Episode 153 - Humour (non-fiction)

Book Club for Masochists: a Readers’ Advisory Podcast

This episode we’re talking about Humour Non-fiction! We talk about how truthful stand-up comedy is, identifying books from the call number, giant mosquitos, and more!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

• Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
  • 99% Invisible, Episode 471: Mini-Stories: Volume 12 (features Mary Roach talking about several “footnotes” from Fuzz)
• Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach
• You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin, Lacey Lamar
• I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom
  • The Little Mermaid - Part of Your World (YouTube)
  • Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury (YouTube)
• We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby

Other Media We Mentioned

• Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (Wikipedia)
• I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert and others
• Science ...For Her! by Megan Amram
• A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches by Tyler Kord
• Bike Snob: Systematically Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling by BikeSnobNYC
• I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris
• Jumanji (Wikipedia)
  • Giant mosquitoes scenes (YouTube)
• Bee Movie
  • Anna meant a B movie (Wikipedia)
• Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh
• Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach
• A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching: Getting to Know the World's Most Misunderstood Bird by Rosemary Mosco
• Late Night with Seth Meyers (Wikipedia)
• The Amber Ruffin Show (Wikipedia)
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Wikipedia)
• Wow, No Thank You.: Essays by Samantha Irby
• Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson
• Hot Poetry Inside || LoadingReadyLIVE Ep86 (begins with the humorous monologue about cancer diagnosis)
• Decoder Ring - Truly Tasteless Jokes (podcast about joke books in the 1980s that Anna mentioned)
• The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

Links, Articles, and Things

• David Sedaris (Wikipedia)
• Dave Barry (Wikipedia)
• Mary Roach (Wikipedia)
• Sarah Vowel (Wikipedia)
• Bill Bryson (Wikipedia)
• Patrick F. McManus (Wikipedia) (the “outdoor living” author Anna read when she was a kid)
• Garfield by Jim Davis (Wikipedia)
• Giant Moustique Monument
• David Rakoff (Wikipedia)
• Molly Ivins (Wikipedia)
• Al Franken (Wikipedia)
• Nora Ephron (Wikipedia)
• Readers’ Advisory for Library Staff (Facebook group)
• Popemobile (Wikipedia)
• Shirley Jackson (Wikipedia)
• Sumarian bar joke (Reddit thread)
• Complaint tablet to Ea-nasir (Wikipedia)

15 Humour Non-fiction books by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

• Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist by Sesali Bowen
• She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson
• Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang
• Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby
• Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's by Tiffany Midge
• Laughing All the Way to the Mosque by Zarqa Nawaz
• Barely Functional Adult: It'll All Make Sense Eventually by Meichi Ng
• Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want to Come: An Introvert's Year of Living Dangerously by Jessica Pan
• Please Don't Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes by Phoebe Robinson
• You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar
• The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit in by Ayser Salman
• The One You Want to Marry (And Other Identities I've Had): A Memoir by Sophie Santos
• Me Funny edited by Drew Hayden Taylor
• Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong
• How to American: An Immigrant's Guide to Disappointing Your Parents by Jimmy O. Yang

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Join us again on Tuesday, July 19th when it’s time for us to pitch our “we all read the same book” books!

Then on Tuesday, August 2nd we’ll be discussing the genre of Literary Fan Fiction.