A humorist is a person who writes or performs humorous material. The material written or performed by humorists tends to be more subtle and cerebral than the material created by stand-up comics and comedy writers. The intention is often to provoke wry smiles and amusement rather than outright belly laughs. This list contains only those humorists for whom there is a Wikipedia article.

Notable humorists include:

External links[link]

Look up humorist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

Erma Bombeck
Born	Erma Louise Fiste (1927-02-21)February 21, 1927 Bellbrook, Ohio, U.S.
Died	April 22, 1996(1996-04-22) (aged 69) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	Humorist, syndicated columnist, writer
Nationality	American
Citizenship	United States
Education	University of Dayton
Period	1965 to 1996
Spouse(s)	Bill Bombeck
Children	Betsy, Andrew, Matthew

Erma Louise Bombeck, née Fiste (February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper column that described suburban home life from the mid-1960s until the late 1990s. Bombeck also published 15 books, most of which became best-sellers. From 1965 to 1996, Erma Bombeck wrote over 4,000 newspaper columns chronicling the ordinary life of a midwestern suburban housewife with broad, and sometimes eloquent humor. By the 1970s, her columns were read, twice weekly, by thirty million readers of the 900 newspapers of the U.S. and Canada.^{[citation needed]}

Early life[link]

Erma Fiste was born in Bellbrook, Ohio to a working-class family, and was raised in Dayton. Her father, Cassius Fiste, was the city crane operator; her mother's name was also Erma. Young Erma lived with her elder paternal half-sister, Thelma. She began elementary school one year earlier than usual for her age, in 1932, and became an excellent student and an avid reader. She particularly enjoyed the popular humor writers of the time. After Erma's father died in 1936, she moved, with her mother, into her grandmother's home. In 1938 her mother remarried, to Albert Harris (a moving van owner). Erma practiced tap dance and singing, and was hired by a local radio for a children's revue for eight years.^{[citation needed]}

Formative years[link]

In 1940, Erma entered Emerson Junior High School, and began writing a humorous column for its newspaper, The Owl. In 1942, Bombeck entered Parker (now Patterson) Vocational High School, where she wrote a serious column, mixing in bits of humor. In 1942, she began to work at the Dayton Herald as a copygirl, sharing her full-time assignment with a girlfriend. In 1943, for her first journalistic work, Erma interviewed Shirley Temple, who visited Dayton, and the interview became a newspaper feature.

Erma completed high school in 1944. Then, to earn a college scholarship fund, she worked for a year as a typist and stenographer, for the Dayton Herald and several other companies, and did minor journalistic assignments (obituaries, etc.) for the Dayton Herald as well. Using the money she earned, Erma enrolled in Ohio University at Athens in 1946. However, she failed most of her literary assignments and was rejected for the university newspaper. She left after one semester, when her funds ran out.

Erma later enrolled in the University of Dayton, a Catholic college. She lived in her family home and worked at Rike's Store, a department store, where she wrote humorous material for the company newsletter. In addition, she worked two part-time jobs - a termite control accountant at an advertising agency^{[clarification needed]} and as a public relations person at the local YMCA.^[1] While in college, her English professor, Bro. Tom Price, commented to Erma about her great prospects as a writer, and she began to write for the university student publication, The Exponent. She graduated in 1949 with a degree in English, and became a life-long active contact for the University — helping financially and participating personally — and became a lifetime trustee of the institution in 1987. In 1949, she converted to Catholicism, from the United Brethren church, and married Bill Bombeck, a former fellow student of the University of Dayton, who was a veteran of the World War II Korean front. His subsequent profession would be that of educator and school supervisor. Bombeck remained active in the church the rest of her life.^{[citation needed]}

Housewife column[link]

Housewife (1954–1964)[link]

The Bombecks were told by doctors that having a child was improbable, so they adopted a girl, Betsy, in 1953. Erma decided to become a full-time housewife, and relinquished her career as a journalist. During 1954, Erma nevertheless wrote a series of humorous columns in the Dayton Shopping News.

