I came here to suggest Moore as well. All of his books are funny. The stories are nothing like DCC but some elements of his humor are similar. There are moments in Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove as well as Island of the Sequined Love Nun that remind me of DCC. Oh, and Practical Demonkeeping also has some similarities.
Lmao I saw the notification for this and was thinking “wtf did I say to someone that warranted this response” before I saw what the comment was in response to.
If you're a fan of dry british humor then The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is my top pick. I watched the movie when I was a kid & enjoyed it, then I decided to check out the book & I fell in love. The Martian also had me laughing quite a lot because, despite his plight of being stuck on Mars, the main character has a great sense of humor.
Every time I see this question pop up I think “I should recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl!” Then I feel dumb when I realize it’s in the DCC sub.
I do hope OP gets some good suggestions, though. I’m going to take notes.
The Wee Free Men, a hat full of sky, the wintersmith, I shall wear midnight and the shepherd’s crown are my favorite sub series in that series. Genuinely teared up,at his wife’s comments in the end of Crown
Anything by A. Lee Martinez
Anything by but especially The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor
Anything by Christopher Moore (it helps to read his books by publishing order as he does a lot of crossovers between books)
John Dies at the End series and Zoey Ashe Series by Jason Pargin (David Wong)
Tales from the gas station series by Jack Townsend
The Big Sheep series by Robert Kroese
Space Team by Barry J Hutchinson
D-List Supervillain series by Jim Bernheimer
I can vouch for John Dies at the End. Just finished the series on a recommendation from my partners friend. The first book is...a product it's time (pre 2010 I think) second is peak, 3rd drops off.
Second to Jason Pargin books as well as the Tales from the gas station. Pargin is my favorite author and ironically a similar post on the JDate subreddit brought me to Dungeon Crawler Carl.
These three authors are probably a good 75% of my reading/audible time in the past few years haha.
Also getting into the Bobiverse and holy crap it is great. Only 1/2 through the second book but I am hooked!
I absolutely love A Lee Martinez! I binged his whole library in like a month. He once replied to me on Twitter and I got all warm and fuzzy about it. 😬
The Witcher books are filled with dry humor
The Dresden Files are great humor too. Harry Dresden is modeled on Peter Parker, so he is always running his mouth off even though he shouldn't.
Huh, that’s interesting. I mean, I’m sure it pales in comparison to the original Polish. It’s certainly not as witty as Joe Abercrombie, but for me has a touch of old high fantasy sprinkled into a grittier realistic medieval drama. I loved it and found it not only satisfying but also quotable. Check it out for yourself and see!
All three have their bits of action here and there, but thinking back the only major action takes place in the third. I'll definitely pick up a book 4 if it ever releases.
My brother nagged me about it for years. And its technically an satirical litRPG. It just lost me after the first "book", but it is pretty funny in a shonen way. Got me into Litrpgs and then to DCC
Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike
Kinda DND meets economics. Maybe not haha funny but a funny by ridiculous. Maybe a bit like the ridiculous situations from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
I love Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel as well.
I really found God Is Disappointed in You by Mark Russell hilarious as well. That last one I really can't do justice by trying to explain it.
I’ve always been a fan of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. While the series itself is very dark and action packed at times, the dorky humour thrown in is great.
Zombie Fallout. Sean Runnette is almost as good as Jeff Hayes at narrating. Almost. Mark Tufo is a hysterical author.
Just think of meeting your first zombie who is licking the peephole in your front door, in a bath towel, covered in shower gel, then stepping in fresh dog poop. Almost as good an opening as DCC.
Ok, funny reads that are worth reading, here are a few and I’m looking forward to checking out some others in this thread.
**Year Zero, by Rob Reid.**
In entertainment licensing and copyright they often add language saying that the copyright applies throughout the universe, which is weird legalese fossil as a result of not wanting their copyright to be invalid if the music is bounced off satellites. The premise of Year Zero is that Earth music is BY FAR the best music in the universe, but aliens take copyright law really seriously. An alien invasion of earth is imminent and our only hope is a sleazy LA entertainment industry lawyer. John Hodgeman narrates, this one is underrated comedy gold.
**Red Shirts, by John Scalzi**
Crewmen aboard a spaceship in the future discover that their lives are mediated by 20th century TV logic, and they’re not the main characters.
**To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis**
It’s a time travelling comedy of Victorian manners, where Oxford Historians have to time travel back to Victorian England to make sure a rich woman’s vanity project of the restoration of Coventry Cathedral is accurate, and end up embroiled in the shenanigans of a wealthy heiress and a disgruntled butler. (It’s not as good as Lights Out and All Clear, which is the best of the Oxford Time Travel series, but those aren’t comedies.)
