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13 Comedians Whose Favorite Books Surprised Us

December 03, 2021

Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's new deep-dive series on funny business. (Also, you can stay up to date with the ComedyNerd newsletter -- sign up here.)

Like all of us, comedians have many sides … even though you sometimes just see their funny, public persona and forget about everything else. But they’re genuinely human, it turns out, and they’re sometimes into surprising books (among other things). For example:

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COMEDY NERD Bess Kalb really loved the book Hey Willy See the Pyramids growing up. She said that Hey Willy See the Pyramids,' by Maira Kalman, was more important than the Bible to my family. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD Love You Forever was Sophie Santos' favorite book when she was a kid. She read it with her mom at bedtime, but when she grew up, she realied it was super depressing. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD Neil Patrick Harris is a really big fan of the OG Dr Seuss children's books. NPH says that Seuss is kind of the original rapper. Dr. Seuss makes me feel like I'm Lin-Manuel Miranda when I'm reading to my children. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD House of Mirth is a book that Mindy Kaling really, really enjoyed reading. ONT ILM EST It's actually her favorite book that she read for school - as she says: I read that in 9th grade, and that book completely changed my life. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD John Mulaney recommends that you read The Mirage Factory by Gary Krist. Apparently, it's the story of Los Angeles in the 20th century in three parts: William Mulholland stealing water, the motion picture industry getting started around D.W. Griffith, and the story of Aimee Semple McPherson. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD Turns out, Lewis Black is really into The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. As he puts it: I really liked those books, because I realized that I've reached the level of illness where I can fall in love with a fictional girl who doesn't even exist. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD Lena Dunham is a big fan of The Cat Inside by William S. Burroughs. FE She says that William S. Burroughs (you know, noted wife-murderer,) writes so tenderly about cats that you wonder if it's your job to go back in time to help him be who he could have been. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

COMEDY NERD Julio Torres really likes The Perpetual Motion Machine by Paul Scheerbart. Не says it was published in the early 1900s and chronicles the author's attempt at making a perpetual motion machine. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

COMEDY NERD Chelsea Handler is a big fan of Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. As Handler says, Не speaks to the strength of the human spirit and there is a sentence in the book that made me put it down and think-9 stopped asking myself what I expected out of life, and asked myself what life expected out of me. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD 1939: The Lost World of the Fair by David Gelernter is a book Tom Hanks loves. His review: You will go to the Fair with two of the most fascinating people to ever live in a book. CRACKED.COM — Source

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Ellie Kemper

COMEDY NERD One of Ellie Kemper's favorite books is Working, by Studs Terkel. She says his books are invaluable time capsules of how Americans in previous generations spoke and thought about themselves. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD Phoebe Robinson is a seriously big fan of U2 by U2 by Neil McCormick. She's a massive fan of U2, and says that the band gives an oral history of their entire career like they've never done before. CRACKED.COM — Source

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COMEDY NERD Kathy Griffin think you should go and read Dark Money by Jane Mayer. I learned a lot reading this book including all of the shady tax-exempt vehicles billionaires use to push their agenda, says Griffin. CRACKED.COM — Source

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