- Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer. Twain is most noted for his novels "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", which has since been called the Great American Novel, and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Clemens became a friend to presidents, artists, leading industrialists, and European royalty. - Dave Barry
David Barry, Jr. (born July 3, 1947) is a bestselling American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist who wrote a nationally syndicated column for the "The Miami Herald" from 1983 to 2005. - Will Rogers
William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (November 4, 1879 - August 15, 1935) was an American comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, and actor. He has been named Oklahoma's favorite son. - David Sedaris
David Sedaris (born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist and radio contributor. Much of his humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and it often concerns his family life, Greek heritage, various jobs, education, drug use, homosexuality and his life as an expatriate in France with his partner, Hugh. - George Carlin
George Dennis Carlin (born May 12, 1937 in New York, New York) is a Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, and author. Carlin is especially noted for his irreverent attitude and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. In fact, Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case "F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation", … - James Grover Thurber
James Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio. His father was Charles Leander (later surnamed Lincoln), a minor politician. Mary Thurber , his mother, was a strong-minded woman and a practical joker, whom her son depicted in his autobiographical stories MY LIFE AND HARD TIMES (1933). Thurber's father, who had dreams of being an actor or lawyer, was said to have been the basis for the typical small, slight man of Thurber's stories. - Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor 's latest book, "Homegrown Democrat," was released on July 15, 2004. Here he offers the first four chapters for your perusal, courtesy of Viking Books. Dedicating the book to "all of the good Democratic-Farmer-Laborites of Minnesota," he offers "a few plain thoughts from the heart of America." - Douglas Adams
Douglas Noël Adams was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. He is best known as author of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. "Hitchhiker's" began on radio, and developed into a "trilogy" of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime) as well as a television series, a towel, a comic book series, a computer game and a feature film that was completed after Adams' death. - Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is an Emmy Award–winning American comedian, actor, author, screenwriter, political commentator, radio host and, recently, politician. He is noted for his work on "Saturday Night Live" and his liberal political views. On February 14, 2007, Franken entered the race for the United States Senate seat from Minnesota currently held by the Republican Norm Coleman, and formerly held by Franken's friend Paul Wellstone. - Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and TV personality, media mogul, humorist, actor, and author. Stern hosts "The Howard Stern Show" four days a week (Monday-Thursday) on Howard 100, a Sirius Satellite Radio station. The self-proclaimed "King of All Media" (a humorous reference to Michael Jackson's appellation "The King of Pop") has been dubbed a shock jock for his highly controversial use of scatological, sexual and racial humor. - Art Buchwald
Arthur Buchwald (October 20, 1925 - January 17 2007) was an American humorist best known for his long-running column that he wrote in "The Washington Post", which in turn was carried as a syndicated column in many other newspapers. His column focused on political satire and commentary. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982 and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. - Erma Bombeck
Erma Louise Bombeck, born Erma Fiste, was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for a newspaper column that depicted suburban home life in the second half of the 20th century. - Calvin Trillin
Calvin (Bud) Marshall Trillin (born in Kansas City, Missouri, December 5, 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, and novelist. He is best known for his humorous writings about food and eating, but he has also written much serious journalism, comic verse, and several books of fiction. Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, … - Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. (born March 11, 1940) is a controversial American humorist, writer, radio and television talk show host in the mold of a shock jock. His "drive time" weekday morning radio show, "Imus in the Morning" was aired over WNBC and WFAN in New York from 1971 to 1977 (when he was fired) and again from 1979 until it was canceled on April 12 2007, in response to comments he made on air. - John Hodgman
John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 1971) is an American author and humorist who is best known for his personification of a PC in Apple's "Get a Mac" advertising campaign and his correspondent work on Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart". His written work has been published in "The Paris Review", "The New York Times Magazine", "Wired" and "McSweeney's Quarterly Concern". - Robert Benchley
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at the "Harvard Lampoon" while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays and articles for "Vanity Fair" and "The New Yorker", and his acclaimed short films, Benchley's style of humor brought him respect and success during his life, … - A.J. Jacobs
Arnold Stephen Jacobs, Jr., commonly called A.J. Jacobs is an American journalist and author. Jacobs was born in New York City to lawyer Arnold Jacobs Sr. and Ellen Kheel. He has one sister, Beryl Jacobs. Jacobs studied philosophy at Brown University. Jacobs is best known for having read all 32 volumes of the "Encyclopædia Britannica", and wrote about his experiences in his humorous book, … - E. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11 1899, Mount Vernon, New York - October 1 1985, North Brooklin, Maine) was a leading American essayist, author, humorist, poet and literary stylist. "No one can write a sentence like White," James Thurber once said of his crisp and graceful writing style. A liberal free-thinker, White often wrote as an ironic onlooker, championing freedom of the individual. His writing ranged from satire to textbooks and children's fiction. - Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker (August 22 1893 - June 7 1967) was an American writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. - Josh Billings