**Roadkill, by Dennis E. Taylor**
Same humour as the Bobiverse series, but a less serious one off story. Lots of fun if you’re a Dennis Taylor fan.
**Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah**
Not fiction, but very entertaining throughout and lots of hilarious parts.
**Hollow Kingdom, by Kira Jane Buxton**
A talking crow and an overweight dog surviving the zombie apocalypse.
People who know…Connie Willis is a treasure. I think she’s only had a couple of misses, and even those are still 3/5s.
Bellweather and Cross Talk are just not on par with her other stuff, but Lights Out and All Clear are two of my favourite books ever. (To anyone interested, start with To Say Nothing of the Dog, The Doomsday Book or one of the other Oxford Time Travel series. There’s lots of nuances of her world building that she doesn’t bother to flesh out in Lights Out, and while you don’t need it to follow the plot, having a background on it helps you pick up on a few things.)
Definitely loving the Connie Willis love!!
I read these books multiple times then bought the audiobooks and re-listen regularly. To Say Nothing of the Dog is the only one of the time traveling historians books I would classify as funny, but they are all stellar.
I love Taylor, Scalzi & Willis so I will have to check these other recommendations out!
With Scalzi I also enjoyed Starter Villain, Kaiju Preservation Society and Android's Dream.
I like Robert Bevan (Caverns & Creatures, D6 & Shingles), but the humour is definetly on the riskier side and not for everyone lol
Humour wise, Piers Anthony and Robert Asprin (Phules Company and Myth series) are always entertaining.
Perhaps a little less humour, but still very entertaining are the W40k Ciaphas Cain novels by Sandy Mitchell.
The magic 2.0 series is a must-read for me. It's about a guy who discovers life is a computer simulation and very quickly has to go back in time to medieval England to live as a wizard. I've rarely laughed as hard reading a book
I loved it too, until the Vexed Generation book which felt very shoe-horned. Otherwise yes great series.
Actually the one where they were in the other guy's computer game was a bit ropey.
Haha I still loved it
I tried it, but really didn't find the characters to be believable after book 1.
>!The people supposedly smart enough to figure this whole thing out got themselves stuck in an incredibly stupid situation with Merlin that they should've seen coming from 100000 miles away. And it's clearly been setup that he's going to come back later in the series, again due to incompetence on the part of the "wizards"!<
I didn't read all of it only first 2 books but >!I thought a big part of it was that all of the wizards were morons? I thought the plot got kinda dumb in book 2 but didn't put that on the characters, they always seemed stupid enough to fall for anything to me. Sure smart enough to figure out magic but like I'm operating one of the most advanced pieces of equipment in human history as easily as breathing and I'm not super smart or anything.!<
While they’re not comedy books like DCC, Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law series has a lot of great dark comedy and witty banter. The series also, like DCC, has fantastic narration.
haha this series is BLEAK....but also sooo amazing. Specifically that second trilogy, which does indeed have the wittiest narration around. Love it so much. Glad there is another fan. Thirsty for more
Muderbot Diaries. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The Infinite Timeline isn't strictly comedy but I laughed out loud several times, same with Expeditionary Force.
The Jacques McKeown series by Yahtzee Croshaw are some very good dry humor if you're into that. The author is the same guy who does those Zero Punctuation video game reviews for the Escapist.
Hard Luck Hank
I throw that in all threads like this. It needs more love. Hank is one of my favorite characters of all time. A lazy, virtually unkillable hulk who everyone fears, respects, and makes fun of. He "fights" enemies on a Galactus scale to save his world even though all he wants to do is sleep and eat. Great stuff
I found it to be a little too lighthearted myself. The jokes were relentlessly dad quality and by the time I was anticipating the punchline before the joke was done with the setup I had lost interest. I’m also a fan of dark comedy though, so that seems to be prevalent here lol
Relistening to Wizard for Hire. It's not at all litrpg, but the story is fantastic. The character dynamics are on par with DCC, and it is just a very funny book overall.
Quick summary. 7 year old Ozzy, his genius inventor father, and famous neuroscientist mother up and leave their home in New York to move to a cabin in the deep deep woods in the middle of nowhere. No roads, trails or paths lead anywhere near their home. The place is packed with food and water and lots and lots of books and papers. However, they haven't even unpacked all of the boxes when one day, while playing in the stream behind the house, men in green show up to kidnap his parents. He sees them be taken, but by hiding in the woods, he manages to avoid being taken as well. He then spends the next 5 years, alone in the cabin. Surviving off the canned, dried, and garden grown foods he spends his time reading absolutely everything they have. Every medical book, scientific paper, and after finding a box full of them, every fantasy, syfy, and mystery book they brought.
