Best books by comedians in 2017
- Brian Donaldson
- 15 December 2017

Eddie Izzard
Funny tomes for not-so funny times including books by Robert Webb, Joan Rivers and Eddie Izzard
In this dark and confusing 21st century world, a good laugh might be one of the few things that help people through it all. No pressure on those folk who try to get funny thoughts down on paper, then, but here are ten successful attempts from 2017 which have still got time to find their way into a book-shaped stocking
Mark Thomas: The Liar's Quartet
Arguably the most subtly clever book title of the year given that the south London comic has collected together three of his most recent scripts. Bravo Figaro!, Cuckooed and The Red Shed all show Mark Thomas off to be an enlightening and moving comedic talent as well as the campaigning rabblerouser we know and love.
Buy The Liar's Quartet on Amazon.
Robert Webb: How Not to Be a Boy
Cheekily taking his title inspiration from Caitlin Moran's 2011 memoir, the Peep Show and Back man delivers a thought-provoking dissemination of the rough-hued masculinity that he was brought up with and which later fed into his adult life.
Buy How Not to Be a Boy on Amazon
Joan Rivers Confidential
Hailed by Vanity Fair as featuring the late comic's 'funniest, nastiest, boldest jokes about Hollywood', you can only wonder what Joan Rivers would have had to say about the current post-Weinstein climate.
Buy Joan Rivers Confidential on Amazon
Eddie Izzard: Believe Me – A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens
Eddie Izzard promises that this will be his 'one and only autobiography' as he takes us on a journey from his birthplace in Yemen to growing up in Northern Ireland and on to a glittering stage and screen career.
Buy Believe Me on Amazon
Doug Stanhope: This is Not Fame – A 'From What I Re-Memoir'
If you've seen the few-holds barred US stand-up Doug Stanhope live, then you'll be far from shocked to learn that his autobiography has been dubbed as an 'unfiltered, unapologetic, hilarious and sometimes obscene assemblage of tales'.
Buy This is Not Fame on Amazon
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