Laughter is the only universal language. As a sci-fi author and stand-up comedian, nothing gets me turning through pages faster than a good belly-laugh born of sharp wit, a clever turn-of-phrase, and flawless delivery. When I was asked to write this post, I thought it would be a breeze to come up with five titles that fit the bill.
And it would have been, if I’d settled for the obvious choices. But ninety percent of the funny SFF books on my shelves are by the two names that dominate the segment; Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. We all know how wonderful The Hitchhiker’s Guide and Discworld are, so they’ve been left off the list for the same reason the University of Wisconsin system is left off lists of Top Ten Party Schools. It’s just not fair to everyone else.
So, in an order representing date of publication only, here’s my top five sci-fi humor books you have to go read right now.
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Okay, let’s get this out of the way, Kurt Vonnegut was a lunatic. A beautiful basket-case that somehow wrote an immensely dark, nonlinear time-travel comedy about the fire-bombing of Dresden. That shouldn’t be possible, but Slaughter House Five became a cultural touchstone and helped to propel the whole category of sci-fi humor for decades, despite the fact Vonnegut usually tried to avoid being pigeon-holed with the label of sci-fi writer. Without Vonnegut, would we even have Prachett and Adams?
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency/The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, Douglas Adams
Yeah, so I’m cheating a little. But Douglas Adams’ often overlooked detective duology makes the list because it’s been unfairly overshadowed by his much more popular work in the Hitchhiker’s Guide universe, well, multiverse actually. The Dirk Gently series is in some ways an even better set of books, owning to strong characters, more coherent plots, and a deeper exploration of the social issues it was meant to satirize. If Hitchhiker’s was Adams at his most irreverent and slap-stick, Dirk Gently was Adams at his most brooding and contemplative.
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu
Opinions on this one have been mixed, but for myself, Charles Yu’s time-hoping philosophical romp helped to rekindle an appetite for sci-fi humor among the publishing industry that had been lying dormant years. In its meta, self-reflective way, the novel manages to straddle a very fine line between hilarity and sentimental melancholy. It’s quite an achievement.
Redshirts, John Scalzi
I used to get a little annoyed when people called Scalzi a humor writer. Don’t get me wrong, John is an immensely talented author. His books such as the Old Man’s War series are some of the most entertaining, fast-paced sci-fi being written today. However, despite containing humorous elements and funny dialogue, they weren’t pure comedies like Hitchhikers, or satirical pieces like the Discworld.
That all changed with Redshirts. It is a hilarious, thorough, insightful, lovingly crafted satire that surpasses the classic Galaxy Quest as the best send up of Star Trek ever written in any medium. It deserved every inch of its Hugo Award. Now it’s headed for the small screen, where I expect it to become an even bigger hit.
Futurama
“Wait!” you’re saying. “Futurama isn’t a book.” No, it isn’t, and this isn’t your list. Besides, #2 was technically two books. So hush. Since its introduction in 1999, Futurama consistently, hilariously, and most important, intelligently skewered sci-fi, fantasy, pop culture, politics, nothing was beyond its reach. What other show has delivered a Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle gag to a prime time audience.
And that’s what made Futurama so different from anything that has appeared before or since. It trusted its audience to be intelligent and well-informed instead of always playing to the lowest common denominator (not that the writers were always above it, recall the “sewage seeking missile” cheekily labeled I.C.B.M.). Futurama made it clear that there was a large and loyal market for smart humor. It proved so popular among its legion of fans that it took three separate cancellations before it finally stayed dead.
Guardians of the Galaxy
“But that’s six things!” Seriously? You’re complaining about getting extra stuff? Besides, I’m no good at math. Anyway, the genre-bending, surprise box-office smash of 2014, GotG broke almost every mold for what a blockbuster movie looked like.
Superheroes, check. Space opera, check. Comedy, check. Hell, let’s even call it a musical while we’re at it, considering all the Awesome Mix Volume #1 sales it racked up. Guardians was the first sci-fi film since the Hitchhiker’s Guide adaptation to bring such a high level of humor and silliness, and audiences richly rewarded it for the opportunity to laugh alongside its shootouts and space battles, driving it to over $700 million worldwide.
That wraps up my list of sci-fi books, (and a T.V. show and a movie) that go out of their way to tickle your funny bone. Be sure to add your own in the comments!
Patrick S. Tomlinson is an author and stand-up comedian working out of Milwaukee, WI. His debut novel, THE ARK, which is not intentionally funny, drops in November from Angry Robot Books. Patrick also organizes and hosts a nerdy stand up showcase known as Cthulhu’s Comedy Collective, which has recently started touring conventions in the Midwest. You can follow him on twitter @stealthygeek, on Facebook, and follow his blog.