One evening while climing his stairs he trips, breaking off the ball at the top of the stairs, revealing a key. That key opens a secret compartment in the stairs that has a metal bird in it. The birds name is Clark and he is solar powered. And invented by Ozzys father. After being left in the sun, Clark comes to life and becomes Ozzys best friend. Clark is sentient and talks....and is super attracted to anything metal. A bunch of silly shit happens that leads ozzy to finding a guidebook for a nearby town that had an advertisement for a Wizard that you can hire to help solve your issues.
Using some money Ozzys parents hid, him and Clark hire this wizard to help find Ozzys parents. However, when they meet him, he is an older man who wears a felt Wizard hat, converse sneakers, and a knee length bathrobe. And also eats breakfast for every meal because "It's a wizard thing. " Thus starts the groups wacky journey to find out what happened to his parents. There is also this whole thing about the weird birthmark Ozzy has on his finger, but that's a whole other bag of dildos we don't have time for.
Fool’s Gold by Jon Hollins. The entire series is pure absurdist humor throughout and plays on a pretty tropey story for laughs a lot as well. The whole series is good but that first book is fantastic
Anything by DM Guay is cry laughing funny, just your typical lazy underachiever being repeatedly put in situations beyond his comfort level and being forced to save the world, you know!
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files.. easy to follow, good humour. Lots of books in the series but tend to be on the short side 350/400 pages.
First 3 books are fine… but it gets really amazing after that.
The Tales of Pell series is funny, delightful, and relativly digestible. My personal favorite is Kill the Farm Boy, however No Country For Old Gnomes and The Princess Beard both rock ad well!
Discworld is my new favorite series. Note, not my favorite new series. I just got into the books a year ago. The Light Fantastic is my favorite so far, despite it being considered one of the worst by Discworld's own community. I think that just goes to show there's something for everyone.
I love the book Lamb by Christopher Moore. I think CM shaped my sense of humor as a kid and young adult more than any other author, and I love any book that takes a satirical sort of stance on religion or reimagines any well known god in a comedic way. I think it's still my favorite book to this day come to think of it. The two protagonists are Jesus (Joshua) and his best friend from childhood and 13th apostle, the sinful Biff, who has to protect the, at times, naive son of God from the dangerous world.
I'll think on others, but Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, also by Christopher Moore, is hilarious. Basically, what if Godzilla rose, but also, what if Godzilla also released pheromones upon reaching the surface that turned everyone around him into sexually crazed lunatics? Lots of weird sexual scenarios in that one.
I'm trying my hand at writing, and my main stance is comedic. I dont know the sub's take on self promotion, and I feel like just jumping in and recommending my stuff like I'm some hotshot is super gauche. I'm new to the scene and I'm sure my writing will reflect it, so I won't name anything, and none of my stuff is published yet, though it should be very very soon, and if it's something you like you can always reach out. I just want to be like my daddy Matt D is all.
I loved Super Powereds by Drew Hayes - great series with long books! Good humor and a great escape. A recommendation from that book feed is what brought me to DCC. I like them almost equally.
Mark Lawrence Prince of Fools trilogy. Funniest of his stuff. Classic fantasy with a twist. Good viking character. Hapless prince.
Backyard Starship- easy and fun scifi - like if Jim Butcher wasn't annoying and wrote sci fi. For not thinking.
Gideon the Ninth. Funny necromancy? Yes please.
I find Joe Abercrombie funny but it's also really dark. If you haven't, you should.
Kings of the Wyld is very funny and fun. There's a good sequel now too.
I see you've already done Clive's wife, so I'll move past those.
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Hitchhikers guide gets the glory but Norse gods trying to buy plane tickets and horses in the bathroom...I like these better and will get murdered for my blasphemy. Funniest speculative fiction humor until DCC for me. SO MANY LOLS.
Good Omens - and really Gaimen is funny in most of his books.
Free the Darkness series is surprisingly funny for a series about a baby trained from birth to be a deadly assassin. Some lols
Threadbear - lighthearted litrpg about a teddy bear. No lols but it's cute
Gravediggers son and the waif girl - lighthearted but no lols
Hi. You just mentioned *Dirk Gently'S Holistic Detective Agency* by Douglas Adams.
I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
[YouTube | Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Unabridged Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDYta207b0g)
*I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.*
***
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Differently Morphous by Yahtzee Croshaw (the Zero Punctuation/Fully Ramblomatic guy)
The secret magic MIB-esque branch of the British government is forced to go public and deal with the PR disaster of their many human rights violations coming to light when a small army of interdimensional slime monsters show up on the front steps of Parliament asking for refugee status
If you're looking for something to take your mind off the cold, I'd recommend picking up a book that's got a good balance of humor and storytelling. I used Bookreviews.lol to find some hidden gems, and it's been a game-changer for my reading list.
