Members of “The Simpsons” writing staff pick their favorite funny books
You may or may not know that my husband is a co-executive producer on the long-running prime time animated show “The Simpsons.” It’s a pretty well-regarded show (to judge by the Emmys he’s accrued since working on it), so when Kim and I were brainstorming about possible “best of” lists, I thought it was worth asking Rob if he were willing to survey the Simpsons writers on their favorite humorous books.
The answer was, “Probably not.”
I’m not that easily dissuaded, except when it comes to something important, so I pressed a little harder, telling him that ALL he had to do was say, “Hey, what’s everyone’s favorite funny book?” He reluctantly agreed to do that much, but warned me that if the other writers regarded it as “more work,” he was dropping the whole thing.
Rob came home that night with dozens of handwritten titles nominated by the writers in the room–and a confession that the discussion had been kind of fun for everyone.
So here’s a list of the funniest books some of the funniest TV writers in America have come up with, somewhat winnowed down and edited by ME, because I’m the one writing the post and a little bit by Rob, too, because he came and looked over my shoulder. (The ones I don’t have much to say about were the ones Rob said I had to include even though I hadn’t read them, so the less I have to say, the more you can assume the book is terrifically funny.)
1. Flashman (the whole series) by George MacDonald Fraser. An unrepentant cheat, liar, braggart and womanizer, Flashman was a minor character in Tom Brown’s Schooldays until Fraser decided the school bully should have his own series.
Claire
Kim
