Me Funny

Humor has always been an essential part of North American aboriginal culture. This fact remained unnoticed by most settlers, however, since non-aboriginals just didn’t get the joke. For most of written history, a stern, unyielding profile of “the Indian” dominated the popular mainstream imagination. Indians, it was believed, never laughed. But Indians themselves always knew better. As an award-winning playwright, columnist, and comedy-sketch creator, Drew Hayden Taylor has spent 15 years writing and researching aboriginal humor. For Me Funny, he asked a noted cast of writers from a variety of fields — including such celebrated wordsmiths as Thomas King, Allan J. Ryan, Mirjam Hirch, and Tomson Highway — to take a look at what makes aboriginal humor tick. Their hilarious, enlightening contributions playfully examine the use of humor in areas as diverse as stand-up comedy, fiction, visual art, drama, performance, poetry, traditional storytelling, and education.

Enjoy a unique glimpse into the intelligent and quirky inner workings of the comedic mind! This special e-version of Show Me the Funny! presents 28 top comedy screenwriters--including three bonus interviews not in the original print book--from the revered figures of televisions “Golden Age” to todays favorite movie jokesters. Authors Desberg and Davis put an innovative spin on the traditional interview: each writer was given the same loosely structured comedic premise and asked to develop it in any way he or she wanted-no rules, no boundaries, no limits! The result is a hilarious and illuminating look at the comic process. INCLUDES: o Leonard Stern (co-creator of Get Smart) o Sherwood Schwartz (Gilligans Island, The Brady Bunch) o Peter Casey (co-creator of The Jeffersons, Cheers, Wings, Frasier) o Phil Rosenthal (co-creator of Everybody Loves Raymond) o Ed Decter (co-writer of Theres Something About Mary) o plus three e-book only interviews: Marley Simms (Home Improvement, Sabrina the Teenage Witch) Dan O’Shannon (Modern Family, Frasier, Cheers), and Charlie Hauck (Maude, Cheers)

Join the Queen of Encouragement for a lap around the laugh track! Laughing is Barbara Johnson's favorite aerobic exercise, and Humor Me is a zany collection of her heartiest laugh-filled workouts. Its pages bubble over with fun poked at some of the most laughable things in God's creation: the wonders of womanhood, the thrill and terror of child rearing, the Catch-22 of aging, the mirthful mysteries of men, and that hilarious show-stopper: death. This little book is a big gift for anyone who loves to laugh?or needs to laugh. If you've hit a pothole that has knocked the joy right out of your life, Barbara's favorite gigglers can realign your sense of humor, energize your joy level, and shine a beam of fun-light into your heart.

In this chronicle of one person’s poignant and harrowing road to fulfillment, Mike celebrates his chosen life in the comedy business with personal tales of romantic calamities, celebrity run-ins, professional misfortunes, and triumphs. He reinforces the notion that you can accomplish (almost) anything you want if you’re willing to get your ass kicked along the way. It’s a Funny Thing solidifies Michael Rowe’s reputation as not just an all around nice guy, but also a skilled observer in self, the human condition, and dogged perseverance. MICHAEL ROWE, a former comedian now comedy writer/producer, has been nominated for six Emmys for his work on Futurama and Family Guy, earning one along the way. Mike’s also been nominated for two Annie Awards, earning two; a Writers Guild Award, and a Gemini Award. He has earned a Webby Award for his original animated series The Paranormal Action Squad. His writing has also appeared in Vanity Fair magazine. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, twin sons and a silly dog named Marty Allen. “If you’ve ever had any interest in comedians, like what went wrong in our lives to make us so deeply disturbed, you will devour Mike Rowe’s insightful, personal, and yes, very funny book. Such a great read for smart people—and morons will like it, too.” — Larry David “During long, grueling nights working way too late in the writers’ room, when everyone had grown snarly and surly and silent, Mike would continue to pepper us with hilarious jokes. He was that cruel. And now he’s written a book that’s not only funny, but also sweet and sensitive. What is it with this guy?” — Matt Groening “Why would I want to read Mike’s book that highlights the struggles of coming up the ranks in the New York comedy club scene? I was there with him! I could write that book myself!!Then I read it and realized...I can’t write like this! Son of a bitch.” —Ray Romano “Having witnessed only a part of Mike’s life, I can tell you the whole thing is a doozy of a read. He is as much a fan of comedy as he is a fixture in it. The best always are.” — Sarah Silverman “We expected Mike Rowe to be a dick because he’s a big fancy Hollywood guy and he doesn’t smoke dope, and we weren’t wrong. But the book is pretty fu@king funny.” — The Trailer Park Boys