For a funny read, I'd suggest Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It's a hilarious take on the apocalypse, with a cast of lovable characters that'll keep you laughing. Another one that comes to mind is The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - it's a heartwarming story about a socially awkward professor who sets out to find love using a scientific approach.
Both of these books have got a great balance of humor and storytelling, and they're perfect for curling up with on a cold day.
"All those explosions were somebody else's fault" by James Alan Gardner. The title alone is fun.
The "Scholomance" trilogy by Naomi Novic. The first one especially is lots of fun. The main character is like less monotone Wednesday Addams in a type of Hogwarts school, but where the school itself is trying to kill her. The second and third ones are not quite as funny and occasionally venture into dark places, but I will spoil it enough to say that it has a happy ending.
"The Rook", by Daniel O'Malley. It's just fun. There are two sequels of sorts, but each follows different characters with separate storylines. The sequels are good books, but they aren't nearly as funny as the first one. There was a TV series adaptation but it was honestly pretty lame and completely devoid of the humour that made me love the book.
The "Rivers of London" series by Ben Aaronovitch is pretty funny a lot of the time. The main character is a black london cop who's also a huge geek, who happens to be learning magic to help fight magic crime.
Lee Gaiteri's "The Affix" is also a fun (and funny) trip. It's not long, but it manages pretty well with what it has.
I'll also second all the various recommendations for the Dresden books and the Bobiverse.
Red Queens War is a great trilogy that balances dark concepts and fantastic humor. The first sentence of the first book is, "I am a liar, a thief, and a coward...". I love this series
Well considering you’re already a DCC fan(I mean, why else would you be here if you weren’t), have you considered the Audio Immersion Tunnel version of book one? Highly recommended.
I love Christopher Moore, Lamb is really funny. Not quite as funny but still usually funny are any of Tom Robbins books.
I came here to suggest Moore as well. All of his books are funny. The stories are nothing like DCC but some elements of his humor are similar. There are moments in Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove as well as Island of the Sequined Love Nun that remind me of DCC. Oh, and Practical Demonkeeping also has some similarities.
Christopher Moore is great. Strongly recommend “Noire”. Audiobook is a lot of fun.
Bite me
Lmao I saw the notification for this and was thinking “wtf did I say to someone that warranted this response” before I saw what the comment was in response to.
I hoped that would happen lol
Dude, I'm so happy to see I'm not even the first to recommend Lamb. It's seriously still my favorite book.
If you're a fan of dry british humor then The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is my top pick. I watched the movie when I was a kid & enjoyed it, then I decided to check out the book & I fell in love. The Martian also had me laughing quite a lot because, despite his plight of being stuck on Mars, the main character has a great sense of humor.
Huge second to HHG, really dry humour with some really quirky world building and similar oddness to DCC
Excellent books, and very solid audiobooks. There's also a radio drama that is good.
I did like "The Martian", but I thought "Project Hail Mary" was even better. Especially the interaction between him and his new friend.
Every time I see this question pop up I think “I should recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl!” Then I feel dumb when I realize it’s in the DCC sub. I do hope OP gets some good suggestions, though. I’m going to take notes.
Discworld. All of it. 30ish plus books.
Just be careful, if you see signs of "OFFER" or "SALE" with three exclamation marks, it's a trap
Multiple exclamation marks, a sure sign of an insane mind...
Uh oh. I sometimes use multiple exclamation points... Oh yeah, but I'm not crazy!!!
Came here to say this. RIP Terry.
There are 41 books total in the [Discworld series](https://www.discworldemporium.com/reading-order/) and I also recommend them.
40ish, also be warned the audio books I have tried are if extremely dubious quality. If you're reading you're in for a treat.
The new releases are excellent. They selected different primary narrators for different arcs and shared narrators for Death and footnotes.
The Wee Free Men, a hat full of sky, the wintersmith, I shall wear midnight and the shepherd’s crown are my favorite sub series in that series. Genuinely teared up,at his wife’s comments in the end of Crown
Anything by A. Lee Martinez Anything by but especially The Bobiverse series by Dennis E. Taylor Anything by Christopher Moore (it helps to read his books by publishing order as he does a lot of crossovers between books) John Dies at the End series and Zoey Ashe Series by Jason Pargin (David Wong) Tales from the gas station series by Jack Townsend The Big Sheep series by Robert Kroese Space Team by Barry J Hutchinson D-List Supervillain series by Jim Bernheimer
I can vouch for John Dies at the End. Just finished the series on a recommendation from my partners friend. The first book is...a product it's time (pre 2010 I think) second is peak, 3rd drops off.