Despite the former difficult diagnoses, Erma Bombeck gave birth to a son, Andrew, in 1955. The Bombeck family moved to Centerville, Ohio, into a tract housing development, and were neighbors to the young Phil Donahue. Away from her previous journalistic career, Bombeck initiated an intense period of homemaking, which lasted 10 years, and had her second son, Matthew, in 1958.

"At Wit's End" (1965)[link]

In 1964, Erma Bombeck resumed her writing career for the local Kettering-Oakwood Times, with weekly columns which yielded $3 each. She wrote in her small bedroom, over a rustic table of a plank top with two supports of cinder block.

In 1965, the Dayton Journal Herald requested new humorous columns as well, and Bombeck agreed to write two weekly 450-word columns for $50. After three weeks, the articles went into national syndication through the Newsday Newspaper Syndicate, into 36 major U.S. newspapers, with three weekly columns under the title "At Wit's End".

Bombeck quickly became a popular humorist nationwide. Beginning in 1966, she began doing lectures for a $15,000 fee in the various cities where her columns appeared. In 1967, her newspaper columns were compiled and published by Doubleday, under the title of At Wit's End. And after a humorous appearance on Arthur Godfrey's radio, she became a regular radio guest on his show.

Diversified production[link]

Success (1970s)[link]

Aaron Priest, a Doubleday representative, became Bombeck's loyal agent. By 1969, 500 U.S. newspapers featured her "At Wit's End" columns, and she was also writing for Good Housekeeping Magazine, Reader's Digest, Family Circle, Redbook, McCall's, and even Teen magazine. Bombeck and her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to a lavish hacienda on a hilltop in Paradise Valley.

By 1978, 900 U.S. newspapers were publishing Bombeck's column.

McGraw-Hill (1976)[link]

In 1976, McGraw-Hill published Bombeck's The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank, which became a best-seller. In 1978, Bombeck arranged both a million-dollar contract for her fifth book, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? and a 700-thousand-copy advance for her subsequent book, Aunt Erma's Cope Book (1979).

Television[link]

At the invitation of television producer Bob Shanks, Bombeck participated in ABC's Good Morning America from 1975 until 1986. She began doing brief commentaries which were recorded at Phoenix, and eventually did both gag segments and important interviews.

For several years, Bombeck was occupied with multiple writing and TV projects. In 1978, she failed with the television pilot of The Grass is Always Greener on CBS. In 1980, then Bombeck wrote and produced her own show, the also unsuccessful Maggie, for ABC. It aired for just four months (eight episodes) to poor reviews; nevertheless the show meant that Bombeck was becoming quickly overworked, returning from Los Angeles to Phoenix only during weekends. Bombeck was offered a second sitcom attempt but she declined.

The Equal Rights Amendment (1978)[link]

In 1978, Bombeck was involved in the Presidential Advisory Committee for Women, particularly for the final implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment, with the ERA America organization's support. Bombeck was strongly criticized for this by conservative figures, and some U.S. stores reacted by removing her books. In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was proposed by the United States Congress to the states. Congress specified a seven-year period for ratification. Under Article V of the United States Constitution, ratification by at least three-fourths of the states is necessary, but at the end of the seven-year period, only 35 states had ratified, or three less than the required three-fourths. Bombeck expressed dismay over this development.

Great popularity (1980s)[link]

By 1985, Erma Bombeck's three weekly columns were being published by 900 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, and were also being anthologized into a series of best-selling books. She was also making twice-weekly Good Morning America appearances. Bombeck belonged to the American Academy of Humor Columnists, along with other famous personalities. During the 1980s, Bombeck's annual earnings ranged from $500,000 to $1 million a year.

Death[link]

Erma Bombeck had been diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (a congenital defect) when she was 20 years old, but managed to live most of her life without any problems from it. She had a mastectomy in 1992 after being diagnosed with breast cancer and in 1996, she was brought to a San Francisco hospital for a kidney transplant, which was performed on April 3, 1996. However, complications developed and she died on April 22, 1996, aged 69. Her remains are interred in the Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio, under a large rock from the Phoenix desert.

Books[link]

• At Wit's End, Doubleday, 1967.
• Just Wait Until You Have Children of Your Own, Doubleday, 1971. Written with Bil Keane.
• I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression, Doubleday, 1974.
• The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, McGraw-Hill, 1976.
• If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?, McGraw-Hill, 1978.
• Aunt Erma's Cope Book, McGraw-Hill, 1979.
• Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession, 1983.
• Family — The Ties that Bind ... and Gag!, 1987.
• I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise: Children Surviving Cancer, 1989. American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor in 1990. (Profits from the publication of this book were donated to a group of health-related organizations.)
• When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home, 1991.
• A Marriage Made in Heaven ... or Too Tired For an Affair, 1993
• All I Know About Animal Behavior I learned in Loehmann's Dressing Room, ISBN 0060177888 HarperCollins 1995
• Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing From America's Favorite Humorist

Quotes[link]

• "Insanity is hereditary. You can catch it from your kids."
• "My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint."
• "There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child."
• "If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead."
• "Mothers-in-law who wear a black armband to the wedding are expendable."
• "The only reason I would take up jogging is so I could hear heavy breathing again."
• "Ironed Sheets are a health hazard."
• "Laughter rises out of tragedy, when you need it the most, and rewards you for your courage."
• "Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely."
• "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'"
• "In general, my children refused to eat anything that hadn't danced on TV."
• "When humor goes, there goes civilization."
• "Seize the moment. Think of all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart."
• "Never loan your car to anyone to whom you've given birth."
• "The grass is always greener over the septic tank."
• "A child needs your love more when he deserves it least."
• "There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt."
• "It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else."
• "If you can laugh at it, you can live with it."
• "I told you I was sick." (She requested this to be her epitaph.)

References[link]

• Erma in Bomburbia. Time Magazine cover story. (1984)
• Full Biography of Dayton University
• Encarta Encyclopedia (Archived 2009-10-31)

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Erma Bombeck

• Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop
• Erma Bombeck Online Museum
• Erma Bombeck Writing Competition

Jeanne Robertson or Jeanne Swanner Robertson is a nationally recognized humorist and professional speaker. In 1963, at age 18, she was named Miss North Carolina. Robertson credits her reign as the catalyst for her career.^[1] Her anecdotes can be heard daily on XM Radio's Channel 96, Laugh USA and Sirius Radio's Blue Collar Comedy channel 103 (XM 97) and Laugh Break channel 105. She bases her humor on real-life situations.^[2]

References[link]

1. ^ "Meet Jeanne Robertson — North Carolina Public Radio WUNC". wunc.org. http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot1214abc09.mp3/view. Retrieved 2010-02-15. 
2. ^ "Want to help people in Haiti but don't know how? Here are some options". thetimesnews.com. http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/span-31684-family-arial.html. Retrieved 2010-02-15. 

External links[link]

• Official Website

This article about an American comedian is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Calvin Trillin
Born	(1935-12-05) December 5, 1935 (age 76) Kansas City, Missouri
Nationality	American

Calvin Marshall Trillin (born December 5, 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist.^[1]

Biography[link]

Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and was a member of Scroll and Key before graduating in 1957; he later served as a Fellow of the University. After a stint in the U.S. Army, he worked as a reporter for Time magazine before joining the staff of The New Yorker in 1963.^[2] His reporting for The New Yorker on the racial integration of the University of Georgia was published in his first book, An Education in Georgia. He wrote the magazine’s U.S. Journal series from 1967 to 1982, covering local events both serious and quirky throughout the United States.

He has also written for The Nation magazine. He began in 1978 with a column called Variations, which was eventually renamed Uncivil Liberties and ran through 1985. The same name – Uncivil Liberties – was used for the column when it was syndicated weekly in newspapers, from 1986 to 1995. Essentially the same column then ran without a name in Time magazine from 1996 to 2001. His humor columns for The Nation often made fun of the editor of the time, Victor Navasky, whom he jokingly referred to as the wily and parsimonious Navasky. From the July 2, 1990, issue of The Nation to today, Trillin has written his weekly "Deadline Poet" column – humorous poems about current events. Trillin has written considerably more pieces for The Nation than any other single person.

