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

Susan Calman / credit: Steve Ullathrone
Susan Calman: Cheer Up Love – Adventures in Depression with the Crab of Hate
Another comic who dipped toes into celebrity TV-land this year (Susan Calman's Strictly run kept plenty people entertained), the Scottish stand-up and broadcaster's 'breezily accessible' memoir is a candid look at depression.
Buy Cheer Up Love on Amazon

Shappi Khorsandi: Nina Is Not OK
The paperback edition of the debut novel by the UK-Iranian comic who made a speedy exit from the I'm a Celebrity jungle this year features witty words about friendship, addiction and sexuality.
Buy Nina Is Not OK on Amazon

Adam Kay: This Is Going to Hurt – Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
This musical comedian was trained in obstetrics and gynaecology and here delivers an unflinching diary about his time learning the ropes and cultivating a necessary dark humour in the NHS.
Buy This Is Going to Hurt on Amazon

Lisey and Jenny's Bumper Book of Comedy Colouring
Comedy fans Jenny Grene and Lise Richardson clubbed together to make a colouring-in book featuring their illustrations of 30 female comedians. Among those included are Miranda Hart, Fern Brady, Lolly Adefope and Katherine Ryan.
Buy Bumper Book of Comedy Colouring on Etsy

James Acaster's Classic Scrapes
The man nominated most times for an Edinburgh Comedy Award without scooping it unleashed a compendium of bizarre and embarrassing events that have all actually occurred to him. From highly ill-advised fight-picking on buses, motor accidents, skydiving and wiping soap on a child's coat (it's OK, he was also a child at the time), it's all here in cringe-making detail.
Buy Classic Scrapes on Amazon