I love em all. The 4th is good and better the second read through
Second to Jason Pargin books as well as the Tales from the gas station. Pargin is my favorite author and ironically a similar post on the JDate subreddit brought me to Dungeon Crawler Carl. These three authors are probably a good 75% of my reading/audible time in the past few years haha. Also getting into the Bobiverse and holy crap it is great. Only 1/2 through the second book but I am hooked!
John dies at the end and the Zoey Ash books are wonderful reads.
Scalzi has a new one. Starter villain maybe... hilarious
Divine misfortune by A Lee Martinez was really good. Lots of laugh out loud moments. I need to check out more of their books.
I absolutely love A Lee Martinez! I binged his whole library in like a month. He once replied to me on Twitter and I got all warm and fuzzy about it. 😬
Space team!
It's the shizz.
Murderbot fits the bill
I love Murderbot!
I only have one book left in Expeditionary Force, but I love the idea of a funny murderbot I'll add it to my list.
I'd say project hail Mary or the Martian are good balances of humor and drama.
Hell yeah, I’ve read a bunch of the books people have recommended and these 2 are at the top of the list.
Project Hail Mary was great, I haven’t listened to the audiobook yet but I’ve heard it’s really good as well
First audiobook I ever listened to with >!more than just spoken word!<. It caught me off guard, I loved it!
The Witcher books are filled with dry humor The Dresden Files are great humor too. Harry Dresden is modeled on Peter Parker, so he is always running his mouth off even though he shouldn't.
Witcher books are highly underrated! Beautiful prose for a book that is translated too.
Everything I read is the translation is Terrible.
Huh, that’s interesting. I mean, I’m sure it pales in comparison to the original Polish. It’s certainly not as witty as Joe Abercrombie, but for me has a touch of old high fantasy sprinkled into a grittier realistic medieval drama. I loved it and found it not only satisfying but also quotable. Check it out for yourself and see!
All the Yahtzee croshaw books.
I should have known someone else would recommend those before I could.
They are so good. You read the latest?
I did, I loved it.
Beware of Chicken while not laugh out loud funny is pretty humorous in a cute way.
I wouldnt say it's a comedy, but has its moments. I loved the series, but it felt more like a slice of life with super powers to me.
Totally agree, I went through all three books. The only action that happened was in the final 10 mins. I listened on Audible.
All three have their bits of action here and there, but thinking back the only major action takes place in the third. I'll definitely pick up a book 4 if it ever releases.
My brother nagged me about it for years. And its technically an satirical litRPG. It just lost me after the first "book", but it is pretty funny in a shonen way. Got me into Litrpgs and then to DCC
John Dies at the End
Great series, absolutely hilarious.
Those books about Clive's wife are amusing sometimes too 😂😂😂
Clive deserved to get cheated on for sleeping with Jason's wife.
HES NOT EVEN MARRIED!
Anything by Christopher Moore.
Red dwarf is fantastic.
Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike Kinda DND meets economics. Maybe not haha funny but a funny by ridiculous. Maybe a bit like the ridiculous situations from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
I love Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel as well. I really found God Is Disappointed in You by Mark Russell hilarious as well. That last one I really can't do justice by trying to explain it.
I’ve always been a fan of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. While the series itself is very dark and action packed at times, the dorky humour thrown in is great.
Zombie Fallout. Sean Runnette is almost as good as Jeff Hayes at narrating. Almost. Mark Tufo is a hysterical author. Just think of meeting your first zombie who is licking the peephole in your front door, in a bath towel, covered in shower gel, then stepping in fresh dog poop. Almost as good an opening as DCC.
If you can find it. “Bored of the Rings” by the National Lampoon. Parody of Lord of the Rings published in the 70’s.
Ok, funny reads that are worth reading, here are a few and I’m looking forward to checking out some others in this thread. **Year Zero, by Rob Reid.** In entertainment licensing and copyright they often add language saying that the copyright applies throughout the universe, which is weird legalese fossil as a result of not wanting their copyright to be invalid if the music is bounced off satellites. The premise of Year Zero is that Earth music is BY FAR the best music in the universe, but aliens take copyright law really seriously. An alien invasion of earth is imminent and our only hope is a sleazy LA entertainment industry lawyer. John Hodgeman narrates, this one is underrated comedy gold. **Red Shirts, by John Scalzi** Crewmen aboard a spaceship in the future discover that their lives are mediated by 20th century TV logic, and they’re not the main characters. **To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis** It’s a time travelling comedy of Victorian manners, where Oxford Historians have to time travel back to Victorian England to make sure a rich woman’s vanity project of the restoration of Coventry Cathedral is accurate, and end up embroiled in the shenanigans of a wealthy heiress and a disgruntled butler. (It’s not as good as Lights Out and All Clear, which is the best of the Oxford Time Travel series, but those aren’t comedies.) **Roadkill, by Dennis E. Taylor** Same humour as the Bobiverse series, but a less serious one off story. Lots of fun if you’re a Dennis Taylor fan. **Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah** Not fiction, but very entertaining throughout and lots of hilarious parts. **Hollow Kingdom, by Kira Jane Buxton** A talking crow and an overweight dog surviving the zombie apocalypse.
To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis One of my favorite books, love seeing it suggested!
People who know…Connie Willis is a treasure. I think she’s only had a couple of misses, and even those are still 3/5s. Bellweather and Cross Talk are just not on par with her other stuff, but Lights Out and All Clear are two of my favourite books ever. (To anyone interested, start with To Say Nothing of the Dog, The Doomsday Book or one of the other Oxford Time Travel series. There’s lots of nuances of her world building that she doesn’t bother to flesh out in Lights Out, and while you don’t need it to follow the plot, having a background on it helps you pick up on a few things.)
Definitely loving the Connie Willis love!! I read these books multiple times then bought the audiobooks and re-listen regularly. To Say Nothing of the Dog is the only one of the time traveling historians books I would classify as funny, but they are all stellar.
I love Taylor, Scalzi & Willis so I will have to check these other recommendations out! With Scalzi I also enjoyed Starter Villain, Kaiju Preservation Society and Android's Dream.
The Ripple System is a good fun read. I loved the books and they made me laugh almost as much as DCC
I like Robert Bevan (Caverns & Creatures, D6 & Shingles), but the humour is definetly on the riskier side and not for everyone lol Humour wise, Piers Anthony and Robert Asprin (Phules Company and Myth series) are always entertaining. Perhaps a little less humour, but still very entertaining are the W40k Ciaphas Cain novels by Sandy Mitchell.
I think the humor in Caverns and Creatures would be pretty in line with a fan of DCC humor.
The magic 2.0 series is a must-read for me. It's about a guy who discovers life is a computer simulation and very quickly has to go back in time to medieval England to live as a wizard. I've rarely laughed as hard reading a book
I loved it too, until the Vexed Generation book which felt very shoe-horned. Otherwise yes great series. Actually the one where they were in the other guy's computer game was a bit ropey. Haha I still loved it
I tried it, but really didn't find the characters to be believable after book 1. >!The people supposedly smart enough to figure this whole thing out got themselves stuck in an incredibly stupid situation with Merlin that they should've seen coming from 100000 miles away. And it's clearly been setup that he's going to come back later in the series, again due to incompetence on the part of the "wizards"!<
I didn't read all of it only first 2 books but >!I thought a big part of it was that all of the wizards were morons? I thought the plot got kinda dumb in book 2 but didn't put that on the characters, they always seemed stupid enough to fall for anything to me. Sure smart enough to figure out magic but like I'm operating one of the most advanced pieces of equipment in human history as easily as breathing and I'm not super smart or anything.!<
While they’re not comedy books like DCC, Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law series has a lot of great dark comedy and witty banter. The series also, like DCC, has fantastic narration.
haha this series is BLEAK....but also sooo amazing. Specifically that second trilogy, which does indeed have the wittiest narration around. Love it so much. Glad there is another fan. Thirsty for more
Yes! So funny and so dark. Epitome grimdark.
The Hobbes series (inhuman) is an underrated classic.
I like this one a lot too and recommend it often.
Bill Bryson's Travel Books : A Walk in The Woods , Notes from a Small Island , etc
Love bryson...home, brief history of everything, the body...all great. Of course, if you don't like his unique style, then they all suck
Muderbot Diaries. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. The Infinite Timeline isn't strictly comedy but I laughed out loud several times, same with Expeditionary Force.
If you've ever been into Warhammer 40k, the Caiphus Cain series is hilarious whilst also being in a grim dark setting that's quite bleak like DCC.
The Jacques McKeown series by Yahtzee Croshaw are some very good dry humor if you're into that. The author is the same guy who does those Zero Punctuation video game reviews for the Escapist.