Family, travel and food are also themes in Trillin's work. Three of his books American Fried; Alice, Let's Eat; and Third Helpings; were individually published and are also collected in the 1994 compendium The Tummy Trilogy. In 1965, he married the educator and writer Alice Stewart Trillin with whom he had two daughters. Alice died in 2001. The most autobiographical of his works are Messages from My Father, Family Man, and an essay in the March 27, 2006, New Yorker, "Alice, Off the Page", discussing his late wife. A slightly expanded version of the latter essay, entitled About Alice, was published as a book on December 26, 2006. In Messages from My Father, Trillin recounts how his father always expected his son to be a Jew, but had primarily "raised me to be an American".^[3]

He has also written a collection of short stories – Barnett Frummer Is An Unbloomed Flower (1969) – and three comic novels, Runestruck (1977), Floater (1980), and Tepper Isn’t Going Out (2001). This last novel is about a man who enjoys parking in New York City for its own sake and is unusual among novels for exploring the subject of parking.

In 2008, The Library of America selected the essay Stranger with a Camera for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American True Crime.

Trillin lives in the Greenwich Village area of New York City.

Bibliography[link]

Incomplete - to be updated

Books[link]

(Nonfiction unless otherwise noted)

• An Education in Georgia: Charlayne Hunter, Hamilton Holmes, and the Integration of the University of Georgia (1964)
• Barnett Frummer is an Unbloomed Flower (short stories, 1969),
• U.S. Journal (1971)
• American Fried: Adventures of a Happy Eater (1974)
• Runestruck (novel, 1977)
• Alice, Let’s Eat: Further Adventures of a Happy Eater (1978)
• Floater (novel, 1980)
• Uncivil Liberties (1982)
• Third Helpings (1983)
• Killings (1984)
• With All Disrespect (1985)
• If You Can’t Say Something Nice (1987)
• Travels with Alice (1989)
• Enough’s Enough (and Other Rules of Life) (1990)
• American Stories (1991)
• Remembering Denny (1993)
• Deadline Poet: My Life as a Doggerelist (comic verse with commentary, 1994)
• Too Soon to Tell (1995)
• Messages From My Father (1996)
• Family Man (1998)
• Tepper Isn’t Going Out (novel, 2001)
• Feeding a Yen (2003)
• Obliviously on He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme (comic verse with commentary, 2004)
• A Heckuva Job: More of the Bush Administration in Rhyme (comic verse with commentary, 2006)
• About Alice (2006)
• Deciding The Next Decider: The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme (comic verse with commentary, 2008)
• "Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin" (2011) ISBN 978-1-4000-6982-8

Articles[link]

• Trillin, Calvin (24 November 2008). "Dept. of Gastronomy: By Meat Alone". The New Yorker 84 (38): 64–69. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/24/081124fa_fact_trillin. Retrieved 16 April 2009.  "The best Texas BBQ in the world."

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2010)

External links[link]

• Column archive at The Nation
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Calvin Trillin on Charlie Rose
• Calvin Trillin at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Calvin Trillin in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Calvin Trillin collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Calvin Trillin at the Notable Names Database
• "Calvin Trillin, The Art of Humor No. 3". George Plimpton. Fall 1995. http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1552/the-art-of-humor-no-3-calvin-trillin. 
• Alex Altman (December 1, 2008). "Q & A Calvin Trillin". Time. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1862862,00.html. 
• "Calvin Trillin Is Going Out — to Eat (Again)", Dave Weich, Powells.com
• Strolling and Snacking with Calvin Trillin The New York Times
• "The Salon Interview: Calvin Trillin"

Ernie Manouse (born September 1, 1969 in Binghamton, New York) is an American television host, radio personality, writer and producer. He currently hosts the interview show InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse, produced by HoustonPBS. His work with HoustonPBS has met critical acclaim in the southern United States, earning him numerous KATIE awards and regional Emmy Awards ^[1][2]

Early life[link]

Manouse was born Ernest David Manouse in Binghamton, New York. He is of Greek descent. He attended Loyola University Chicago and studied to be a music video director. While in college, he guest-hosted Outlook, a Chicago-based radio show, with a classmate. Their radio presentation received such a positive reaction that Outlook hired them permanently.^[1]

