My husband adores stand up comedy. I do not. My siblings all rave about Curb Your Enthusiasm. I think it’s mean and unfunny. Others in my book club–the less fun one–cracked up over Where’d You Go, Bernadette. I found everyone in it profoundly unpleasant.
Clearly, humor is in the funny bone of the beholder.
I confess, I am rarely made to laugh out loud by romance novels though I’d like to be. There are a few authors whose work reliably amuses me. I tend to find contemporary romance funnier than any other genre. Rachel Gibson’s Chinooks series, Kristen Higgins’ romances, several of Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars books, and some but not all of Jill Shalvis’ Lucky Harbor novels amuse me. Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series is, upon occasion, hilarious. Tessa Dare, Julie Anne Long, Julia Quinn and Loretta Chase have all written funny scenes though I rarely think of their books when I think “I’d like to read a romance that makes me giggle.”
And then there are books that others find hilarious that I think are bland. (I’m sorry–all those Beard books don’t tickle me. Nor do Lucy Parker’s works.)
But that’s just me. What about you? What books make you howl with laughter? Smile as you turn the pages?
P.S. I am much easier to make laugh when viewing rather than reading. We just rewatched my very favorite movie, Almost Famous, and this scene (and so many others) slayed me.
Lucy Parker makes me laugh. So do Olivia Dade and Jackie Lau.
I posted my highest humor scores yesterday, but decided to work up a slightly different list today. I have reread a lot over the years, though much less recently. I don’t always have a strong urge to reread all the books with the most humor. This list of most-reread romances with humor scores appended shows that I have read many 4-star and even some 3-star books more times than several 5-star books. (Though of course more recent books and more recently discovered books haven’t had time to accumulate a lot of readings.)
28 A Rake’s Reform (r) Holbrook, Cindy (1995-2019) *****
25 Ravished (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2016) *****
23 Black Sheep (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2018) ****
22 The Secret (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2015) ****
22 The Mad Miss Mathley (r) Martin, Michelle (1995-2019) *****
20 The Lion’s Lady (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2006) *****
19 Lord Sayer’s Ghost (r) Holbrook, Cindy (1996-2019) *****
18 Dangerous (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2016) ***
18 Christmas Wishes (r) Metzger, Barbara (1993-2019) ****
17 These Old Shades (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2011) ****
16 The Bride (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2006) ****
16 Devil’s Cub (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2011) ****
15 Mistress (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2016) ***
15 Scandal (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2008) ***
15 Elyza (r) Darcy, Clare (1993-2017) ****
15 The Actress & the Marquis (r) Holbrook, Cindy (1997-2019) *****
14 The Corinthian (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2015) ****
14 Deception (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2014) ****
13 Honor’s Splendour (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2005) ***
13 Venetia (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2014) ***
13 Laugh With Me, Love With Me (r) Damon, Lee (1997-2017) ****
13 Frederica (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2015) ****
13 The Duke’s Downfall (r) Lynson, Jane (1996-2012) *****
12 Rendezvous (r) Quick, Amanda (1995-2017) ***
12 The Unknown Ajax (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2015) ****
12 A Suspicious Affair (r) Metzger, Barbara (1994-2019) ****
12 Cupboard Kisses (r) Metzger, Barbara (1993-2019) ****
12 The Tenacious Miss Tamerlane (r) Michaels, Kasey (1994-2014) *****
11 Prince Charming (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2018) ***
11 Saving Grace (r) Garwood, Julie (1995-2004) ***
11 Lady of Quality (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2000) ***
11 The Black Moth (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2011) ***
11 Pepper’s Way (r) Hooper, Kay (1997-2016) ****
11 A Woman’s Touch (r) Krentz, Jayne Ann (1996-2013) ****
10 Amaryllis (r) Castle, Jayne (1996-2017) ***
10 Zinnia (r) Castle, Jayne (1997-2017) ***
10 For the Roses (r) Garwood, Julie (1996-2018) ***
10 Four in Hand (r) Westhaven, Margaret (1994-2018) ***
10 Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2016) ****
10 The Masqueraders (r) Heyer, Georgette (1993-2001) ****
10 Minor Indiscretions (r) Metzger, Barbara (1993-2020) ****
So nice to see Lee Damon on a list. I liked all of the books of hers that I was able to obtain. Laugh With Me, Love With Me was a great romp, and the kids in the book were fun, too. Plus, a very unconventional heroine.