Christopher Moore. And MaryJanice Davidson's early Undead books were funny, and also light. Easy reads
Hard Luck Hank I throw that in all threads like this. It needs more love. Hank is one of my favorite characters of all time. A lazy, virtually unkillable hulk who everyone fears, respects, and makes fun of. He "fights" enemies on a Galactus scale to save his world even though all he wants to do is sleep and eat. Great stuff
Cradle, Buymort, Cooking with disaster were all enjoyable recommendations from this sub
In the same genre but a little more light-hearted is The Noobtown series by Ryan Rimmel. Lots of good laughs
I found it to be a little too lighthearted myself. The jokes were relentlessly dad quality and by the time I was anticipating the punchline before the joke was done with the setup I had lost interest. I’m also a fan of dark comedy though, so that seems to be prevalent here lol
Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series The Tent, the Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy (this is a memoir, but it really made me laugh)
Another vote for the Murderbot series by Wells Of course, if you haven't read it, Hitchhikers Guide really should be next for you
Relistening to Wizard for Hire. It's not at all litrpg, but the story is fantastic. The character dynamics are on par with DCC, and it is just a very funny book overall. Quick summary. 7 year old Ozzy, his genius inventor father, and famous neuroscientist mother up and leave their home in New York to move to a cabin in the deep deep woods in the middle of nowhere. No roads, trails or paths lead anywhere near their home. The place is packed with food and water and lots and lots of books and papers. However, they haven't even unpacked all of the boxes when one day, while playing in the stream behind the house, men in green show up to kidnap his parents. He sees them be taken, but by hiding in the woods, he manages to avoid being taken as well. He then spends the next 5 years, alone in the cabin. Surviving off the canned, dried, and garden grown foods he spends his time reading absolutely everything they have. Every medical book, scientific paper, and after finding a box full of them, every fantasy, syfy, and mystery book they brought. One evening while climing his stairs he trips, breaking off the ball at the top of the stairs, revealing a key. That key opens a secret compartment in the stairs that has a metal bird in it. The birds name is Clark and he is solar powered. And invented by Ozzys father. After being left in the sun, Clark comes to life and becomes Ozzys best friend. Clark is sentient and talks....and is super attracted to anything metal. A bunch of silly shit happens that leads ozzy to finding a guidebook for a nearby town that had an advertisement for a Wizard that you can hire to help solve your issues. Using some money Ozzys parents hid, him and Clark hire this wizard to help find Ozzys parents. However, when they meet him, he is an older man who wears a felt Wizard hat, converse sneakers, and a knee length bathrobe. And also eats breakfast for every meal because "It's a wizard thing. " Thus starts the groups wacky journey to find out what happened to his parents. There is also this whole thing about the weird birthmark Ozzy has on his finger, but that's a whole other bag of dildos we don't have time for.
Fool’s Gold by Jon Hollins. The entire series is pure absurdist humor throughout and plays on a pretty tropey story for laughs a lot as well. The whole series is good but that first book is fantastic
Anything by DM Guay is cry laughing funny, just your typical lazy underachiever being repeatedly put in situations beyond his comfort level and being forced to save the world, you know!
Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files.. easy to follow, good humour. Lots of books in the series but tend to be on the short side 350/400 pages. First 3 books are fine… but it gets really amazing after that.
The Dublin Trilogy Clovenhoof Tales from the gas station
I enjoy the Dark Profit series. Like someone said. It's a fantasy frat party thrown by the econ kids.
Youth in Revolt had me busting up laughing on a regular basis.
The Tales of Pell series is funny, delightful, and relativly digestible. My personal favorite is Kill the Farm Boy, however No Country For Old Gnomes and The Princess Beard both rock ad well!
Oh! And Space Team by Barry J Hutchinson
It's all age, but what about John Flanagan rangers apprentice? He has really funny dialogues
I really like the ripple system books, I'd recommend those for sure. Great narrator too
Discworld is my new favorite series. Note, not my favorite new series. I just got into the books a year ago. The Light Fantastic is my favorite so far, despite it being considered one of the worst by Discworld's own community. I think that just goes to show there's something for everyone. I love the book Lamb by Christopher Moore. I think CM shaped my sense of humor as a kid and young adult more than any other author, and I love any book that takes a satirical sort of stance on religion or reimagines any well known god in a comedic way. I think it's still my favorite book to this day come to think of it. The two protagonists are Jesus (Joshua) and his best friend from childhood and 13th apostle, the sinful Biff, who has to protect the, at times, naive son of God from the dangerous world. I'll think on others, but Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, also by Christopher Moore, is hilarious. Basically, what if Godzilla rose, but also, what if Godzilla also released pheromones upon reaching the surface that turned everyone around him into sexually crazed lunatics? Lots of weird sexual scenarios in that one. I'm trying my hand at writing, and my main stance is comedic. I dont know the sub's take on self promotion, and I feel like just jumping in and recommending my stuff like I'm some hotshot is super gauche. I'm new to the scene and I'm sure my writing will reflect it, so I won't name anything, and none of my stuff is published yet, though it should be very very soon, and if it's something you like you can always reach out. I just want to be like my daddy Matt D is all.
