Ever wondered who makes a very funny person laugh? Wonder no more. Brought together in this Library of America collection are America's fifty funniest writers-according to acclaimed writer and comedian Andy Borowitz. Reaching back to Mark Twain and forward to contemporary masters such as David Sedaris, Nora Ephron, Roy Blount Jr., Ian Frazier, Bernie Mac, Wanda Sykes, and George Saunders, "The 50 Funniest American Writers*" is an exclusive Who's Who of the very best American comic writing. Here are Thurber and Perelman, Lenny Bruce and Bruce Jay Friedman, Garrison Keillor, Dave Barry, and Veronica Geng, plus hilarious lesser-known pieces from "The New Yorker," "Esquire," "The Atlantic," "National Lampoon," and "The Onion." Who does "one of the funniest people in America" ("CBS Sunday Morning") read when he needs a laugh?

Contributions by:

Mark Twain, George Ade, O. Henry Sinclair Lewis, Anita Loos, Ring Lardner, H. L. Mencken, James Thurber, Dorothy Parker, S. J. Perelman, Langston Hughes, Frank Sullivan, E. B. White, Peter De Vries, Terry Southern, Lenny Bruce, Tom Wolfe, Jean Shepherd, Hunter S. Thompson, Woody Allen, Bruce Jay Friedman, Philip Roth, Nora Ephron, Henry Beard, Michael O'Donoghue, George W. S. Trow, Fran Lebowitz, Charles Portis, Donald Barthelme, Veronica Geng, John Hughes, Mark O'Donnell, Garrison Keillor, Bruce McCall, Molly Ivins, Calvin Trillin, Dave Barry, The Onion, Susan Orlean, Roy Blount Jr., George Carlin, Ian Frazier, David Rakoff, Bernie Mac, David Sedaris, Wanda Sykes, Jack Handey, David Owen, George Saunders, Jenny Allen, Sloane Crosley, Larry Wilmore