How do you keep going when your world is falling apart? Discover the powerful story of stand-up comic Anthony Griffith and how to navigate grief through persistence, faith, humor and love. Now available in trade paper. Just as Anthony’s career in stand-up comedy launched him onto the stage of The Tonight Show, he and his wife Brigitte faced an unimaginable personal nightmare: their two-year-old daughter, Brittany Nicole, was dying from cancer. While Anthony performed under bright lights, he struggled not to succumb to the darkness of losing a child. In this stirring memoir, Anthony Griffith and his wife of more than thirty years, Brigitte Travis-Griffin, share the powerful story of living between life’s funniest moments and its most heartbreaking tragedies. With humor and deep insights into the human spirit, Behind the Laughter explores Anthony’s life and career as well as the bonds between parent and child and husband and wife. The surprising twists along Anthony’s path highlights experiencing God’s sustaining presence in the darkest moments as well as the sweetest dreams. Behind the Laughter explores: Powerful, relatable emotions and lessons that are universal and inspiring New perspectives on difficult topics that everyone can relate to The power of finding humor in spite of adversity Find true inspiration along with laugh-out-loud humor in this remarkable story of resilience and grace in the face of loss.

"The true story of entertainer, comedian and actor Sal Richards, a behind the scenes look that reveals the many obstacles he faced while trying to make it in the business for over 50 years."--Page 4 of cover.

The world will finally see Curly not only as the brilliant comedian he was, but also as the manical nnemeses he became. The information uncovered in this book is like an untapped natural resource! It will gush forth a tale so amazingly unbelievable that political figures, movie moguls and Mafia members will want to cap, and voices from beyond will scream for the truth to finally set them free! It will give a daughter the closure she needs to go Beyond the Laughter.

Since its first appearance as a series of cartoon vignettes in 1987 and its debut as a weekly program in 1990, The Simpsons has had multiple, even contradictory, media identities. Although the show has featured biting political and social satire, which often proves fatal to mass public acceptance, The Simpsons entered fully into the mainstream, consistently earning high ratings from audiences and critics alike. Leaving Springfield addresses the success of The Simpsons as a corporate-manufactured show that openly and self-reflexively parodies the very consumer capitalism it simultaneously promotes. By exploring such topics as the impact of the show's satire on its diverse viewing public and the position of The Simpsons in sitcom and television animation history, the commentators develop insights into the ways parody intermixes with mass media to critique post modern society. In spite of the longevity and high cultural profile of the show, The Simpsons has so far attracted only scattered academic attention. Leaving Springfield will be of importance to both scholars of media and fans of the show interested in the function of satire in popular culture in general and television in particular.

Dr. Oliver Harding is long settled into the routines of a divorced, aging academic. But his quiet life is upended by his new colleague, Ruhaba Khan, a dynamic Pakistani law professor. Ruhaba unexpectedly ignites Oliver's long-dormant passions, a secret desire that quickly tips towards obsession after her teenaged nephew arrives to stay with her. Drawn to them, Oliver tries to reconcile his discomfort with the worlds from which they come, and to quiet his sense of dismay at the encroaching change they represent-both metaphorically and in Ruhaba's spirited engagement with the student movements on campus. After protests break out demanding diversity across the university, Oliver finds himself and his beliefs under fire, even as his past reveals a picture more complicated than it seems. As Ruhaba seems to fade in and out of reach, Oliver reacts in ways shocking and devastating. Sonora Jha has created a complex character both in tune and out of step with our time, an erudite man who first inspires and then challenges our sympathies. As the novel reaches its shocking conclusion, Jha compels us to re-examine scenes in a new light, revealing a depth of loneliness in unlikely places, the subjectivity of innocence, and the looming peril of white rage in America. An explosive and tense work of fiction, The Laughter is a fascinating portrait of privilege, radicalization, class, and modern academia that forces us to confront the assumptions we make, as both readers and as citizens.

In his nonfiction book, An Infinity of Interpretations, Dr. Kimmons explores a simple thesis: “Life has no meaning except what we assign to it.” In this new fiction book, After the Laughter, Dr. Kimmons continues exploration of that simple thesis, but in this book he writes about a young man’s existential quest to find meaning for his life, in part, through liaisons with women he encounters over several decades in various places at home and abroad. As it often happens in life, he ultimately finds love and meaning for life in an unexpected place and at an unexpected time. If you are intellectually alive and/or like romance books (with a lot of sex thrown in), you should read this novel about a search for joie de vivre and meaning in life, love, and sex.

Laughter really can be the best medicine, and in this transformative body-mind guide, acclaimed wellness expert Ros Ben-Moshe shares the prescription. In The Laughter Effect, Ros Ben-Moshe provides a roadmap to tap into the lighter side of life with laughter therapy. Ben-Moshe shares tips and tools to achieve an intentional state of being she calls the Laughter Effect–a way to elevate mindfulness, gratitude, and self-compassion. When used regularly, it enhances resilience to stress, enabling you to respond to adversity and bounce forward with humor, levity, and grace. Drawing on research from around the world, practice and wisdom from humor and laughter therapy, and positive psychology and neuroscience, Ben-Moshe shows you how to use the energy of laughter and joy to counter stress hormones and stimulate a daily dose of positive wellbeing with “happy hormones.” The techniques, strategies and practices you’ll learn can transform your physical, mental, social and emotional landscape. Viewing life through a laughter lens will awaken a positive change in yourself, how you respond to the world and, in turn, how the world responds to you.

The laughter of delight has gone unheard in the Western tradition. This work brings new light to the notion, and has a consistent leitmotif: the delighted laughter of the matriarch Sarah in the book of Genesis, when she gives birth to her son Isaac. This laughter is "heard" through biblical commentaries and twentieth-century theorists of laughter.