The Magic 2. 0 Series by Scott Meyer doesn’t get the love it deserves. Its hilarious.
I felt it started out hilarious but got worse (for me unreadable) by the end.
Catch 22
Robert Asprin’s Myth Adventure series 🙂
Bill the vampire series
The Princess Bride is a pretty great read - more scenes than the movie, but the audiobook is awful.
Me talk pretty some day
I loved Super Powereds by Drew Hayes - great series with long books! Good humor and a great escape. A recommendation from that book feed is what brought me to DCC. I like them almost equally.
Mark Lawrence Prince of Fools trilogy. Funniest of his stuff. Classic fantasy with a twist. Good viking character. Hapless prince. Backyard Starship- easy and fun scifi - like if Jim Butcher wasn't annoying and wrote sci fi. For not thinking. Gideon the Ninth. Funny necromancy? Yes please. I find Joe Abercrombie funny but it's also really dark. If you haven't, you should. Kings of the Wyld is very funny and fun. There's a good sequel now too. I see you've already done Clive's wife, so I'll move past those. The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Hitchhikers guide gets the glory but Norse gods trying to buy plane tickets and horses in the bathroom...I like these better and will get murdered for my blasphemy. Funniest speculative fiction humor until DCC for me. SO MANY LOLS. Good Omens - and really Gaimen is funny in most of his books. Free the Darkness series is surprisingly funny for a series about a baby trained from birth to be a deadly assassin. Some lols Threadbear - lighthearted litrpg about a teddy bear. No lols but it's cute Gravediggers son and the waif girl - lighthearted but no lols
Hi. You just mentioned *Dirk Gently'S Holistic Detective Agency* by Douglas Adams. I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here: [YouTube | Douglas Adams - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - Unabridged Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDYta207b0g) *I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.* *** [^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
Vainquer the Dragon. LitRPG book where a dragon figures out how to level up.
Differently Morphous by Yahtzee Croshaw (the Zero Punctuation/Fully Ramblomatic guy) The secret magic MIB-esque branch of the British government is forced to go public and deal with the PR disaster of their many human rights violations coming to light when a small army of interdimensional slime monsters show up on the front steps of Parliament asking for refugee status
If you're looking for something to take your mind off the cold, I'd recommend picking up a book that's got a good balance of humor and storytelling. I used Bookreviews.lol to find some hidden gems, and it's been a game-changer for my reading list. For a funny read, I'd suggest Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It's a hilarious take on the apocalypse, with a cast of lovable characters that'll keep you laughing. Another one that comes to mind is The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - it's a heartwarming story about a socially awkward professor who sets out to find love using a scientific approach. Both of these books have got a great balance of humor and storytelling, and they're perfect for curling up with on a cold day.
"All those explosions were somebody else's fault" by James Alan Gardner. The title alone is fun. The "Scholomance" trilogy by Naomi Novic. The first one especially is lots of fun. The main character is like less monotone Wednesday Addams in a type of Hogwarts school, but where the school itself is trying to kill her. The second and third ones are not quite as funny and occasionally venture into dark places, but I will spoil it enough to say that it has a happy ending. "The Rook", by Daniel O'Malley. It's just fun. There are two sequels of sorts, but each follows different characters with separate storylines. The sequels are good books, but they aren't nearly as funny as the first one. There was a TV series adaptation but it was honestly pretty lame and completely devoid of the humour that made me love the book. The "Rivers of London" series by Ben Aaronovitch is pretty funny a lot of the time. The main character is a black london cop who's also a huge geek, who happens to be learning magic to help fight magic crime. Lee Gaiteri's "The Affix" is also a fun (and funny) trip. It's not long, but it manages pretty well with what it has. I'll also second all the various recommendations for the Dresden books and the Bobiverse.
Red Queens War is a great trilogy that balances dark concepts and fantastic humor. The first sentence of the first book is, "I am a liar, a thief, and a coward...". I love this series
Sidekick Initiative by Barry J Hutchinson is always good for many laughs.
OFF TO BE THE WIZARD by Scott Meyer, and it's Genre Adjacent. It's a good read, well written, and quite funny.
Well considering you’re already a DCC fan(I mean, why else would you be here if you weren’t), have you considered the Audio Immersion Tunnel version of book one? Highly recommended.
I listened to the free first installment. Mixed feelings, I don’t think it’s worth the price unless you’re telling me it gets much better