
All I hear from my wife is 'Cary Grant'.
What can he do that I can't?
Big star, big deal, Cary Grant.

[Aidan Watson-Morris]

Living - Jon Stewart (He DID write a book!)

Dead - Douglas Adams

[misselainie]

Hate to beat a dead horse, but my favorite dead guy is Douglas Adams.

Also, I didn't know that Kurt Vonnegut was dead, so I have to go mourn now.

I'm not sure about the definition of humorist, so I'm going to include Mel Brooks and I have no idea whether he's alive or not. Also, there's a comedian whose humor gets me every time - Demitri Martin.

Last, and most definitely least, George W. Bush was hilarious, but he never knew it. :Shrug:

[Fokker Aeroplanbau]

Christopher Buckley, hands down. :)

[JaMy]

Jane Wagner

Donald Barthelme

[Chris P]

Mark Twain, SJ Perelman, Dave Barry.

[Ken]

... never really read any works by humorists. My personality is too serious and somber for me to appreciate such. Even so, perhaps I'll give some of the recommended authors here a go. Maybe if I read enough of them a sense of humor will begin to take root? Will report back to let you know how I'm progressing.

[stormie]

Dead--Erma Bombeck

Living--Dave Barry

BUT Dave Barry's sitcom was truly not funny, and when Erma Bombeck had a weekly segment on Good Morning America news show, she just wasn't that funny either.

Their writings didn't translate well onto television.

[Haggis]

... never really read any works by humorists. My personality is too serious and somber for me to appreciate such. Even so, perhaps I'll give some of the recommended authors here a go. Maybe if I read enough of them a sense of humor will begin to take root? Will report back to let you know how I'm progressing.

I hope it works, Ken. Life's too short not to smile every now and then.:)

[Ken]

I hope it works, Ken. Life's too short not to smile every now and then.:)

... will stand on my head, then, so that my frowns will look like smiles.

;-)

(Good point you raise, though.)

[Vagrantstory]

Dead: its already been said but Oscar Wilde.
Alive: Terry Pratchett, he is a genius with a pen. I was watching the TV production of the Hogfather the other night, just read this quote:

...And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement and trespass charges already mentioned and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy any more. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done. Which proves that you can be excused just about anything if you're a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions.

[Dr.Gonzo]

Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk, and Bret Easton Eliis.

I love all three.

[kayleamay]

I read my first Erma Bombeck book when I was about 10. She's still my favorite.

[Phyllo]

The writers for the Daily Show and Colbert Report.

[TrainofThought]

quickwit. I can't think of any living.

[Haggis]

quickwit. I can't think of any living.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/mashup/images/applause.gif

[AnkleSneeze]

A few samples for those not exposed:

-Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.

-Stupid men are often capable of things the clever would not dare to contemplate...

-“Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.”

-“In ancient times cats were worshiped as gods; they have not forgotten this.”

-"She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do.
And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find
herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella."