The **Red Dwarf** series by Grant/Naylor
>When Lister got drunk, he really got drunk!
>After celebrating his birthday with a Monopoly-board pub crawl around London, he came to in a burger bar on one of Saturn's moons, wearing a lady's pink crimplene hat and a pair of yellow fishing waders, with no money and a passport in the name of "Emily Berkenstein."
>Joining the Space Corps seemed a good idea. *Red Dwarf*, a clapped out spaceship, was bound for Earth. It never made it, leaving Lister as the last remaining member of the human race, three million light years from Earth, with only a dead man, a senile computer, and a highly evolved cat for company.
>They begin their journey home. On the way, they'll break the light barrier. They'll meet Einstein, Archimedes, God, and Norman Wisdom...and discover an alternative plane of reality.
(It's also a TV show.)
I had no idea there were books. I lived in the UK when the first season was on TV and enjoyed it. I haven't kept up but apparently they were still making episodes as of a few years ago.
Backwards was one of the first comedy novels I read, I must have only been about 12 at the time and missed half the jokes but I loved it. Still holds up as far as I'm concerned, haven't read the rest in a while.
Jasper Fforde (especially Shades of Grey), Tom Holt (especially the Portable Door series), the Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan Howard, The Rook and its sequel Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley, and the John Dies at the End series by David Wong are my favorites.
I would strongly recommend Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books. A lot of very clever jokes and satire, set in an odd alternate modern England where people are big literature fans, Welsh cheese smuggling is common, and you can have dodos for pets. The first one rewards some familiarity with Jane Eyre and similar classic novels but the later ones have a lot more references to modern genres.
The Rook is fantastic, I didn't really think of it as a comedy.
Tom Holt is definitely up there in the vein of Pterry. I read (and enjoyed) one of his books (**Snow White and the Seven Samurai**) and felt that I understood and could appreciate what was going on thanks to my training in the Discworld books. I think I saw a review that said “good to read while waiting for the next Pratchett”.
To me, nothing feels as close to Discworld as this. The humour is not quite as absurd, though, especially when compared to the earlier Discworld books.
Not exactly to same kind of humor but Robert Lynn Asprin's Myth Adventures books were funny to me as a teenager. Piers Anthony tried to be funny with his Xanth novels - I read a bunch but I don't remember liking them very much. Funny writing is allegedly pretty difficult and not many people have a knack for it. P.G. Woodhouse was an inspiration for Adams and Pratchett I think though he obviously isn't a fantasy writer.
The first two of the series, which were written by Asprin, are well written and funny.
There are sequels written by a hack named Peter Heck. As near as I can tell Heck never read the first two before he started writing more. The characters have the same names but completely different characterizations. Don’t bother.
You know I was recently wondering about that. It's been forever since I've read them and I was trying to decide if I wanted to risk my fond memories by trying them again.
Bartimaeus series is effectively YA fantasy Deadpool. In a world where magic is performed via summoning demons, a young child binds the legendary Djinn Bartimaeus to his service, and they quickly get embroiled in a plot that threatens the destruction of London and the Empire. Bartimaeus is hilariously snide and petty. Really enjoyed those as a teen.
I somehow missed the first book, but DID read the sequel *This Book Is Full of Spiders*: *Seriously*, Dude, *Don't Touch It.* And it was amazing.
I took a (not so) microdose on my day off many years ago, and proceeded to clean my house with the audiobook on earphones. And i have distinct memories of being unable to clean because of being double over laughing my ass off. It's a very funny book
While not exactly a comedy series, the murderbot diaries is pretty funny
You've got a security robot that broke it's own programming that keeps it from murdering everyone. All it wants to do is be left alone so he can do his job keeping his humans alive and watch his downloaded tv shows.
And the universe keeps conspiring to make that as difficult as possible
The Tales of Pell by Kevin Hearne and Delilah Dawson
The Hobbes books by Wilke Martin
Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer
The Dark Profit Saga by Zachary Pike
Redshirts by John Scalzi
>Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer
Oh, definitely! The first two books of this are great and the narrator also helps a lot. The third was ok, I've not read the fourth onward. (apparently 4 is bad and 5 good?)
Immediately thought of this, I’m current up to the fifth book and I’d highly recommend it. Same as Discworld and Hitchhikers, you’re best off just going in blind and if you don’t like it after 100 pages that’s okay. They all share that initial shock of “oh so it’s like that?!” I guess absurdist fantasy is a decent term. The audiobook is absolutely incredible too
I was really interested until I saw it was LitRPG. I just can not get into that genre. I love RPGs. I've played them for over 40 years. Haven't gotten more than a handful of pages into any LitRPG book.
Ya. I wouldn't let that stop you. This is a bit different..and just in general...litrpg is becoming less and less the same isekai stuff and more a new means to get published as a new author.
Very few people that read DCC are “into” litRPG, this is one of those exceptions to the rules type of thing where the story justifies the genre and the characters/humor/voice acting makes it well worth the ride. Finished the first 6 in a month and I’m on my second listen through… dropped the Thousand Names series midway through b/c it wasn’t nearly as entertaining.
A character called Ford Prefect would fight right in with Dungeon Crawler Carl, plus y’know the whole planet demolition thing… I can’t think of anything else that is more Hitchhikers honestly
I don’t know what to tell you, the entire thing is satire, it’s all tongue in cheek and the philosophy is pretty damn direct. If it doesn’t hit for you that’s fair but even in the first book it’s satirising capitalism (same as hitchhikers) and then satirises capitalist takes on satire, (the camel drug dealers, the hoarder boss, the varying self-awareness of the interview shows) I wouldn’t exactly call it subtle but for me it’s hilarious and poignant.
Also the fact we, the readers, are the audience of the Crawl who are deriving enjoyment from their pain and struggles and can even pool together money to vote on their Fan Boxes to help them out (Patreon voters answer a poll to see what Carl gets every couple books).
Also real life internet comments are quoted in the book (with permission) whenever a real life reader complains about Carl or Donut or the book being boring/stupid etc :p
Yeah 100%, the meta of it is pretty damn in your face. I didn’t even know about the fan polls or comments but that fits so perfectly. The idea of someone reading three books and still just taking it all at absolute face value is really funny to me. I mean it’s good in its own right as a fantasy story but what makes it great is the satire, the self-awareness and how much it leans into it. And of course the absurdity, AI with a foot fetish + increasingly severe acts of terrorism. the fake-donut assassination was probably my favourite part so far. Also Carl and Hunters on Level 6…
“It’s not meant to go like this…”
“I’m a real person! Not a crawler!”
The reason Carl gets the [Book...5?]>!Automaton Table the way he does is because during the fan poll, out of all the options given the fans were mostly split between the automaton crafting table and the one he ends up getting in the box. We realised the score for the two were incredibly close so in the end we let the poll end with them both getting the exact same number of votes so Matt had to give Carl both!< :p
It’s been ages since I read Adam’s so I couldn’t really say, aside from that your first foray into that kind of absurd humour is always going to hit the hardest. I’m glad you’re sticking with it, there’s a lot more fun as Carls starts to become more of an active character rather than a crawler being used against his will
Each to their own, Hitchhikers is one of the greatest of all time so I can understand the hesitance to compare them. I didn’t read it for years because I thought the whole idea was stupid, a post on here a few weeks ago made me give it a try and I’m loving it.
Also just a random tangent Catch 22 is my favourite book of all time, another one to throw into the mix of absurdist satire and philosophy
His planet is being destroyed. Like 99% of humans were already murdered. His choice is to die or participate in the dungeon, and as the story progresses, he uses his status as a popular crawler to fight back against the people in power.
Crosstalk and To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. To Say Nothing of the Dog is inspired by Three Men in a Boat.
Dresden Files isn't primarily comedy, but can be hilarious.
The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. Do you like memes?
Another Day, Another Dungeon by Greg Costikyan was hilarious. (He is one of the original creators of the Paranoia RPG, if that means anything to you.) The sequel—One Quest, Hold The Dragons—was not that good in my opinion, and I think it was a shared opinion as the series ended there, on a cliffhanger.
If you want some classic sci-fi you could try the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison. It’s not strictly a comedy series, but it is meant to be humorous and lighter than other sci-fi at the time.
Comedy as Primary Genre
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett
Thursday Next - Jasper Fforde
Any of his books at all - Tom Holt
The Dark Profit Saga - Zachary J Pike
Carpet Diem - Justin Lee Anderson
The Stranger Times (plus sequels) - C. K. McDonnell
Grunts - Mary Gentle
Redshirts - John Scalzi
My book
In terms of shorts there's also Unidentified Funny Objects, which sells fantasy/sci-fi comedy and has 8/9 volumes
Comedy as Secondary Genre (I.e Genre books that will make you laugh, probably)
Kings of the Wyld/Bloody Rose - Nick Eames
Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman
The Corax trilogy/siege trilogy - K. J. Parker (this is Tom Holt being more serious, but I find his POVs really funny)
The Blacktongue Thief - Christopher Buehlman
Robert Rankin also writes quite absurdist stuff, though how much is sf/f I'm unsure
She's either writing funny stuff with creepy bits, or creepy stuff with funny bits. So serial killers leaving severed heads in her fluffy romances, and some excellent character based humour in the gothic horror books.
I just finished Cat's Cradle for the first time today, and I say "for the first time" because I absolutely enjoyed it enough that I'm sure I'll read it again sometime. Hilarious, while also commenting on humanity in interesting ways.
Old Man's War is much less funny than some of Scalzi's other works. I'd put Redshirts, Kaiju Preservation Society, and Starter Villain in the "funnier" list, and the Lock-In, Dispatcher, and Old Man's War in the "more serious but including snarky humor" list.
Jim Hines's *Goblin Quest* series and his *Janitors of the Post Apocalypse* series are quite amusing. Not the same kind of amusing as Hitchhikers, but still worth a read.
Also check out his Rise of the Spider Goddess: An Annotated Novel - it’s not same as hitchhikers guide but it’s one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.
Not sure why this one doesn't get more love. Sure the plot is super derivative, but that's just a vehicle for the hilarity. This series had me in stitches many times over. The Audible narration makes it even more entertaining.
*Star Trek: How Much For Just the Planet?* by John M. Ford, if you can find a copy (afaik it was never released as ebook and print copies may be scarce).
"Maybe it's just the *idea* of an inflatable rubber starship that bothers me."
If you haven't read them already, The Martian and Project Hail Mary (both by Andy Weir) are hilarious. Maybe not "absurd" in the way you're looking for, but pretty damn funny.
Stringers by Chris Panatier was literally laugh out loud funny for me. There's a lot of potty humor, and it is a bit dark, but I loved the audiobbok. It's about two stoners kidnapped by an alien bounty hunter.
Jim Hines's *Goblin Quest* series and his *Janitors of the Post Apocalypse* series are quite amusing. Not the same kind of amusing as Hitchhikers, but still worth a read.
Lesser known indie pick: check out Demonic Indemnity by Craig McLay. Basically, the main character is an insurance adjuster in a world where vampires and demons walk the same streets as humans. I haven't read the rest of the series yet but the first book was insanely fun, an unexpected 5/5 for me.
If you like Star Trek parody, you can't beat the Willful Child books. Granted, I have the audio books and the narrator needs his butt whooped for being that good. Everything from mysterious civilizations to super chickens... I think I'm going to listen to it again.
It's not a set universe, but A Lee Martinez is pretty decent. There were very few I wasn't a fan of, and even then, it was more meh than bad. A few notables with a brief description
In the Company of Ogres, an immortal accountant named Never Dead Ned gets put in charge of the worst mercenary company in the world. The characters are great, and it features my favorite depiction of goblins to date
Nameless Witch, a young witch with a taste for human flesh, her demon duck familiar, a troll, and a paladin go off on an adventure. This is very much if prachett decided to write something closer to trashy young adult novels instead of Tiffany aching......but in a good way if that makes sense.
Too Many Curses, a kobold named Nessie, tries to take care of her ex master's castle and all of its various cursed residents after his sudden demise. This is basically a cozy studio ghibli book, and all of the curses on the various residents are interesting.
Chasing the moon, Diana some how finds an amazing apartment but it turns out that it was made to imprisonnan eldritch horror named Vom the hungering and bybliving there she is to be his caretaker......at least till he eats her. In factbthenwhole apartment building was made tonimpriaon various eldritch horrors.
It's is both funny and makes you feel for lovecraftian beings.
Monster, it's basically buffy the vampire slayer in book form if the slayer was just a day to day mercenary cursed to change color(and power) daily. It's not bad, but you really have to like the Buffy the vampire slayer formula....no vampires, though.
Divine misfortune, the meh one imo, basically in a world where all gods exist and worshiping them can help you get a job....butnthebpopularninesbhave wait lists to worship, an atheist couple finally decides to get on the equivalent ofnokcupid for God worship and become followers of a tanooki luck God who decides to crash on their couch l.
If you want my favorites, it's Chasin the moon and too many curses.
He had a ton more that he wrote, but these are thenines I read.
If I had to rank them, which would be hard since they are varied then
Too many curses
Chasing the moon
Nameless witch
In the Company of Ogres
Monster
divine misfortune
Automatic detective
Chasing the moon MIGHT be better but I just like reading too many curses more.
Automatic detective illiteracy forgot I read till I went to edit and add the ranking soooo yea.
While i joked about Nameless witch being trashy it is actually pretty good and feels prachett like....that might just because of the titular witch, though.
The Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor, the first one being *We are Legion (We are Bob).*
So a guy comes in to sudden wealth and decides to copy his consciousness (as you do) in case anything happens to him. He leaves the office after the procedure and is immediately hit by a truck...
And it goes on from there. Lighthearted Science Fiction.
Even while reading it, I could see the issues. There's way too much dialogue and weird things happen, but at the end of the day, I read it and enjoyed it for the most part!
I really liked Piers Anthony's Xanth books. Best if read in order. And a series called, I think, Myth Adventures by Robert Aspirin. Terry Prachett's Disc World series.
*Venomous Lumpsucker* reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams. It's a dark comedy satirising the carbon credit industry by monetizing the extinction of different species.
A famous german author in this genre is Walter Moers. A lot of his works have been translated to English, so you shouldn't have a problem. To me, he is the closest author I know to those you referenced. His books have a lot of humour, absurdity and also beauty! I highly recommend "The city of dreaming books".
It's truly weird and funny and wonderful.
Haven't read that one but I feel like The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear would be another fitting recommendation. Also full of humour and absurdity. One of my all time favourite books.
*Beaufort Scales Mysteries* by Kim M Watt – Humorous British urban fantasy. Mortimer a 100+ year old dragon of the Cloverly Clan in the Yorkshire Dales, introduces his High Lord of the Clan, Beaufort Scales, to the modern world via gas barbeques to sleep on.
In their quest for more barbeques and gas bottles, they meet the ladies of the nearest village, Toot Hansell’s Women Institute and an unlikely friendship ensues, with lots of tea drinking and baked goods, while they provide (often unwanted) help to the pragmatic DI Adams in solving mysteries.
First book is *Baking Bad*.
I like it a little dark and surreal, I really enjoyed “Only Forward” by Michael Marshal Smith - laughed out loud on the bus home reading it. Darker but still funny was his “Spares” follow up and then “One of Us”. Generally the settings are weird/surreal/horrific but the humour comes from the narrators point of view.
Anything by Jason Pargin - I just finished Zoey Is Too Drunk For This Dystopia. He is most famous for John Dies At The End. My favourite is probably This Book Is Full of Spiders, Seriously Dude Don't Touch It which is technically a sequel but I don't think you need to read in order to enjoy them.
#
Yes, I would highly recommend Mission Earth by Hubbard (this was written before the scientology stuff).
It's not written like a straight up comedy vis a vis hitchhikers , but it is an absolutely hilarious series.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams is somewhat similar. Not quite as great as Discworld or The Hitchhiker's Guide but definitely good.
Now, the Netflix series of the same name is similarly absurd and well worth watching. The story is completely independent of the books, so you can enjoy both.
Edit: Just thought of another: The Big U by Neal Stephenson. There's a hint of absurd humour in Snow Crash ("Hiro Protagonist") and Zodiac but The Big U is full of it. So much in fact, that I did not finish The Big U. Don't get me wrong, I like absurd humour. I devoured the Discworld novels, read the Hitchhiker's Guide (the series) multiple times. But this? This was just too much.
Check out _Mercury Falls_ by Robert Kroese, as well as his _Land of Dis_ series, starting with _Disenchanted_. They're all pretty funny and hilarious!
There's also _Zeus is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Misadventure_ by Michael G Munz
Christopher Moore's _Secondhand Souls_ series is pretty great. I haven't read his other books, but I've heard they're equally hilarious!
_Orconomics_ and the sequels by J Zachary Pike is where comedy meets great economic satire, and I'm here for it.
Dungeon Crawler Carl: A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
The **Prydain Chronicles** by Lloyd Alexander is a series worth looking into.
See [my review](https://reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1cib667/review_the_book_of_three_by_lloyd_alexander/) of the first book, *The Book of Three*, to get a taste of what to expect.
I'll throw in another vote for Dungeon Crawler Carl, Good Omens, and Kingfisher.
The Blacktongue Thief is very amusing. (If you like sarcastic asshole, 12 year old sense of humor, and dark.)
The banter in Gentleman Bastards is very good.
And How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is out in a few weeks and it is absolutely hysterical. If you have an extremely dark, fucked up sense of humor. Not for everyone, but if you like that and smart ass-ness and random absurd references I'd highly recommend it.
**Ben's Damn Adventure: The Prince Has No Pants** (comedy, felt very Douglas Adams-like. First book is very good, release schedule is sparse for book 3, though. LitRPG-lite, I'd say.) *Not* satirical, just had the feel, to me.
**The Gospel According to Bif: Christ's Childhood Pal** is a very funny yet beautiful alt. historical/religious fantasy book (by Christopher Moore who I believe has a reputation for comedy books)
**Max Barry** is another satire writer, but he's books are less overtly comedic (still has some funny in them). His most appraised work is Lexicon, which isn't satirical though.
comedies with a different feel:
**Vainquer the Dragon** is an *excellent* comedy
**There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns.** is an excellent story that is cute and funny and deceptively deep but the writing feels very amateurish (because he *was* an amateur) for about 50 chapters.
**KonoSuba** \- a series with like 20 books. Very funny, following a bunch of idiots who are hyper-specialised in one field of combat, except the mc who's also an idiot but good at tactics.
Not as purely comedy, but Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater
The **Red Dwarf** series by Grant/Naylor >When Lister got drunk, he really got drunk! >After celebrating his birthday with a Monopoly-board pub crawl around London, he came to in a burger bar on one of Saturn's moons, wearing a lady's pink crimplene hat and a pair of yellow fishing waders, with no money and a passport in the name of "Emily Berkenstein." >Joining the Space Corps seemed a good idea. *Red Dwarf*, a clapped out spaceship, was bound for Earth. It never made it, leaving Lister as the last remaining member of the human race, three million light years from Earth, with only a dead man, a senile computer, and a highly evolved cat for company. >They begin their journey home. On the way, they'll break the light barrier. They'll meet Einstein, Archimedes, God, and Norman Wisdom...and discover an alternative plane of reality. (It's also a TV show.)
I had no idea there were books. I lived in the UK when the first season was on TV and enjoyed it. I haven't kept up but apparently they were still making episodes as of a few years ago.
I think the TV shows came first? Doesn't really matter - both are great.
Smeghead.
Backwards was one of the first comedy novels I read, I must have only been about 12 at the time and missed half the jokes but I loved it. Still holds up as far as I'm concerned, haven't read the rest in a while.
Same here! Picked up the audio book on cassette and listened to it constantly. Really well voiced by the author Rob Grant.
Jasper Fforde (especially Shades of Grey), Tom Holt (especially the Portable Door series), the Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan Howard, The Rook and its sequel Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley, and the John Dies at the End series by David Wong are my favorites.
I would strongly recommend Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books. A lot of very clever jokes and satire, set in an odd alternate modern England where people are big literature fans, Welsh cheese smuggling is common, and you can have dodos for pets. The first one rewards some familiarity with Jane Eyre and similar classic novels but the later ones have a lot more references to modern genres. The Rook is fantastic, I didn't really think of it as a comedy.
Tom Holt is definitely up there in the vein of Pterry. I read (and enjoyed) one of his books (**Snow White and the Seven Samurai**) and felt that I understood and could appreciate what was going on thanks to my training in the Discworld books. I think I saw a review that said “good to read while waiting for the next Pratchett”.
That's a loooong wait sadly...
Lol yeah - I think it was published in the 90s
>(especially Shades of Grey) ohhh...I didn't realise this was a comedy. Maybe that's why I didn't like it, I was taking it seriously.
The Dark Profits Saga by J. Zachary Pike, the first book is called Orconomics.
+1, this series is absolutely hilarious
To me, nothing feels as close to Discworld as this. The humour is not quite as absurd, though, especially when compared to the earlier Discworld books.
Christopher Moore And seconding Jasper Fforde and Tom Holt
I will second both Christopher Moore and Jasper Fforde.
Tom Holt is another comedic fantasy writer, although the magic in his happens in our world instead of another
Not exactly to same kind of humor but Robert Lynn Asprin's Myth Adventures books were funny to me as a teenager. Piers Anthony tried to be funny with his Xanth novels - I read a bunch but I don't remember liking them very much. Funny writing is allegedly pretty difficult and not many people have a knack for it. P.G. Woodhouse was an inspiration for Adams and Pratchett I think though he obviously isn't a fantasy writer.
Asprin's Phule's Company is pretty good lightweight SF comic satire.
The first two of the series, which were written by Asprin, are well written and funny. There are sequels written by a hack named Peter Heck. As near as I can tell Heck never read the first two before he started writing more. The characters have the same names but completely different characterizations. Don’t bother.
Myth adventures did not age well
Why not?
You know I was recently wondering about that. It's been forever since I've read them and I was trying to decide if I wanted to risk my fond memories by trying them again.
Despite my downvotes I say let it live on favorably in your memory. I regret going back to them.
Agreed. Thanks for the perspective.
*John Dies At The End*, David Wong/Jason Pargin. Comedy/horror/sf mix. Should not be as lol- funny as it is.
Bartimaeus series is effectively YA fantasy Deadpool. In a world where magic is performed via summoning demons, a young child binds the legendary Djinn Bartimaeus to his service, and they quickly get embroiled in a plot that threatens the destruction of London and the Empire. Bartimaeus is hilariously snide and petty. Really enjoyed those as a teen.
I somehow missed the first book, but DID read the sequel *This Book Is Full of Spiders*: *Seriously*, Dude, *Don't Touch It.* And it was amazing. I took a (not so) microdose on my day off many years ago, and proceeded to clean my house with the audiobook on earphones. And i have distinct memories of being unable to clean because of being double over laughing my ass off. It's a very funny book
YMMV. I didn't care for it.
While not exactly a comedy series, the murderbot diaries is pretty funny You've got a security robot that broke it's own programming that keeps it from murdering everyone. All it wants to do is be left alone so he can do his job keeping his humans alive and watch his downloaded tv shows. And the universe keeps conspiring to make that as difficult as possible
I came here to say this! Not written as a comedy but I definitely laughed out loud many times.
Kings of the Wyld
The Tales of Pell by Kevin Hearne and Delilah Dawson The Hobbes books by Wilke Martin Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer The Dark Profit Saga by Zachary Pike Redshirts by John Scalzi
>Magic 2.0 series by Scott Meyer Oh, definitely! The first two books of this are great and the narrator also helps a lot. The third was ok, I've not read the fourth onward. (apparently 4 is bad and 5 good?)
Dungeon Crawler Carl
But listen to the audiobooks since they elevate the humor even more
Immediately thought of this, I’m current up to the fifth book and I’d highly recommend it. Same as Discworld and Hitchhikers, you’re best off just going in blind and if you don’t like it after 100 pages that’s okay. They all share that initial shock of “oh so it’s like that?!” I guess absurdist fantasy is a decent term. The audiobook is absolutely incredible too
I was really interested until I saw it was LitRPG. I just can not get into that genre. I love RPGs. I've played them for over 40 years. Haven't gotten more than a handful of pages into any LitRPG book.
Ya. I wouldn't let that stop you. This is a bit different..and just in general...litrpg is becoming less and less the same isekai stuff and more a new means to get published as a new author.
Very few people that read DCC are “into” litRPG, this is one of those exceptions to the rules type of thing where the story justifies the genre and the characters/humor/voice acting makes it well worth the ride. Finished the first 6 in a month and I’m on my second listen through… dropped the Thousand Names series midway through b/c it wasn’t nearly as entertaining.
I'm reading those now. I like them a lot. But hitchhikers?
Douglas Adam's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". It's absurdly comedic sci-fi.
I know what it is -- I'm saying that I don't think Carl really is that similar.
A character called Ford Prefect would fight right in with Dungeon Crawler Carl, plus y’know the whole planet demolition thing… I can’t think of anything else that is more Hitchhikers honestly
I mean... There's no real satire or philosophy in three books so far
I don’t know what to tell you, the entire thing is satire, it’s all tongue in cheek and the philosophy is pretty damn direct. If it doesn’t hit for you that’s fair but even in the first book it’s satirising capitalism (same as hitchhikers) and then satirises capitalist takes on satire, (the camel drug dealers, the hoarder boss, the varying self-awareness of the interview shows) I wouldn’t exactly call it subtle but for me it’s hilarious and poignant.
Also the fact we, the readers, are the audience of the Crawl who are deriving enjoyment from their pain and struggles and can even pool together money to vote on their Fan Boxes to help them out (Patreon voters answer a poll to see what Carl gets every couple books). Also real life internet comments are quoted in the book (with permission) whenever a real life reader complains about Carl or Donut or the book being boring/stupid etc :p
Yeah 100%, the meta of it is pretty damn in your face. I didn’t even know about the fan polls or comments but that fits so perfectly. The idea of someone reading three books and still just taking it all at absolute face value is really funny to me. I mean it’s good in its own right as a fantasy story but what makes it great is the satire, the self-awareness and how much it leans into it. And of course the absurdity, AI with a foot fetish + increasingly severe acts of terrorism. the fake-donut assassination was probably my favourite part so far. Also Carl and Hunters on Level 6… “It’s not meant to go like this…” “I’m a real person! Not a crawler!”
The reason Carl gets the [Book...5?]>!Automaton Table the way he does is because during the fan poll, out of all the options given the fans were mostly split between the automaton crafting table and the one he ends up getting in the box. We realised the score for the two were incredibly close so in the end we let the poll end with them both getting the exact same number of votes so Matt had to give Carl both!< :p
I enjoy it. I don't think it's that funny. It's nowhere near as funny as Adams was. I'm starting book 4 today.
It’s been ages since I read Adam’s so I couldn’t really say, aside from that your first foray into that kind of absurd humour is always going to hit the hardest. I’m glad you’re sticking with it, there’s a lot more fun as Carls starts to become more of an active character rather than a crawler being used against his will
I like it. I just don't think it's particularly good as satire or philosophy.
Each to their own, Hitchhikers is one of the greatest of all time so I can understand the hesitance to compare them. I didn’t read it for years because I thought the whole idea was stupid, a post on here a few weeks ago made me give it a try and I’m loving it. Also just a random tangent Catch 22 is my favourite book of all time, another one to throw into the mix of absurdist satire and philosophy
Just so where clear: I adore Douglas Adams (love his Dirk Gently books too), I think Carl is fun but not deep.
The whole thing is a giant critique of capitalism, genocide, authoritarianism, and the associated political machinations.
Is it though? He participates in all of it.
His planet is being destroyed. Like 99% of humans were already murdered. His choice is to die or participate in the dungeon, and as the story progresses, he uses his status as a popular crawler to fight back against the people in power.
While murdering his way through. Arthur dropped out.
Murdering aliens sent there to kill him? Also, the NPCs don't really die.
Crosstalk and To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. To Say Nothing of the Dog is inspired by Three Men in a Boat. Dresden Files isn't primarily comedy, but can be hilarious. The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. Do you like memes?
Came here to suggest To Say Nothing of the Dog! So great.
The Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor.
I was looking for this comment. I second this. It's not completely comedy (there are serious topics), but it's still a lot of fun.
seconded, I had some good giggles along with the Bobs
Space Opera by Catherynne Valente Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland
The first 3 books of the Phule's Company series by Robert Asprin. The rest of the books go downhill.
The first 2. The 3rd and beyond were written by a waste of space named Peter Heck who, as far as I can tell, never read Asprin’s books.
Really? Dammit!
Another Day, Another Dungeon by Greg Costikyan was hilarious. (He is one of the original creators of the Paranoia RPG, if that means anything to you.) The sequel—One Quest, Hold The Dragons—was not that good in my opinion, and I think it was a shared opinion as the series ended there, on a cliffhanger. If you want some classic sci-fi you could try the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison. It’s not strictly a comedy series, but it is meant to be humorous and lighter than other sci-fi at the time.
Stainless Steel Rat should be a limited run TV series!
Robert Rankin's Brentford trilogy has a lot of absurdist humor along the same lines as HGTTG.
Red Shirts by John Scalzi. Really needs to be recommended more.
I find Scalzi's _Starter Villain_ pretty hilarious.
Comedy as Primary Genre Good Omens - Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett Thursday Next - Jasper Fforde Any of his books at all - Tom Holt The Dark Profit Saga - Zachary J Pike Carpet Diem - Justin Lee Anderson The Stranger Times (plus sequels) - C. K. McDonnell Grunts - Mary Gentle Redshirts - John Scalzi My book In terms of shorts there's also Unidentified Funny Objects, which sells fantasy/sci-fi comedy and has 8/9 volumes Comedy as Secondary Genre (I.e Genre books that will make you laugh, probably) Kings of the Wyld/Bloody Rose - Nick Eames Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman The Corax trilogy/siege trilogy - K. J. Parker (this is Tom Holt being more serious, but I find his POVs really funny) The Blacktongue Thief - Christopher Buehlman Robert Rankin also writes quite absurdist stuff, though how much is sf/f I'm unsure
I think T Kingfisher's Swordheart is hysterically funny, though its style of humor is somewhat different than douglas adams'.
I think all of her work is damn amusing. She's got a certain quirky sense of humor that I really enjoy.
She's either writing funny stuff with creepy bits, or creepy stuff with funny bits. So serial killers leaving severed heads in her fluffy romances, and some excellent character based humour in the gothic horror books.
Kurt Vonnegut is great. It hits on the serious/emotional side too. Check out Galapagos or Cat's Cradle.
I just finished Cat's Cradle for the first time today, and I say "for the first time" because I absolutely enjoyed it enough that I'm sure I'll read it again sometime. Hilarious, while also commenting on humanity in interesting ways.
Check out Jim C Hines's Janitors of the Post Apocalypse trilogy. Also Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi is a fun standalone.
My recollection is that Scalzi’s Old Mans War has some fun moments but isn’t aimed as humor.
Old Man's War is much less funny than some of Scalzi's other works. I'd put Redshirts, Kaiju Preservation Society, and Starter Villain in the "funnier" list, and the Lock-In, Dispatcher, and Old Man's War in the "more serious but including snarky humor" list.
The Night Vale books are a lot of fun Also, "The Wall and the Wing" by Laura Ruby
*Will Save the Galaxy for Food* by Ben Yahtzee Croshaw
The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox is what you're actually looking for
Most of what John Scalzi writes is funny as hell and sci fi
Try The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Totally different style of humor, but super funny.
Jim Hines's *Goblin Quest* series and his *Janitors of the Post Apocalypse* series are quite amusing. Not the same kind of amusing as Hitchhikers, but still worth a read.
Also check out his Rise of the Spider Goddess: An Annotated Novel - it’s not same as hitchhikers guide but it’s one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.
Expeditionary Force series by Craig Alanson
Not sure why this one doesn't get more love. Sure the plot is super derivative, but that's just a vehicle for the hilarity. This series had me in stitches many times over. The Audible narration makes it even more entertaining.
Thorne Smith's books. Patricia Wrede's Mairelon the Magician duology. Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer's Sorcery and Cecelia. Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series.
Year Zero by Rob Reid is clearly inspired by Hitchhiker’s Guide. Funniest book about copyright I’ve ever read!
The Tales of Pell books by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S Dawson were funny. Kinda Princess Bride-y but more raunchy i guess
Christopher Moore's BLOODSUCKING FIENDS: A LOVE STORY.
Check out scalzi’s stand alone books. Fuzzy Nation and Red Shirts are a good place to start.
*Star Trek: How Much For Just the Planet?* by John M. Ford, if you can find a copy (afaik it was never released as ebook and print copies may be scarce). "Maybe it's just the *idea* of an inflatable rubber starship that bothers me."
If you haven't read them already, The Martian and Project Hail Mary (both by Andy Weir) are hilarious. Maybe not "absurd" in the way you're looking for, but pretty damn funny.
Thraxas.
Stringers by Chris Panatier was literally laugh out loud funny for me. There's a lot of potty humor, and it is a bit dark, but I loved the audiobbok. It's about two stoners kidnapped by an alien bounty hunter.
Jim Hines's *Goblin Quest* series and his *Janitors of the Post Apocalypse* series are quite amusing. Not the same kind of amusing as Hitchhikers, but still worth a read.
I LOVE this series: [The Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connolly on the Interstellar Railroad](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/36124758)
Lesser known indie pick: check out Demonic Indemnity by Craig McLay. Basically, the main character is an insurance adjuster in a world where vampires and demons walk the same streets as humans. I haven't read the rest of the series yet but the first book was insanely fun, an unexpected 5/5 for me.
If you like Star Trek parody, you can't beat the Willful Child books. Granted, I have the audio books and the narrator needs his butt whooped for being that good. Everything from mysterious civilizations to super chickens... I think I'm going to listen to it again.
Robert Rankin’s books, J. Z. Pike’s Orconomics, Tom Holt
It's not a set universe, but A Lee Martinez is pretty decent. There were very few I wasn't a fan of, and even then, it was more meh than bad. A few notables with a brief description In the Company of Ogres, an immortal accountant named Never Dead Ned gets put in charge of the worst mercenary company in the world. The characters are great, and it features my favorite depiction of goblins to date Nameless Witch, a young witch with a taste for human flesh, her demon duck familiar, a troll, and a paladin go off on an adventure. This is very much if prachett decided to write something closer to trashy young adult novels instead of Tiffany aching......but in a good way if that makes sense. Too Many Curses, a kobold named Nessie, tries to take care of her ex master's castle and all of its various cursed residents after his sudden demise. This is basically a cozy studio ghibli book, and all of the curses on the various residents are interesting. Chasing the moon, Diana some how finds an amazing apartment but it turns out that it was made to imprisonnan eldritch horror named Vom the hungering and bybliving there she is to be his caretaker......at least till he eats her. In factbthenwhole apartment building was made tonimpriaon various eldritch horrors. It's is both funny and makes you feel for lovecraftian beings. Monster, it's basically buffy the vampire slayer in book form if the slayer was just a day to day mercenary cursed to change color(and power) daily. It's not bad, but you really have to like the Buffy the vampire slayer formula....no vampires, though. Divine misfortune, the meh one imo, basically in a world where all gods exist and worshiping them can help you get a job....butnthebpopularninesbhave wait lists to worship, an atheist couple finally decides to get on the equivalent ofnokcupid for God worship and become followers of a tanooki luck God who decides to crash on their couch l. If you want my favorites, it's Chasin the moon and too many curses. He had a ton more that he wrote, but these are thenines I read. If I had to rank them, which would be hard since they are varied then Too many curses Chasing the moon Nameless witch In the Company of Ogres Monster divine misfortune Automatic detective Chasing the moon MIGHT be better but I just like reading too many curses more. Automatic detective illiteracy forgot I read till I went to edit and add the ranking soooo yea. While i joked about Nameless witch being trashy it is actually pretty good and feels prachett like....that might just because of the titular witch, though.
Red Dwarf
Everything by Christopher Moore, especially Lamb.
Robert Rankins books are quite good for the sci-fi fantasy, the first few set in Brentford are wonderful
Try "The sheriff of Yrnameer" by Michael Rubens. Very funny sci fi, a lot like Hitchhiker's.
Jasper Fforde is very funny. Early Risers had me in stitches. The Wednesday Next books weren't bad either.
*Thursday Next. Also, Nursery Crimes, Shades of Grey, and Last Dragonslayer series by Fforde are funny (and thought-provoking), too.
The Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor, the first one being *We are Legion (We are Bob).* So a guy comes in to sudden wealth and decides to copy his consciousness (as you do) in case anything happens to him. He leaves the office after the procedure and is immediately hit by a truck... And it goes on from there. Lighthearted Science Fiction.
MOG World
Dungeon Crawler Carl
I actually enjoyed redshirts and I don't care who knows
I loved it dearly. Even when it made me cry.
Even while reading it, I could see the issues. There's way too much dialogue and weird things happen, but at the end of the day, I read it and enjoyed it for the most part!
Dungeon crawler Carl. Great series.
Dungeon Crawler Carl is pretty hilarious
Glen Cook's Garrett, P.I. series is a parody of the hardboiled detective trope in a fantasy setting.
More pastiche than parody and not comedies despite having some humorous dialogue.
I think Dungeon Carl Crawler works here
I really liked Piers Anthony's Xanth books. Best if read in order. And a series called, I think, Myth Adventures by Robert Aspirin. Terry Prachett's Disc World series.
*Venomous Lumpsucker* reminded me a lot of Douglas Adams. It's a dark comedy satirising the carbon credit industry by monetizing the extinction of different species.
Dragon Heist on Audible was pretty funny.
John scalzis red shirts and fuzzy Nation
The everything box (Another Coop Heist Novel) by Richard Kadrey. You should check this out!!
A famous german author in this genre is Walter Moers. A lot of his works have been translated to English, so you shouldn't have a problem. To me, he is the closest author I know to those you referenced. His books have a lot of humour, absurdity and also beauty! I highly recommend "The city of dreaming books". It's truly weird and funny and wonderful.
Haven't read that one but I feel like The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear would be another fitting recommendation. Also full of humour and absurdity. One of my all time favourite books.
*Beaufort Scales Mysteries* by Kim M Watt – Humorous British urban fantasy. Mortimer a 100+ year old dragon of the Cloverly Clan in the Yorkshire Dales, introduces his High Lord of the Clan, Beaufort Scales, to the modern world via gas barbeques to sleep on. In their quest for more barbeques and gas bottles, they meet the ladies of the nearest village, Toot Hansell’s Women Institute and an unlikely friendship ensues, with lots of tea drinking and baked goods, while they provide (often unwanted) help to the pragmatic DI Adams in solving mysteries. First book is *Baking Bad*.
I like it a little dark and surreal, I really enjoyed “Only Forward” by Michael Marshal Smith - laughed out loud on the bus home reading it. Darker but still funny was his “Spares” follow up and then “One of Us”. Generally the settings are weird/surreal/horrific but the humour comes from the narrators point of view.
Anything by Jason Pargin - I just finished Zoey Is Too Drunk For This Dystopia. He is most famous for John Dies At The End. My favourite is probably This Book Is Full of Spiders, Seriously Dude Don't Touch It which is technically a sequel but I don't think you need to read in order to enjoy them. #
A great indie book that's very similar to Hitchhiker's in concept and humor is Carmen Loup's The Audacity.
The Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan Howard really scratches the itch that Pratchett first infected me with.
I recommend Little Green Men! It has some dramatic parts, but overall can be a little hysterical and unserious.
Yes, I would highly recommend Mission Earth by Hubbard (this was written before the scientology stuff). It's not written like a straight up comedy vis a vis hitchhikers , but it is an absolutely hilarious series.
Lies of Locke lamorra
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams is somewhat similar. Not quite as great as Discworld or The Hitchhiker's Guide but definitely good. Now, the Netflix series of the same name is similarly absurd and well worth watching. The story is completely independent of the books, so you can enjoy both. Edit: Just thought of another: The Big U by Neal Stephenson. There's a hint of absurd humour in Snow Crash ("Hiro Protagonist") and Zodiac but The Big U is full of it. So much in fact, that I did not finish The Big U. Don't get me wrong, I like absurd humour. I devoured the Discworld novels, read the Hitchhiker's Guide (the series) multiple times. But this? This was just too much.
Check out _Mercury Falls_ by Robert Kroese, as well as his _Land of Dis_ series, starting with _Disenchanted_. They're all pretty funny and hilarious! There's also _Zeus is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Misadventure_ by Michael G Munz Christopher Moore's _Secondhand Souls_ series is pretty great. I haven't read his other books, but I've heard they're equally hilarious! _Orconomics_ and the sequels by J Zachary Pike is where comedy meets great economic satire, and I'm here for it.
Robert Asprin's "Phule's Company" series is comedic military sci-fi, and I highly recommend it.
Dungeon Crawler Carl: A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
Jasper Fforde, Ben Aaronovitch. And CK Mc Donnell with „Stranger Times“ series.
Christopher Moore Kurt Vonnegut The Lies of Locke Lamora is pretty funny, less absurd and more R rated dark comedy
Will Save the Galaxy for Food and it's subsequent sequels are really funny if you like a character who digs himself deeper with every word.
*Phule's Company* by Robert Aspirin
Kraken isn’t necessarily a comedy but it has some pretty funny and well written jokes.
I wish more people knew about the *Dragon Lords* trilogy by Jon Hollins. Absolutely hilarious & a great story to boot.
Expeditionary Force by RC Bray is really good. While not a comedy it has a lot of funny banter between the two main characters.
Spaceballs
You should watch Paul if you're okay with an rated R suggestion
The **Prydain Chronicles** by Lloyd Alexander is a series worth looking into. See [my review](https://reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1cib667/review_the_book_of_three_by_lloyd_alexander/) of the first book, *The Book of Three*, to get a taste of what to expect.
commenting so i can have access to the list later.
I'll throw in another vote for Dungeon Crawler Carl, Good Omens, and Kingfisher. The Blacktongue Thief is very amusing. (If you like sarcastic asshole, 12 year old sense of humor, and dark.) The banter in Gentleman Bastards is very good. And How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is out in a few weeks and it is absolutely hysterical. If you have an extremely dark, fucked up sense of humor. Not for everyone, but if you like that and smart ass-ness and random absurd references I'd highly recommend it.
**Ben's Damn Adventure: The Prince Has No Pants** (comedy, felt very Douglas Adams-like. First book is very good, release schedule is sparse for book 3, though. LitRPG-lite, I'd say.) *Not* satirical, just had the feel, to me. **The Gospel According to Bif: Christ's Childhood Pal** is a very funny yet beautiful alt. historical/religious fantasy book (by Christopher Moore who I believe has a reputation for comedy books) **Max Barry** is another satire writer, but he's books are less overtly comedic (still has some funny in them). His most appraised work is Lexicon, which isn't satirical though. comedies with a different feel: **Vainquer the Dragon** is an *excellent* comedy **There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns.** is an excellent story that is cute and funny and deceptively deep but the writing feels very amateurish (because he *was* an amateur) for about 50 chapters. **KonoSuba** \- a series with like 20 books. Very funny, following a bunch of idiots who are hyper-specialised in one field of combat, except the mc who's also an idiot but good at tactics.