Career[link]

Manouse began his career in television with NBC Network News, then moved into radio withWLS and WLUW in Chicago, and then back to TV at HoustonPBS. Ernie has since worked his way through many aspects of talk shows – from producing sex therapy call-in radio shows Sex Talk and The Phyllis Levy Show to hosting his own brand of chat and magazine programs.^[1] He can also be seen on PBS Stations across the country hosting numerous pledge and entertainment specials, including three of public television’s most successful pledge events with financial guru Suze Orman.

In 1996, Ernie moved to Houston, Texas and spent six years hosting and producing the daily magazine program WeekNight Edition which evolved into WeekDAY and became Houston’s most celebrated local television program, earning multiple Emmy and Houston Press Club awards. Manouse shared with Matthew Brawley the 2006 Katie Award for "Outstanding Interview/Talk Show" for the Southern region.^[3] In October 2002, Manouse helped to create and produce the local prime time magazine show The Connection, which he hosted for two years.^[4] In 2004, Manouse launched the syndicated series InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse.^[5] This award winning series is distributed nationally to PBS stations across the country, and airs in more than 100 cities in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands.^[4] The show features Manouse in unedited, one-on-one interviews with noted personalities such as Patti LuPone and Jamie Foxx. Manouse thoroughly researches his guests before interviewing them, and arranges an informal setting to encourage spontaneous discussion.^[1] Another area of broadcasting that Manouse has explored is late night talk, and on February 9, 2005, Manouse launched The After Party, combining arts coverage and light-hearted interviews reminiscent of Johnny Carson and Jack Parr.^[6] The show received positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike, garnering the coveted Emmy nomination for "Best Entertainment/Variety program" in its first season. The program ended its run on November 15, 2006 after over 50 episodes.

In 2006, Manouse produced and anchored A Conversation on RACE for HoustonPBS. He also produced the political Red, White & Blue and moderated the 2002 Houston Mayoral Debates, the 2008 Texas Supreme Court Judicial Debate, and the 2008 Texas US Senate Debate. In 2009, Manouse became the anchor and producer of Houston 8, a weekly current events discussion series. He also hosted the 2009 HoustonPBS Spelling Bee, the largest regional qualifying spelling bee for the national Scripps Spelling Bee.^[1]

After seven nominations for the Lone Star (Texas) regional chapter of the Emmy Awards, Manouse won three Emmys in 2009. He won for Best Information Series and Best On-Air Talent. He also won an Emmy for his work on the Houston Spelling Bee in the category of Best Event Coverage.^[7] Manouse is also a voice actor. He has done the English voiceovers for over a dozen Japanese anime videos produced by ADV Films including Gilgamesh, Le Chevalier D'Eon and Cromartie High School.^[2]

Community involvement[link]

Manouse is an active member of the Houston LGBT community. Manouse has hosted community events such as the U.S. Military Ball, and The Cattle Baron’s Ball. He serves on the advisory board of both Stages Repertory Theatre and Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. He served as Vice President of Public Affairs for the Greater Houston United Services Organization (USO).^[1] He was also vice president of the Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Ernie Manouse". Houston ARCH. http://houstonarch.pbworks.com/Ernie-Manouse. Retrieved 2010-05-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "IMDB". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1966471/. Retrieved 2010-05-11. 
3. ^ 2006 Katie Award: Press Club of Dallas (2006-11-19). "Winners of the 2006 Katie Awards" (PDF). Press release. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
4. ^ ^{a b} "HoustonPBS". http://www.houstonpbs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=con_innerviews_ernie. Retrieved 2010-02-25. 
5. ^ HoustonPBS (January 2004). "InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse" (MS-Word). Press release. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
6. ^ HoustonPBS (January 2005). "The After Party" (PDF). Press release. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
7. ^ http://www.lonestaremmy.org/_archives/2009_winners.php

External links[link]

• [1] USO Houston
• [2] InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse
• [3] Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
• [4] Ernie Manouse's website