From the brilliantly witty and exuberant new york times. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. How comedy ruined everything, about the rise of humor as a force in modern life. Fans of comedy will love planet funny and will undoubtedly wonder why i am not mentioned more. Ken jennings planet funny sausalito store book passage. Maria semple, author of whered you go, bernadette americas biggest brain turns his attention to modern comedyand delivers a book full of humor and. His books include brainiac, about the phenomenon of trivia in american culture, ken jenningss trivia almanac, the biggest american trivia book ever assembled, and maphead, about his lifelong love of geography. Ken jennings audio books, best sellers, author bio.
Ken jenningss top 10 the current the criterion collection. Thriftbooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. Ken jennings hops aboard our thundering avalanche of comedy and surfs it like a pro. How comedy took over our culture takes readers on a wry, witty, downright lol journey through the history of humorfrom fart jokes on clay. How comedy took over our culture, ken jennings takes humor seriously, tracing how comedy infiltrated every aspect of our lives and what its doing to us. Its a world away from how america first met the affable game show whiz in 2004 as the seemingly. Ken jennings is the alltime winningest champion in the history of the quiz show jeopardy. Turns out, jennings is an obsessive student of humor just as he is so many categories on the jeopardy board, from. Ken jennings biojeopardy, age, loses, winnings, trivia, net. Jenningss book celebrates humor it would be a rare reader who comes away from the book without a list of a dozen or more films, television shows, commercials, or comedy sketches to look up online but it also urges readers to think about humor more critically, to question whether its relentless ubiquity has a purpose, or if it might be. But this book goes a lot deeper than that, examining whether we are amusing ourselves to death.
Charting the wide, weird world of geography wonks explores the world of map and geography enthusiasts. Soon henry and maggie find themselves in a murder mystery where secrets hidden within a treasured book have dire consequences for all who own it. In planet funny, ken jennings takes comedy seriously. Kliph nesteroff, author of the comedians ken jennings has done the impossible. At over nine thousand questions, in fact, its the largest single collection of trivia questions ever produced in america in any form. If youre visiting ken jennings at his home in seattle, youll probably find him typing away at a keyboard. He is the author of eleven books, including the bestselling brainiac, maphead, and because i said so.
Jan 15, 2020 whats a computer programmer doing writing a book about the history of comedy. Lively, insightful, and crawling with goofy factlings, planet funny is for the comedy geek in all of us. How comedy took over our culture examines the pervasive and sometimes pernicious degree to which comedy has evolved from an entertainment category into the dominant mode of public. Ken jennings is obviously a bonafide comedy nerd and hearing him discuss various comedy bits, tv shows, movies, and more is great. Ken jennings books list of books by author ken jennings. How comedy took over our culture kindle edition by jennings, ken. See all books authored by ken jennings, including maphead, and greek mythology, and more on. In his second departure from quizshow fare, jennings because i said so the truth. Ken jennings is crowned jeopardys greatest of all time. In the new book, jennings illustrates not only how comedy has evolved from a straightforward mode of mass entertainment into a bewildering.
Kenneth wayne jennings iii who was born in edmonds, washington, united states is an american game show contestant and author. Planet funny book by ken jennings official publisher. Jun 26, 2018 ken jennings new book planet funny traces comedys evolution, explaining how in the modern era it is an entirely different animal. How comedy ruined everything reprint by ken jennings isbn. The tone of planet funny is quite different, as the titles of the two books indicate. Turns out, jennings is an obsessive student of humor just as he. How comedy took over our culture, a sidesplitting, browfurrowing cultural criticism of comedys ubiquity in america today. From the brilliantly witty and exuberant new york times bestselling author ken jennings, a history of humorfrom fart jokes on clay sumerian tablets all the way up to the latest twitter gags and facebook memesthat tells the story of how comedy came to rule the modern world. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read planet funny. May 29, 2018 ken jennings, the bestselling author who climbed to fame in 2004 as a jeopardy. We personally assess every book s quality and offer rare, outofprint treasures. Today jennings is the author of twelve books, including brainiac, the new york times bestsellers maphead and because i said so, and the junior genius series for children. A decade after ken jennings finished his recordbreaking jeopardy.
Jun 04, 2018 ranging from bawdy humor on sumerian tablets to twitter doings, this book looks at how central a place in things humor has taken root. Jennings experiences on the game show led to triviainfused books such. Fans of comedy will love planet funny and will undoubtedly wonder why i. Postman, but jennings has written a very funny book about why we should not try to be so funny all the time. Ken is brilliant and incisive and the kind of guy with so many smarts that it makes you go, man, that guys really smart.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading planet funny. Ken jennings new book planet funny traces comedys evolution. Planet funny is an illuminating take on that old cliche everybodys a comedian. For millennia of human history, the future belonged to the strong. Henry is hired to authenticate and purchase a long lost and very valuable recipe book. How comedy took over our culture, ken jennings takes humor seriously, tracing how comedy infiltrated every.
From the brilliantly witty and exuberant new york times bestselling author ken jennings, a history of humor from fart jokes on clay sumerian tablets all the way up to the latest twitter gags and facebook memes that tells the story of how comedy came to rule the modern world. Jun 26, 2018 ken jennings latest book, planet funny. Jennings addresses the question of comedys ubiquity not as a postmanlike scold, but as a sincerely curious cultural observer with, as he notes, some skin in the game. Planet funny book by ken jennings official publisher page. Whats a computer programmer doing writing a book about the history of comedy. Ken jennings, the bestselling author who climbed to fame in 2004 as a jeopardy. This book is full of good sense and meaningful interviews, and it would be difficult to find a smarter or more satisfying. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. This book is mostly twitters fault, says jennings, author of planet funny.