Comics have their roots in comedy – the evidence is in the name. From early woodcut manga to the newspaper strips of the 1890s, people have made use of the joke-telling power of combining words and pictures for centuries. Even today, in the age of the graphic novel, where comics explore heartbreaking true stories and gripping dramas – the humorous potential of the medium still draws those who want to make people laugh.
I do! It’s the impulse that brings me to the dingy, beautiful rooms above London’s pubs a non-sensible number of nights per week. I moved to London to perform comedy five years ago, and the highs and lows of that experience have been addictive. Nothing gets your heart racing like holding an audience’s attention – nothing except dying brutally in front of them as joke after joke finds nothing but silence. There is perhaps no activity with a risk/reward ratio for your self-esteem quite so brutal as standup comedy. And the fascinating world of people who get up and embarrass themselves after work night after night is something worth capturing.
In my new book The Con Artists, I did my best. The book follows Frank, a standup comedian, whose life is thrown into chaos when his childhood friend Giorgio is hit by a bus. But as Frank spends more time with Giorgio to assist in his recovery, he begins to discover that both the lifestyle Giorgio brags about online, and the jokes he himself is telling onstage, may be little more than a collection of lies and half-truths. Though it deals with some heavy subject matter, the lead characters’ senses of humour remain at the forefront (hopefully) showing that there are few tragedies that can’t be reframed into a joke.
The following books cross all sorts of genres and styles, from memoirs about dark subjects to essay collections about modern dating, to reviews of Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Warhorse. But the one thing they all have in common is a funny person at their core.
1. Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust
In 1984, teenage punk Ulli Lust takes off with an acquaintance to hitchhike across Italy for the summer. What follows is a series of events equally joyous, terrifying, heartbreaking and practically unbelievable. But what draws the tale together is Lust’s wry humour. Lust’s depiction of the 1980s punk scene across Europe is both inspiring and alienating – as bursting with freedom and possibility as it is with danger and misogyny. A great example of the power humour has to carry us through our darkest hours.
2. Pyongyang by Guy Delisle
The reigning king of the graphic travel memoir, Delisle has written books about living in Burma, Jerusalem, and China. But none is more intriguing than this tale of time spent in the North Korean capital, managing an animation studio. Delisle’s curiosity and amusement at the country’s bizarre relationship with foreign visitors is equally funny and fascinating. He memorably depicts chaperoned visits to propaganda-filled museums, and the strange happenings at his hotel – all awkwardly co-ordinated to impress him as a visitor.
3. Everything Is Flammable by Gabrielle Bell
One of comics’ best diarists, Bell catalogues the year following a fire that destroyed her mother’s home in rural California. Bell, who lives in New York, makes several trips across the country to help her mother rebuild, while reflecting on her childhood, and their relationship across time. Bell’s inability to connect with other people is the main source of humour here, and the book often juxtaposes her with other misfits as she tries to do her best while battling with anxiety and an absurd world.
4. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
No list of funny comics would be complete without this landmark blog/comic/essay collection. Brosh writes about herself with aplomb, capturing an era of manic internet comedy that has influenced hundreds of the artists on social media today. But beyond her well-crafted punchlines, Brosh fills her comics with heart, boldly tackling subjects as different as dog-ownership and depression.
5. My Dirty Dumb Eyes by Lisa Hanawalt
Hanawalt achieves the rare feat of making her drawings themselves funny. Not only are her thoughts and observations about life and media amusing, but every face, every body, every location she draws is infused with comedy. This collection of short comics includes pieces about food, sex, gender, movies and more. Every page turn brings a new delight, coloured by Hanawalt’s charming and offbeat sensibility.
6. Reunion by Pascal Girard
In this book, Girard recounts the perhaps-true, perhaps-not tale of attending his 10-year high-school reunion. His jittery line, and talent for capturing emotion, reveal a man so anxious about the event that he’s willing to go to absurd lengths to impress his former classmates. Girard’s bravery in portraying himself as a very unlikable character is admirable, and brings a certain acidity to this hilarious, awkward and cringe-inducing tale.
7. Snackies by Nick Sumida
For pure laugh out loud gags, it is hard to beat Snackies. In the book, Nick Sumida’s hyper-emotional alter ego character vacillates between manic smiles and devastated tears with brilliant timing. His reflections on millennial life, dating, self-esteem and online communication pack many many laughs into this small package.
8. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist by Adrian Tomine
Tomine’s retelling of his time working as a cartoonist, and dealing with creeping health anxiety, is very amusing indeed. Tomine explores the fertile comedic ground of what it’s like to be a micro-celebrity – famous only when walking through a comics convention. Grounded, witty and extremely self-effacing, Tomine makes good company on a journey through his fascinating career.
9. Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast
The difficulties of caring for ageing parents are something that many would struggle to find the humour in – but not Roz Chast. Best known for her New Yorker gags, Chast recounts her time caring for her parents at the end of their lives. And she does it as only an expert humourist can – painting brilliantly funny portraits of the people who raised her.
10. On the Camino by Jason
The blank expressions of Jason’s characters somehow amp up his dry, witty observations about the world and its people. Here, Jason recounts his hike on the Camino Santiago de Compostela, a pilgrim path that crosses northern Spain. He crosses paths with other pilgrims, and looks inwards as he makes his way to the ocean, dispensing droll commentary all the way.
• The Con Artists by Luke Healy is published by Faber. To help the Guardian and Observer, order your copy from guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