“Tommy Davidson is a journeyman performer. He knows the how and the what and his timing is off the hook. He's one of my favorite performers. Oh and did I mention he's funny, REALLY funny.” —Whoopi Goldberg In this revealing memoir, Tommy Davidson shares his unique perspective on making it in Hollywood, being an integral part of television history, on fame and family, and on living a life that has never been black and white—just funny and true . . . Abandoned as an infant on the streets of Greenville, Mississippi, and rescued by a loving white family, Tommy Davidson spent most of his childhood unaware that he was different from his brother and sister. All that changed as he came of age in a society of racial barriers—ones that he was soon to help break. On a fledgling network, Tommy joined the cast of In Living Color, alongside other relative newcomers all united by an ingenious throng of Wayans siblings, poised to break new ground. Now Tommy gives readers the never-before-told behind-the-scenes story of the first show born of the Hip Hop Nation: from its incredible rise, to his own creation of such unforgettable characters as Sweet Tooth Jones and dead-on impressions of Sammy Davis, Jr., Michael Jackson, M.C. Hammer and Sugar Ray Leonard, and appearing in such classic sketches as “Homie The Clown,” the “Hey Mon, family,” and the “Ugly Woman,” through guest-star skirmishes (and black eyes) to backstage tensions and the eventual fall of this pop-culture touchstone. He reveals his own nascent career on the stand-up circuit, as well as reflections on working with Spike Lee, Halle Berry, Chris Rock, and Jada Pinkett Smith. He also shares his very personal story of living with—and being inspired and empowered by—two distinct family histories. Told with humor and hard-won honesty, Living in Color is a bracing, illuminating, and remarkable success story.

Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life—which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job—Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That's when things start to get crazy. At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he's just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away.

I was at my wit's end. I'd had enough of this job, this life, and my relationship had broken up. Should I eat chocolate, or go to India, or fall in love? Then I had a revelation: Why not do all three, in that order? And so it was that I embarked on a journey that was segmented into three parts and was then made into a major motion picture. Later, I woke up on an airplane with a hole in my face and a really bad hangover. I was ushered brusquely off the plane by my parents who took me to a rehab where I tested positive for coke, classic coke, special k (the drug), Special K (the cereal), mushrooms, pepperoni, and Restless Leg Syndrome. It was there that I first began painting with my feet. But rewind...the year was 1914. I was just a young German soldier serving in the trenches while simultaneously trying to destroy an evil ring with some help from an elf, a troll, and a giant sorcerer, all while cooking every recipe out of a Julia Child cookbook. What I'm trying to say is that there was a secret code hidden in a painting and I was looking for it with this girl who had a tattoo of a dragon! Let me clarify, it was the 1930s and a bunch of us were migrating out of Oklahoma, and I was this teenage wizard/CIA operative, okay? And, um then I floated off into the meta-verse as a ball of invisible energy that had no outer edge... Ugh, okay. None of this is true. I'm just kind of a normal guy from New Jersey who moved to New York, got into comedy, wrote this book about trying to write this book, and then moved to Alaska, became the mayor of a small town, spent $30,000 on underwear, and now I'm going to rule the world!!!

Funny, You Don't Look Like One is the first book in what became a series of four by Drew Hayden Taylor. The articles, essays and columns in this volume cover many issues pertaining to Aboriginal life and often give a humorous take on each subject. Taylor describes his collection as "simply the ideas and observations of a Native person living in this country we call Canada--the good, the bad and the ugly."