Top 101 Funniest Novels of All Time
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Looking for some of the funniest novels to read. Well don’t worry! Your journey to find the funniest novels ever is over. Check out below for the top 101 funniest novels of all time. These funniest novels are bound to keep you laughing for days!
Table of Contents
#101 – 90. Funniest Novels
101. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
A satirical commentary on modern man and his madness.
100. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
An introduction to the history and ecology of the Appalachian trail and to some of the other hardy folks he meets along the way.
99. Republican Party Reptile by PJ O’Rourke
A collection of P.J. O’Rourke’s funniest essays.
A look at Tina Fey’s life from her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live.
97. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
The funniest book you’ll ever read about death.
96. One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories, by B.J. Novak
The heart of this book explores the most human of phenomena: love, fear, hope, ambition, and the inner stirring for the one elusive element just that might make a person complete.
95. Still Life with Woodpecker, by Tom Robbins
Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes.
The book is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry, photographs, mantras and advice from her life.
93. In Persuasion Nation, by George Saunders
A collection of stories about talking candy bars, baby geniuses, disappointed mothers, castrated dogs, interned teenagers, and moral fables.
Lindy shares how to survive in a world where not all stories are created equal and not all bodies are treated with equal respect.
A collection of funny essays.
90. Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart
The much needed manual to life given in a hilarious manner.
#89 – 80. Funniest Novels
89. The Innocents Abroad, by Mark Twain
Mark Twain’s response to traveling Europe with wonder and amazement, but also with exasperation, irritation, disbelief.
88. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments, by David Foster Wallace
A collection of seven pieces on various subjects in a curious, hilarious, and exhilarating manner.
87. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
A witty mix of the past and science fiction in a word where literature is taken very seriously.
The humorous adventures of a man marrying a women way out of his league.
Comedy ensues when a man is stuck in a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule.
84. Diary Of A Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith
The book chronicles in hilarious detail the everyday life of the lower middle class during the Great Victorian age.
83. Seriously…I’m Kidding, Ellen Degenres
The book is a lively, hilarious, and often sweetly poignant look at the life of the much loved entertainer as she opens up about her personal life, her talk show, and more.
82. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
An authentic, unrelenting, and strangely exhilarating episodic group portrait of blasted lives.
81. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
More than just a merciless satire of cloistered college life and stuffy postwar manners, Lucky Jim is an attack on the forces of boredom, whatever form they may take.
80. Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons
When the recently orphaned socialite Flora Poste descends on her relatives at the aptly named Cold Comfort Farm in deepest Sussex, she finds a singularly miserable group in dire need of her particular talent: organization.
#79 – 70. Funniest Novels
79. Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. by Rob Delaney
A memoir about love, sex, parenthood, work, substance abuse, and everything else that makes life wonderful and/or horrible.
78. Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood.
77. I’m Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi
The go to source for smart takes on pop culture that dissects our cultural obsessions and calls out bad behavior in our increasingly digital, connected lives.
76. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson
A cult classic of gonzo journalism that chronicles the drug soaked, addle brained, rollicking good times.
75. Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth
The book draws us into the turbulent mind of one lust ridden young Jewish bachelor named Alexander Portnoy.
74. Delete at your Peril by Bob Servant
A hilarious collection of email exchanges starring the anti hero of spam.
73. Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
Every office is a family of sorts, and the Chicago ad agency Ferris depicts is family at its best and worst, coping with a business downturn in the time honored way: through gossip, elaborate pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks.
72. The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde’s most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners.
In Naked, Sedaris mines the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique worldview a sensibility at once take no prisoners sharp and deeply charitable.
70. I’m Just a Person, by Tig Notaro
Notaro delivers a darkly funny, wryly observed, and emotionally raw account of her year of death, cancer, and epiphany.
#69 – 60. Funniest Novels
Dave Barry has learned much of wisdom.
68. Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald
A genre smashing book about comedy, tragedy, love, loss, war, and redemption.
The no holds barred, high energy story of an ordinary American couple who wants to have a baby.