Josh Billings was the pen name of humorist born Henry Wheeler Shaw (20 April, 1818 - 14 October, 1885). He was perhaps the second most famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States in the second half of the 19th century after Mark Twain, although his reputation has not fared so well with later generations. Shaw was born in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, and worked as a farmer, coal miner, explorer, … - Lewis Grizzard
Lewis McDonald Grizzard, Jr. (October 20, 1946 - March 20, 1994) was an American writer and humorist, famous for his Southern demeanor and commentary on the American south. Although he spent the early career as a newspaper writer and editor, becoming sports editor of the "Atlanta Journal" at age 23, he is much better known for his humorous columns in the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". - Bill Richardson
Bill Richardson is a Canadian radio broadcaster and author. Richardson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1955 and received his B.A. from the University of Winnipeg in 1976. After spending a year in Montpellier, he moved to Vancouver, where he completed a Master of Library Science. Richardson has been a broadcaster on CBC Radio One, beginning in 1992 as a regular contributor and guest host on Vicki Gabereau's show. When Gabereau left to host a television show on CTV in 1997, … - Kinky Friedman
Richard S. "Kinky" Friedman (born October 31, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician and former columnist for "Texas Monthly". He was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 election for the office of Governor of Texas. Receiving 12.6% of the vote, Friedman placed fourth in the five-party race. - Jean Shepherd
Jean Parker Shepherd (July 26, 1921 - October 16, 1999) was an American raconteur, radio and TV personality, writer and actor who was often referred to by the nickname Shep. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is perhaps best-known to modern audiences for narrating the film "A Christmas Story" (1983), which he co-wrote, based on his own semi-autobiographical stories. - Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. - Stephen Leacock
Stephen Butler Leacock, Ph.D, FRSC (30 December 1869 - 28 March 1944) was a Canadian writer and economist. - Isaac Asimov
Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920- April 6, 1992, was a Russian-born American Jewish author and biochemist, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation Series, which was part of one of his two major series, the Galactic Empire Series, later merged with his other famous story arc, the Robot series. - Roy Blount Jr.
Roy Alton Blount, Jr. (born October 4, 1941 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American writer. Best known as a humorist, Blount is also a reporter, actor, and musician with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band composed entirely of writers. Blount graduated from Decatur High School in Decatur, Georgia, where he was editor of the school newspaper, "The Scribbler", and Vanderbilt University. Recently he guided American television audiences down the Mississippi River, … - Bill Bryson
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson, OBE, (born December 8,1951) is a best-selling American-born author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on scientific subjects. He has lived for most of his adult life in England. - Ogden Nash
Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 - May 19, 1971) was an American poet best known for writing pithy and funny light verse. - S. J. Perelman
Sidney Joseph Perelman, almost always known as S. J. Perelman (February 1 1904 - October 17 1979), was an American humorist, author, and screenwriter. He is primarily known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for "The New Yorker magazine". - Andy Rooney
Andrew Aitken Rooney (born January 14, 1919) is an American radio and television writer. He became most famous as a humorist and commentator with his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney", a part of the CBS news program "60 Minutes" since 1979. - Amy Sedaris
Amy Sedaris (born March 29 1961, in Endicott, New York) is an American actress, author, and comedian. She is the younger sister of humorist David Sedaris. They grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. - Steven Wright
Steven Alexander Wright (born December 6, 1955) is an Academy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer from Burlington, Massachusetts. He is known for his slow, deadpan, monotone delivery of ironic, witty, deeply philosophical and sometimes confusing jokes and one-liners with overly contrived situations. Wright released a comedy album in 1985 titled "I Have a Pony", released on Warner Bros. - Ellis Parker Butler
Ellis Parker Butler was an American author. Butler was born in Muscatine, Iowa. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays, and is most famous for his short story "Pigs is Pigs", in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating geometrically. Working from his home in Flushing (Queens) New York, … - Fran Lebowitz
Fran Lebowitz is an American author. She was born Frances Ann Lebowitz on October 27 1950, in Morristown, New Jersey. Lebowitz is best known for her sardonic social commentary on American life through her New York sensibilities. Some reviewers have called her a modern day Dorothy Parker. After being expelled from high school and receiving a GED, Lebowitz worked many odd jobs before being hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for "Interview". - Evan Esar
Evan Esar (1899-1995) was an American humorist who wrote "Esar's Comic Dictionary" 1943 and "20,000 Quips and Quotes" in 1968. He is known for quotes like "Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions." He also wrote, 'The legend of Joe Miller' which was privately printed for members of the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco by the Grabhorn Press in 1957. - Scott Adams
Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the creator of the "Dilbert" comic strip and the author of several business commentaries, social satires, and experimental philosophy books. - Wiley Post
Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 - August 15, 1935) was the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits. His plywood aircraft, the "Winnie Mae" is on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center adjacent to Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, and his pressure suit is being prepared for display at the same location. - Victor Borge
Victor Borge (January 3 1909 - December 23 2000) was a Danish-Jewish humorist, entertainer and world-class pianist affectionately known as "the Clown Prince of Denmark" and "the Great Dane".
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