Again the Magic has some funny scenes, but (trigger alert) the book deals with a heroine who is a survivor of domestic abuse that is detailed in the text. Damon’s description of the hero’s house is my favorite fictional residence, bar none.
I frequently found moments in various Laura London books entertaining. The business with the wheel of cheese and also the description of the contents of the ocean in The Windflower were moments I still recall with amusement. Likewise, I enjoyed the authors’ contemporaries — they wrote under their real names for those, as Sharon and Tom Curtis.
I find I enjoy the humor in Carole Buck’s books pretty consistently. I am always amused by the toddler in “Cody’s Honor.” Although I generally dislike novels where the hero or heroine is concealing aspects of their identity, I like “Swann’s Way.” It, too, has a child I enjoy. She also wrote Peachy’s Proposal. She’s good with dialogue. In her day jobs, she’s done a lot of television news work and also was a film reviewer for a time — look her up as Carol Buckland. I wish she was still writing romance, but unless she’s using a pseudonym I don’t know about, she’s not.
I think the kind of humor I like is commonly described as “dry.” The one-liners and snark that Jayne Ann Krentz slips in, for instance, in her various guises. Lisa Kleypas has some books and situations I find funny. The business with Catherine Marks and the ferret in the Hathaway books is a nice thread throughout. Between Helen and Winterbourne and Lady Berwick, the business about “alas” amuses me. There were some moments in the first Cynster book, Devil’s Bride, by Stephanie Laurens, that I laughed over.
One problem with remembering books that I thought were humorous is that the books I recall best are the ones where the author portrayed such intense emotion between the characters that I was utterly absorbed. Laura London managed to be both entertaining and emotionally absorbing, as was Again the Magic. Kleypas manages it. Much as I enjoy Carole Buck, she never sucks me into emotion the way K.J. Charles does.
The funniest books I have ever read are three paranormal series: The Pride – Shelly Laurenston, Charley Davidson – Darynda Jones, Magical Mayhem – K.F. Breene. All of the books had at least one LOL moment usually more than one. I also will never forget the LOL moment I experienced while reading the cat scene in Wallbanger by Alice Clayton. I recently discovered a funny contemporary series by Pippa Grant that for some reason they are not calling a series. The first book is Mr. McHottie.
Many books make me smile (the books written by Jennifer Crusie or Loretta Chase, for instance) but I do rarely laugh with one. I can only think about Penny Reid’s ‘Beauty and the Mustache’ –in that book, I found a scene in which I really laughed out loud. It’s rather surprising, considering that part of the book is about something as hard as the illness and death of a parent. It could be related to the fact that I’m Spanish. Let me explain.
I’ve always thought that humour is something very personal and, partly, it relates to your culture. Many American romance novelists –for instance, Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Julia Quinn– tend to the slapstick situations. I don’t usually find it funny, although I can accept them in a contemporary romance. It falls flat in a historical one. I feel closer to the typical British humour, with its irony, sometimes sarcasm. My own Spanish culture tends to black humour, and I think that’s why I did connect with the aforementioned Penny Reid‘s book.
You can’t imagine the jokes we make about the COVID-19, even being one of the countries with a highest rate of people dying in relation to the population. It’s cruel and hard, and people from other countries find it sometimes very disrespectful, but it’s the way we cope with things.
That’s why I think that, in part, humour is related to your culture.
My parents lived in Europe when they were first married and our family has always been more comfortable making iffy jokes. It’s one of those things that I think Americans have in some ways lost. We are so careful about humor–at least in some quarters–that we seem more joyless than other cultures.
“It’s one of those things that I think Americans have in some ways lost. We are so careful about humor…” Oh, absolutely! I think it says something that Jerry Seinfeld, who is a pretty squeaky clean comedian, refuses to play American college campuses any more because he has found young people to be increasingly offended by pretty much everything.
I think a certain amount of comedians that can really make me laugh also make me gasp sometimes like Dave Chapelle and Ricky Gervaise because they tackle some very controversial stuff. They are making me laugh and shocking me while providing social commentary. And the truth is we all think and do things that are not 100% perfect or even p.c, at all times so it’s funny when it gets called out.
Great comment, Bona. Though born in the USA I have lived in England for 41 years and really love dry, wry, cynical and ironic British humour. As far as the Spanish Covid-19 jokes, it’s always better to laugh than cry so I say the more sarcastic, cynical, rude and tasteless the jokes the better. My friends love mickey-taking any time!
There are very few truly funny romance historicals IMHO, but a few that I have read made me giggle and laugh out loud in places. My favorites: The Bridal Season by Connie Brockway; and A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare is so funny and cute. Love Colin!
And no one ever mentions this author, but I LOVED Ridiculous by D. L. Carter. Laughed throughout the whole book.
It’s fairly easy to write angst and drama, but very hard to make people laugh. I wish more writers would write funny and clever plots.
There are some funny scenes in the Kate Daniels series. I always chuckle when I think about Kate calling here kitty right before she meets Curran, or much later in the series when she and Curran go to Roman’s home to ask him to officiate at their wedding (practically any scene with Roman makes me smile).
So I re-read The Rosie Project recently, after many, many, years since I read it. I’m happy to say it’s still as laugh out loud funny as the first time I read it.
Jennifer Crusie is a favorite author but I find I actually laugh out loud when I listen to the audiobooks. I am currently doing a re-listen of Lord of Scoundrels and find myself snickering all through my drive time.
I also find Jill Mansell’s books LOL funny.
I’m reading a lot of comments here about people laughing more with visual media (movies, TV shows, stand up comedy) than with written materials. That’s true for me as well, and I want to add something more: I laugh way more at a comedy if I am watching it with other people rather than by myself. I think there’s an additive quality to having other people around you who appreciate the same movie/play/TV show than going it alone. And maybe that’s why a lot of us aren’t laughing at the written word. It’s just so solitary in comparison.
Anybody else laugh more in a crowd than alone?
I think that’s definitely true across the board. Funny movies are even more entertaining when you can share the joke. It’s also why a lot of sitcoms have that “laugh track” so even at home you are supposed to feel like you are laughing along with others.
I don’t read romance for the humour and that is maybe why I cannot remember any specific funny incident from an individual book. There are some authors who write reliably funny dialogue but if the romance isn’t grabbing me the humour won’t compensate for it. I abandoned the last Lily Morton I tried despite enjoying previous books because I found myself not caring if the characters got together.
It’s partly a cultural and partly a personal thing, but I find most of the venerated historical romance authors listed above to be not very funny. I respond better to dry British humour than broad comedy (in books, anyway) and I often feel like an author is trying too hard. For this reason I never got past the sample of Lucy Parker’s Act Like It. Also, “humour” in historicals often seems to be accompanied by anachronistic plots and characters, which are a guaranteed turn-off for me.
What really grabs me is humour through language. For this reason the most ridiculous Wodehouse plot is made hilarious through the brilliance of his unexpected metaphors. Many a Heyer novel has been endlessly amusing to me because of her clever use of a sophisticated vocabulary sprinkled with Regency slang in order to reveal her characters. But I don’t read either of them for the romance…..
My message to romance authors is, if you want to be funny then go for it, but I still want to be moved by the characters’ feelings and convinced that they belong together.
See, I don’t get the sense from reading Parker that she’s trying to be funny and that is one reason I find some of the bantering scenes between the main characters funny. I definitely agree though that humor is cultural and language is key. I find many mockumentaries hysterical for this reason, like Spinal Tap, because the characters take themselves so seriously, but the audience is in on the joke.
Comedian Sarah Cooper has shot to fame during the pandemic for her impersonations of mostly politicians giving PSAs, including the president. She’s way funnier than someone like Alec Baldwin doing Trump. She’s on TikTok and Twitter and I find her impersonations hilarious.
Why I felt Parker was trying too hard is because the dialogue is full of British colloquial expressions and since Parker is from NZ I got the feeling that she was deliberately using language to create a sense of place, and it felt laboured. I’m not English either (Australian) but the dialogue didn’t feel natural the way it does when I read an English author. Maybe the sample was not representative of the whole book (and her plots do appeal to me) but the price of her books here is too high to tempt me to take a chance,
Perhaps try Parker’s $1.26 (Australian book) that is set in NZ? Artistic License by Elle Pierson.
I’m English and I think that she has done a good job with her dialogue – I’ve never felt that I am not in present day Britain when reading her books. I can only remember one phrase that was off, when a reference was made to ‘on West End’, which wouldn’t have been made by a Brit.
In contrast to this, I’ve recently abandoned a 4 book set by a British author half way through because I kept forgetting that I was actually supposed to be in Britain, and got a shock when the characters went to the pub! It read like small town America to me……………………
I think humor is really hard – very much in the eye of the beholder. My husband and I have very different tastes, and I’ve casually wondered for years what makes something funny to one person and not another. I think I’m more like Dabney – I don’t think people being mean (or self-absorbed) is funny. When I think about funny in books, it is almost always related to dialog e.g. Nobody’s Baby But Mine by SEP is an old favorite and a book I find funny, even on repeated readings. Yeah, the plot device that sets the book in motion is cringe-worthy. But the Lucky Charms incident, the comic books left lying around, the reactions of various characters as they find out Jane’s mistaken impression of Calvin’s intellect, Jane’s insistance on driving a beater car, Calvin figuring out the women in his family are willing to take Jane’s side over his, and so on, lighten my heart (if not make me laugh out loud) to this day.
Authors that I generally think of when I want to laugh: Loretta Chase, Julie James, Jennifer Crusie, SEP. Some early Kristan Higgins. Pamela Morsi (her contemporaries), and Lady Whistledown (Quinn).
One title I remember being laugh-out-loud funny the first time I read it – but not on a second reread: Bone Rider by Fally. Go figure.
I too find Nobody’s Baby But Mine very funny. You can tell me I should love it. But… I do.
It’s funny, isn’t it, that when you don’t laugh, but others do, that somehow, there is something wrong with you OR something wrong with the others? It’s profoundly uncomfortable. You know how so many popular comedians were alums of “Second City” in Chicago? The man in charge of comedy improv training there said, “If you can’t make people laugh, shock them, They will laugh.” He was right. Unfortunately. I loved your “confession,” Dabney, and it’s one that nearly everybody could make, as we’ve all been disappointed and uncomfortable when everybody’s howling (I mistakenly wrote: “ everybody’s boring,”) but you are silent. I still remember my date’s disappointed inquiry in 1740 at “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World”: “Don’t you think it’s funny?” No, I didn’t. I hate slapstick, most of the time. Being young, I faked my laughter.
My favorite funny books are Anne Gracie’s “The Perfect Rake” which has–I’m not kidding–some dialogue that Oscar Wilde could have written, Jennifer Crusie’s “Bet Me, and Loretta Chase’s “Lord Perfect,” “Mr. Impossible,” “Dukes Prefer Blondes,” and “Vixen in Velvet.”
Right now, I’m reading only light, funny books, so people’s responses are a God-send.
Me too! I laugh out loud while watching sitcoms and movies but rarely while reading. When everyone praises a book as hilarious I find it amusing and maybe smile inducing for me. I might chuckle here and there.
Having said all that I find the Earlier books of Julia Quinn funny. Mark Watney from The Martian is laugh out loud funny. Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane, Penny Reid, Lucy Parker books, The Hating Game are all very amusing.
I think it depends on my mood too. I’ve read many of Julia Quinn’s books and found her occasionally amusing. Yet, last night, I found myself laughing out loud several times when reading her ‘First Comes Scandal’. The Cat-Head scene was hilarious!! I don’t know if I will laugh as heartily in my 2nd read though.
Oof! I can’t believe I forgot to mention just about the funniest side character in romance ever- Mr. Delacorte in Julie Anne Long’s Lady Derring Takes a Lover and Angel in a Devil’s Arms. He is a tenant at the boarding house run by the heroines of both books, and is *trying* to be more of a gentleman. I had to read the scene in Angel in a Devil’s Arms twice when he and the other guests are discussing poetry and
I had to read it a few times so I could keep laughing.
I seriously want Ms. Long to write a romance for Mr. Delacorte. He needs a good natured, understanding woman to love him. My choice would be an older widow or an “old maid.”
Dabney I also did not feel that Where’d you go, Bernadette was funny. I found it poignant and sad. My daughter thought it was hysterical. We both listened To the audio.. She listened while doing her run and had to stop to laugh. She liked it so much she even gifted it to me. We usually both agree on most of our books.
We are all different! And that’s good!