I would also strongly recommend The Book of Ultimate Truths by Robert Rankin, the British master of surrealist SF comedy. Truths is probably his most coherent and straightforward novel, as well as one of the outright funniest (along with its sequels). The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse is also recommended, as is his Armageddon trilogy where the world is saved by a time-travelling Elvis Presley and a sentient sprout named Barry.
A big shout out to Red Dwarf, both the excellent TV series (The Greatest SF Sitcom Ever) and the great novelisations (Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, Better Than Life and Backwards) which work very well without any knowledge of the TV series.
And of course, it should be a legally enforceable crime for any fantasy writer to even think about writing a multi-volume epic saga unless they have fully consumed Diana Wynne Jones’s Tough Guide to Fantasyland.
Two I’d nominate: Andy Weir’s The Martian whose main character is hilarious (and should translate marvelously to the big screen) and To Say Nothing Of The Dog by Connie Willis which is an hysterical time travel romp from the future to Victorian era London.
I would also submit Spider Robinson’s Callahan’s Cross-time Saloon series.
I second To Say Nothing of the Dog. Very clever, extremely funny.
It’s not the only book that Connie Willis has in that continuity, but reading the others first isn’t necessary, and it is by far the most humorous.
Good Omens is one of the only books to make me consistently laugh out loud while reading it.
Honorable mention to the “Nice [spoiler], asshole.” line from The Lies of Locke Lamora, which had me in hysterics for about a week.
Robert Sheckley, for his great early short fiction and novels: Untouched by Human Hands, Mindswap, Citizen in Space, Dimension of Miracles, Pilgrimage to Earth… I could go on.
Another vote for To Say Nothing of the Dog, one of my favorite books ever, and the Callahan’s series, which was always my husband’s favorite series.
I also recommend the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde, which takes on everything from classic literature to quantum physics with inimitable British humor and a multitude of puns. I have always wished BBC would make a miniseries of it starring Billie Piper as Thursday Next.
You might want to try Wilful Child by Steven Erikson if you like Star Trek spoofs.
Don’t forget that DGHDA originated from two Doctor Who episodes that Douglas Adams wrote (City of Death and Shara).
As far as I’m concerned, Scalzi takes the title for funniest current SFF author. The story “After the Coup” available on the Tor website provides a great example of his wit and humor, as does the Shadow War of the Night Dragons.
Bujold also brings the funny to her Vorkosigan books. Miles is very quick and sharp and many of the surrounding characters (Ivan, Mark and Martya Koudelka in particular) are as well.
2nd for Jasper Fforde, but I recommend Shades of Grey (no, not that one) over Thursday Next. Best underappreciated book I know.
Well, Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series isn’t specifically a comedy but it is full of laugh out loud humor so I’d nominate all of those.
I always recommend reading Craig Shaw Gardner’s Cineverse cycle. When you start with “Slaves of the Volcano God” and end with “Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies” how can there be anything but belly-laughs in the middle?
Tom Holt. Yes, Red Dwarf. Also Yes, Vorkosigan.
Robert Asprin’s Myth Adventures series are great fun; light & fluffy, but fun nonetheless. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter are worth the price of the books alone.
Also rather liked Bimbos of the Death Sun, by Sharyn McCrumb. Humorous look at SciFi/Fantasy conventions & fandoms in general.
Kato
Borgel, by Daniel Pinkwater holds a special place in my colon no matter how young I get.
Anything Christopher Moore, anything Minister Faust, and anything Matt Ruff all get added to the list.
While not funny throughout, Bruce Sterling’s Heavy Weather has a scene that made me laugh so hard I had to put down the book. It involved goats, and an absurd technology projection. I won’t spoil it any further.
In terms of Scalzi’s work, The Android’s Dream is significantly funnier than Redshirts, and harkens back to about the only other diplomatic humorous SF, Keith Laumer’s Retief stories.
Others include Harry Harrison’s “Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers” and of course The Stainless Steel Rat series, to whom both Scalzi and Bujold owe tips of the hat. Snowcrash is probably Neal Stephenson’s funniest book (the Big U is sillier, but not as good a story, and the Baroque Cycle may rack up more total laughs, but not per 1000 pages).
Spider Robinson did puns better than Piers Anthony ever did (and I liked the first few Xanth novels). Tom Holt’s “Expecting Someone Taller” will *always* be on my shelf.
I will counter Joel Finkle’s Stainless Steel Rat with Retief.
And I will always champion Ray Bradbury. ~~ “Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar” “Inflexible Logic” and “The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse” are technically not books (*coughFuturamacough*) but Mr Bradbury had a nicely dark sense of humor when he wanted.
I’d add “And the Devil Will Drag You Under” by Jack Chalker. A demon who is a drunk traveling through alternate universes to save Earth. Could be considered fantasy, but alternate universe travel put it more into Scifi for me.
Although he is not found in Science Fiction/Fantasy, Christopher Moore is always funny. With stories about vampires, demons, monsters, talking parrots, a very stupid angel, and a guy who finds he is a grim reaper, it is fantasy. Lamb is about Jesus as told by his childhood friend Bif. A feature of his books is at least one recurring character at a different point in his life. Two books share a scene with the lead characters from each book interacting. He says he makes a lot more money in the “Literature” section, but it is marketing.
When I first read Snow Crash, I laughed myself silly for 3 full days.
The Laundry Files!
I second Snow Crash. Freaking brilliant and hilarious.
I have to add Steven Brust’s Taltos series, humorous dialog that keeps me coming back time after time.
The closest I’ve read to a latter day Douglas Adams is the book Year Zero by Rod Reid:
It’s funny while still being intriguing, with a really inventive premise. Nick is a great narrator, and the various legal issues the group runs into are great fun.
I have to mention John Sladek here. Most of his work is either laugh-out-loud funny or more darkly satirical. Try the “Best of John Sladek” short story collection, easily available used. Among other things it contains parodies of various science fiction writers; the one for Cordwainer Smith is particularly hilarious.
A Lee Martinez
RA Lafferty
Not particularly sci-fi, but definitely hilarious.
An entertainment lawyer as the hero in a story? Indeed. Year Zero: A Novel by Rob Reid.
Chester Anderson’s The Butterfly Kid was a Hugo nominee in 1968, one of a very small number of funny nominees. I read the 1980 reprint edition (I still have it!) and was impressed by the way that in 1967, Anderson clearly found ’60s slang to be just as funny as we find it now.
James Nicoll reviews the book on his website here. Good book, unfortunately out of print.
John M. Ford’s How Much For Just the Planet turns Star Trek into Gilbert & Sullivan-esque musical comedy, hilariously.
Jack Vance, of course!
Hey, what about The Illuminatus Trilogy? F’Pete’ssake! A laugh a minute …
I would also insert Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Fools and the Liars Key. It cracked me up from the first scene to the last.
Funny S/F book[s] = Slippery Jim himself, the Stainless Steel Rat, by the sadly late Harry Harrison.
Comedy S/F in TV = Red Dwarf, hands down.
Honorary mention to Hyperdrive.
I’d add LITTLE GREEN MEN by Christopher Buckley, as “associational”, what with its take on UFO-abduction culture and what would happen if it became a mainstream phenomenon.
Only Forward is very funny. http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRM5tcqaxPTTsa5tI9mFHhXgN786hkAbq05M3ujicZlD7JgycAL
Matthew Hughes, The Damned Busters. “After accidentally summoning a demon, Chesney Anstruther refuses to sell his soul, which leads through various confusions to, well, Hell going on strike.”
Larry Niven and David Gerrold did a reasonable job with The Flying Sorcerers, which was just one pun after another.
Since a TV show was mentioned, two Star Trek originals that still make me giggle, The Trouble with Tribbles and A Piece of The Action.
Going back in time, any story written by Lewis Padgett; and Fredric Brown’s short short pun filled stories. And a second vote for The Butterfly Kid!
Don’t forget Harrison’s Bill the Galactic Hero !!
all 5 if them should be the Douglas Adams series – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…. LOVE THEM! But I do agree with these … Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency/The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul, also by Douglas Adams… I own all 7….
I started reading s-f in 1950, and almost immediately discovered the very funny “Robots Have No Tails …”, by “Lewis Padgett” (the husband-wife s-f team of Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore); Gnome Press, 1952; a fixup novel of short stories published about ten years earlier. It’s still one of the funniest s-f books that I’ve ever read, about the misadventures of drunken inventor Galloway Gallagher. He’d invent something while blotto, then sober up and spend the rest of that story trying to figure out what it was supposed to do.
To give away one spoiler, Gallagher invented a super-robot that turned out to be an improved beer-can opener; a story that became outdated in the late 1950s when pop-top cans replaced cans that needed openers. It’s still a hilarious story.
Other funny s-f that I’ve read over the years:
“The Remarkable Exploits of Lancelot Biggs: Spaceman”, by Nelson Bond; Doubleday, 1950.
“Once Upon a Star”, by Kendall Foster Crossen; Henry Holt, 1953.
“Earthman’s Burden”, by Poul Anderson & Gordon R. Dickson; Gnome Press, 1957.
What about anthologies?
“Science Fiction Carnival”, edited by Fredric Brown & Mack Reynolds; Shasta Press, 1953.
