13 Books By Your Favorite Comedians

Ali Wong’s Netflix comedy specials are almost as raunchy as they are raucous. She’s put her unfiltered and unbelievable talent on the page in Dear Girls, a collection of letters to her daughters. From advice for working moms in male-dominated professions to tales of sexual (mis)adventures, to the time she drank snake’s blood, Dear Girls is both LOL and TMI.

Many early-2000s SNL fans will remember the always hilarious (and always underrated) Rachel Dratch as Debbie Downer and Denise “Zazu” McDenna, a loudmouthed Boston teen alongside Jimmy Fallon as Sully. But what happened to her? After leaving SNL (and narrowly missing the role of Jenna on 30 Rock), Dratch was only getting offered roles as “Lesbians. Secretaries. Sometimes secretaries who are lesbians.” In Girl Walks Into a Bar…, Dratch offers hysterical anecdotes from her SNL days and adventures of her post-TV life, including dog-sitting, dating, and becoming a mom when she least expected it—at age 44.

Fans of The Office owe a huge deal of their laughter to Mindy Kaling. For them, and for lovers of The Sex Lives of College Girls and Never Have I Ever, now is the perfect time to revisit Why Not Me?—or discover it for the first time. The follow-up to Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, this hilarious, insightful, and deeply personal essay collection examines Kaling’s journey to find new friendships in lonely places, navigate Hollywood as a woman of color, and become the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever.

At age 16, Judd Apatow hosted a show for his local high school radio station where he interviewed his comedy heroes. Now, in a new book from the man behind Knocked Up, Freaks and Geeks, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow, with the same curiosity and wonder as his teenage self, interviews many of the legends who have become his peers. In this follow-up to Sick in the Head, Apatow sits down with comedy legends such as David Letterman, Whoopi Goldberg, and Will Ferrell, as well as the writers and performers who are pushing comedy to the limits and defining a new era of laughter.

Bob Odenkirk’s career is inexplicable. And yet he will try like hell to explicate it for you. Charting a “Homeric” decades-long “odyssey” from his origins in the seedy comedy clubs of Chicago to a dramatic career full of award nominations—with a side-trip into the action-man world that is baffling to all who know him—it’s almost like there are many Bob Odenkirks! But there is just one and one is plenty. Featuring humorous tangents, never-before-seen photos, wild characters, and Bob’s trademark unflinching drive, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama is a classic showbiz tale.

If you love the incredible comedy of W. Kamau Bell, you can’t miss his memoir. This book is the perfect introduction to the man the New York Times describes as “the most promising new talent in political comedy in many years.” Whether covering race relations, feminism, politics, or fatherhood, the self-proclaimed Black nerd’s thoughts are always hilarious, timely, and, yes, awkward.

Described by B.J. Novak as “the funniest cry for help you’ll read this year,” Whitney Cummings’s debut features her trademark wit, humor, honesty, and tales of self-humiliation. From the time she broke her shoulder trying to impress a guy, to flirting with a life sentence in a Guatemalan prison, to having her own lacerated ear sewn back on, I’m Fine…And Other Lies offers tons of laughter (and delicious schadenfreude) from top to bottom.

In this candid collection of sidesplitting essays, Seth Rogen gets real about his grandparents, doing stand-up comedy as a teenager, bar mitzvahs, and Jewish summer camp, adventures in Los Angeles, awkward run-ins with other famous people, and yes, some casual drug use.

“There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself,” Hannah Gadsby declared in her show Nanette, a scorching critique of the way society conducts public debates about marginalized communities. When it premiered on Netflix, it left audiences captivated by her blistering honesty and her singular ability to take them from rolling laughter to devastated silence. Harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette continues Gadsby’s tradition of confounding expectations and norms, properly introducing us to one of the most explosive, formative voices of our time.

Long before Fashion Police and Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, Joan Rivers had established herself as a bestselling author and comedy legend. In 2014, her book Diary of a Mad Diva also made the New York Times bestseller list and earned Rivers a Grammy for its audiobook. Get to know the late, great comedienne in this brutally honest, delightfully vicious, always hilarious look at the everyday life of the ultimate diva.

With credits including The League, Transparent, and The Mindy Project, Mark and Jay Duplass are celebrated as writers, directors, producers, actors—and brothers. With the release of Like Brothers, they’re also authors, offering a book that’s part coming-of-age memoir, part underdog story, and part insider account of succeeding in Hollywood on their own terms. “Wright. Ringling. Jonas. I’m sure you could name a bunch of famous brother teams. They’re all garbage compared to Mark and Jay,” writes Mindy Kaling in the foreword. “I can’t wait for you to read this book.” Same here.

The queen of late-night and author of five consecutive bestselling books has scored again, with what might be her best yet. In a torpor of despair following the 2016 election, Handler decides it’s time for some changes, so she steps outside her privileged bubble and sets off on a year-long journey of self-discovery and self-sufficiency. Funny, poignant, and honest, Life Will Be the Death of Me chronicles what Handler learns through relationships, political action, therapy, and picking up dog shit.