Back in the day, Barbara Metzger’s books frequently made me laugh. Miss Lockharte’s Letters is a story that I reread every few years. The book’s rather absurd premise leads to many extremely funny situations. Also, Ms. Metzger often includes animals in her books as secondary characters and they can also be a source of fun.
Agree wholeheartedly about Barbara Metzger with her zany servants and crazy pets.
Yes – I remember Wedded Bliss being something of a hoot!
Romances with humor are what got me started reading the genre, and since the 1990s I have recorded humor scores for the romances I read.
These are the romances I recorded with my top humor rating of 5 stars:
alexander, victoria: the marriage lesson*****
alexander, victoria: the pursuit of marriage*****
barnett, jill: (fall from grace***** see a season in the highlands anth.)
barnett, jill: (saving grace***** see highland fling anth.)
craig, emma: rosamunda’s revenge*****
crusie, jennifer: bet me*****
davidson, maryjanice: undead and unwed*****
davis, maggie: hustle, sweet love*****
evanovich, janet: back to the bedroom*****
evanovich, janet: smitten*****
evanovich, janet: the rocky road to romance*****
evanovich, janet: the grand finale*****
evanovich, janet: love overboard[ivan takes a wife]*****
garwood, julie: the lion’s lady*****
holbrook, cindy: the missing brides*****
holbrook, cindy: the missing matchmaker*****
holbrook, cindy: the actress & the marquis*****
holbrook, cindy: lord sayer’s ghost*****
holbrook, cindy: a rake’s reform*****
holbrook, cindy: the reluctant bride*****
jensen, emma: what chloe wants*****
jensen, trish: without a clue*****
joy, dara: high energy*****
joy, dara: (santa reads romance***** see the night before christmas anth.)
klune, t. j.: the lightning-struck heart*****
krentz, jayne ann: summer in eclipse bay*****
lansdowne, judith a.: lord nightingale’s triumph*****
lansdowne, judith a.: mutiny at almack’s*****
laurenston, shelly: the mane event*****
leclaire, day: the nine-dollar daddy*****
lee, jade: (kung fu shoes!***** see these boots were made for stomping anth.)
lynson, jane: the duke’s downfall*****
macalister, katie: (unleashed***** see cupid cats anth.)
macalister, katie: noble intentions*****
martin, michelle: the mad miss mathley*****
michaels, kasey: the tenacious miss tamerlane*****
nelson, judith: the merry chase*****
nelson, judith: patience is a virtue*****
phillips, susan elizabeth: nobody’s baby but mine*****
quick, amanda: ravished*****
quinn, julia: brighter than the sun*****
quinn, julia: to catch an heiress*****
quinn, julia: how to marry a marquis*****
reece, jean: the primrose path*****
sands, lynsay: single white vampire*****
sands, lynsay: (all i want***** see wish list anth.)
smythe, sheridon: completely yours*****
thompson, vicki lewis: operation gigolo*****
tucker, bonnie: hannah’s hunks*****
anthologies: cupid cats (km*****, cb***, vlt**.5)
anthologies: highland fling (as, cm, jb*****, ls)
anthologies: the night before christmas (va’’’, sh***, dj*****, nm*)
anthologies: a season in the highlands (jd***, jb*****, gd**.5, pb*, pc**.5)
anthologies: these boots were made for stomping (jk**, jl*****, mm**)
anthologies: wish list (lk**.5, lc***, cd**, ls*****)
My full list is at http://www.ccrsdodona.org/markmuse/reading/romwhumorlist.html.
My thoughts on romance humor at the time were in this AAR column in 1998: https://allaboutromance.com/lauries-news-views-62/.
I loved Judith A Lansdowne’s books. A bit of a hidden gem. I do re-read her from time to time.
Since we’re talking about funny television as well as funny books, I have to say the only current comedy I enjoy is The Connors, although I would enjoy it a lot better if they didn’t kill off Roseanne.
As for funny movies, I never get tired of watching Life with Father, which is a sorely underappreciated 1947 Technicolor comedy starring William Powell and Irene Dunne. In between Clarence Day’s blustering, you can still see the warm romance he has with his wife.
Tootsie and My Cousin Vinny are also among my favorite comedies that I never, ever get tired of. Like Life with Father, if either of these movies are on TV, I will watch them no matter how much of the film is left.
I enjoy witty, snarky, clever dialogue best, so love the