During the 1950s used-magazine stores were common. I got a lot of World-War II-era issues of FANTASTIC ADVENTURES, almost all of which had a “Lefty Feep” story by Robert Bloch. They had titles like “The Pied Piper Fights the Gestapo” and “The Weird Doom of Floyd Scriltch”, characters like Judge Hiawatha Donglepootzer and the German Herr Tonic, they were loaded with zoot-suit slang, and they were a barrage of groaner puns from beginning to end.
I guess that s-f humor was less sophisticated back then.
Harry Turtledove: The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump
Seems like there is fertile ground for suggestions in the short story category. I would heartily recommend the anthology edited by Isaac Asimov and Janet Jeppson entitled Laughing Space. Some of it is dated but it covers a vast arena from the potential issues of curing the common cold, one of the best setup shaggy dog puns I’ve ever read by Mr. Asimov himself, the perils of alien economics, a study of the goose that laid the golden egg, the trials of getting a story published, and much more.
Don’t forget the marvelous “Phule’s Company” series!
Anything by Spider Robinson.
@30: second How Much For Just The Planet. I read my copy to pieces and laughed crazily every single time.
David Eddings
Thirding How Much for Just the Planet. It was my gateway drug to Star Trek novels, in fact.
Craig Shaw Gardner has been mentioned, but far funnier (IMO) than Slaves of the Volcano God were his Ebenezum Trilogy, and the sequel, The Ballad of Wuntvor. Just mention ferrets and I’m on the floor in hysterics. It’s fantasy, not straight-up sci fi, but it is just so frikkin funny.
David Wong also penned a darkly hilarious masterpiece with John Dies at the End. It’s just so delightfully over-the-top with its bizarre rolicking bizarreness that it’s genius.
Wil Wheaton narrates a thoroughly enjoyable audiobook version of Redshirts on Audible!
https://mobile.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Redshirts-Audiobook/B007SP2LPM
Philip Reeve’s magnificently ridiculous Larklight Trilogy. I call it fantasy but he calls it a “steam punk space opera,” and it’s about as scientific (and random and creative) as HG2G, if less quotably-witty.
Another Vonnegut…Sirens of Titan…and another vote for Bujold and the Vorkosigan Saga.
I enjoyed Redshirts. It was clever and cute. But Redshirts didn’t even come close to Galaxy Quest. It was mired by characters examining their existence, which cost it a LOT of humor. But that’s Scalzi for you.
How to kille insects. That one can stand on it’s own as far as I’m
White Noise by Don DeLillo!
1) How Much For Just the Planet
2) Snowcrash
3) Illuminatus! Trilogy
4) Willful Child
5) Its fantasy, but the Malayan Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach are hilarious.
So many of Stephenson’s books are laugh out loud funny, but not exactly comedies.
I am surprised no one has mentioned Keith Laumer’s “Retief” novels and stories, which are among the funniest ever written in the subgenre of space opera. Or Michael Swanwick’s Darger and Surplus novels and stories, especially his recent novel “Dancing with Bears” and the just published “Chasing the Phoenix”. I am glad someone has mentioned Matt Ruff, not least because of his brilliant debut fantasy novel “Fool on the Hill” and the absurdly wicked near future post-cyberpunk novel “Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy”. And I agree that Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash” is hilarious. However, searching farther afield, I am surprised no one has mentioned Gary Shteyngart’s “Super Sad True Love Story” or Rick Moody’s “The Four Fingers of Death”.
Lots of funny in Esther Friesner’s oeuvre. My favorites are her Gnome Man’s Land/Harpy High/Unicorn U trilogy (especially the middle one) and her Majyk by Accident/Majyk by Design/Majyk by Hook or by Crook trilogy (you can’t go wrong with pirate sheep). And of course the Chicks in Chainmail series of anthologies.
There’s a fair amount of funny if I am recalling correctly in the Niven/Pournelle/Flynn collaboration Fallen Angels. And, unlike McCrumb’s books, it’s a much more loving and respectful tribute to our community.
Another vote for Bujold, especially A Civil Campaign, her SF version of a Georgette Heyer Regency romance. Just the banquet scene alone is worth the hardcover price!
If we are going to mention short stories, I have to give a shout out to one of my all time favorites that is funny as hell: Yurek Rutz, Yurek Rutz, Yurek Rutz by David Marusek.
What?!! No John Varley? His early stuff was hysterical. “Overdrawn at the memory bank” is probably the funniest short story I have read. Shout out to Norman Spinrad for “National Pastime” and Phillip Jose Farmer for” Riders of the Purple Wage”.
I put to you “Jason Cosmo” and its sequels by Dan McGirt.
Ron Goulart’s Odd Jobs Inc. series.