66. The Bedwetter, by Sarah Silverman
A pee in your pants funny memoir.
A strange and charming collection of hilariously absurd poetry, writing, and illustration.
64. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The adventures of Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy.
63. Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About, by Mil Millington
A brilliant comic novel examining the unique warfare in long term relationships.
62. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality.
61. Youth In Revolt by C.D. Payne
A hilarious, take no prisoners novel about a cynical, sex obsessed teenager’s pining love for an intelligent girl.
60. If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t), by Betty White
Betty White shares her observations about life, celebrity, and love.
#59 – 50. Funniest Novels
59. The Sellout, by Paul Beatty
A biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court.
58. Cruel Shoes, by Steve Martin
A collection of essays and short stories by Steve Martin.
57. Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, by Maria Semple
A touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.
56. The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge
A story based on Beryl Bainbridge’s own experiences working as a cellar girl in a bottling factory.
The book relates her experience of being white while growing up in a predominantly African American neighborhood.
54. I Feel Bad About My Neck, by Nora Ephron
A candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.
53. More Stories About Spaceships and Cancer, by Casper Kelly
Join Professor Badbones and his sidekick/nemesis, Stiffany, as they spin some weird ungodly tales of friendly neighborhood banks, large breasted ninjas, hopeless haberdashers and sex fantasies at work.
52. Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham
Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one’s way in the world.
51. How Not To Date by Judy McGuire
A collection of dating nightmares that’ll certainly let readers know what absolutely not to do on a date.
50. Love in A Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
The book offers a funny and subversive take on the self assurance of a 1940s aristocratic family.
#49 – 40. Funniest Novels
49. I Was Told There’d Be Cake, by Sloane Crosley
A collection of literary essays is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory.
48. Seriously … I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres
A lively, hilarious, and often sweetly poignant look at the life of the much loved entertainer as she opens up about her personal life, her talk show, and more.
47. Go The F**k To Sleep by Adam Mansbach
A laugh out loud, adults only bedtime story for parents familiar with the age old struggle of putting their kids to bed.
46. In Such Good Company, by Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett tells the hilarious behind the scenes story of her iconic weekly variety series, The Carol Burnett Show.
45. The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper
A uniquely British twist on the goofy letters to strangers genre.
44. Skinny Dip, by Carl Hiaasen
Set in South Florida in the course of April 2003, the book is about a woman, Joey Perrone, who takes revenge on her cheating husband after he has tried to murder her.
43. Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus.
42. Do the Windows Open?, by Julie Hecht
The book is a series of hilarious linked tales documenting the mania of the modern day in devastating detail.
41. I, Partridge by Steve Coogan
The book is the memoir of Alan Partridge, the nation’s favourite broadcaster.
40. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The book revels in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, confounding expectations, and embracing the comedy of daily existence.
#39 – 30. Funniest Novels
39. Bitter Is The New Black by Jen Lancaster
This is a soul searching story of a woman trying to figure out what happens next when she’s gone from six figures to unemployment checks.
38. How to be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran
The book puts a new face on feminism, cutting to the heart of women’s issues today.
37. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
The book is about a man, born out of wedlock to a feminist leader, who grows up to be a writer.
36. Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan.
35. Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding
The book is the devastatingly self aware, laugh out loud account of a year in the life of a thirty something Singleton on a permanent doomed quest for self improvement.
34. Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome
A novel about the humorous misadventures in one’s life.
33. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, by Issa Rae
A collection of humorous essays on what it’s like to be unabashedly awkward in a world that regards introverts as hapless misfits and black as cool.
32. Diary of a Mad Diva, by Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers record her day to day musings.
31. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
The book is Tristram’s narration of his life story. But it is one of the central jokes of the novel that he cannot explain anything simply.
30. If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I doing in the Pits?, by Erma Bombeck
The book takes a hilarious swipe at husbands, honeymoons, tennis elbow, marriage, lettuce, the national anthem, and a host of other domestic dilemmas.
#29 – 20. Funniest Novels
29. I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
Stephen explains his take on the most pressing concerns of our culture: Faith, Family, Politics…Hygiene.
28. Money: A Suicide Note by Martin Amis
A shocking, funny, and on target portraits of life in the fast lane form a bold and frightening portrait of Ronald Reagan’s America and Margaret Thatcher’s England.
27. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir), by Jenny Lawson
Lawson’s long suffering husband and sweet daughter help her uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments the ones we want to pretend never happened are the very same moments that make us the people we are today.
26. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend
A hilarious look at British adolescent angst.
25. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg
The book weaves together the past and the present through the friendship between Evelyn Couch, a middle aged housewife, and Ninny Threadgoode, an elderly woman who lives in a nursing home.
24. Without Feathers by Woody Allen
Allen puts some of the funniest tales ever put into print.
23. Why Not Me?, by Mindy Kaling
Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life.
22. Little Victories by Jason Gay
The book embarks on a comic journey through family and fatherhood, sickness and health, heartbreak and joy.
21. The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger
A humorous book that focus on the themes of teenage angst and alienation.
20. The Book Of Joan by Melissa Rivers
A hilarious and inspiring tribute to the iconic comedian Joan Rivers by the person who knew her best her daughter, Melissa.
#19 – 10. Funniest Novels
19. You Deserve A Drink by Mamrie Hart
A compilation of Hart’s her best drinking stories and worst hangovers.
Jay shares funny and interesting stories from his life.
17. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled except the early life of the Son of God. However, Biff, the Messiah’s best bud, tells the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work.
16. Lamentations of the Father: Essays, by Ian Frazier
Short essays sharing the burden with someone who has lived long enough to see the irony in it all.
15. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
A recent transplant to Paris, humorist David Sedaris presents a collection of stories from his life.
14. This Is A Book by Demetri Martin
Martin’s varied material touches many subjects through the delivery of sharp jokes, colorful characters, and interesting surprises.
13. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
The books central character is an educated but slothful 30 year old man living with his mother in the Uptown neighborhood of early 1960s New Orleans who, in his quest for employment, has various adventures with colorful French Quarter characters.
12. Screenburn by Charlie Brooker
The books collects the best of the much loved Guardian Guide columns into one easy to read on the toilet package.
11. Paddle Your Own Canoe by Nick Offerman
The book offers hard bitten battle strategies in the arenas of manliness, love, style, religion, woodworking, and outdoor recreation, among many other savory entrees.
10. No One Belongs Here More Than You, by Miranda July
A collection of stories of seemingly ordinary people living extraordinary lives that reveal how a single moment can change everything.
#9 – 1. Funniest Novels
9. Under the Frog, by Tibor Fischer
In this spirited indictment of totalitarianism, the two improbable heroes travel the length and breadth of Hungary in an epic quest for food, lodging, and female companionship.
8. Our Dumb World, by The Onion
The book is the world’s most comprehensive fake atlas a repository of all known information about the planet Earth.
7. Sex. Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
A hilarious take on massively popular culture covering everything from the effect of John Cusack flicks to the crucial role of breakfast cereal to the awesome power of the Dixie Chicks.
6. What I’d Say to the Martians: And Other Veiled Threats, by Jack Handey
A humorous collection of the startlingly random and the absurdly insightful.
5. Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
The book is an in depth, thoroughly uninformed look at everything from health food to things that people actually enjoy eating.
The book’s wild, globe trotting plot presents the reader with hilarious Monty Python sort of humor.
3. Something Fresh P.G. Wodehouse
The book presents a lot of antics and absurdity by British minor gentry.
The book presents hilarious mishaps and taboos through adulthood including chin hairs, depression, bad sex, failed relationships, masturbation, taco feasts, inflammatory bowel disease and more.
1. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
The book satirizes the bright young things: decadent young London society after World War I.
Ideas for the top 101 funniest novels were taken from the following sources.[1]B&N – 50 of the Funniest Books Ever Written[2]Esquire – The 30 Funniest Books Ever Written[3]Huffpost – 46 Hilarious Books Guaranteed To Make You Laugh Out Loud
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