During the last 11 months, a stack of books came out to make us all laugh out loud in the face of an ever-depressing worldscape. Here we pick a handful of chuckle-worthy publications which you probably shouldn't take on a long journey aboard a packed train

Taskmaster – Alex Horne

Spawned at the Edinburgh Fringe of 2010, Alex Horne's Taskmaster has grown many arms and legs, with seven series on TV now followed by this hardback version. It's the ideal thing for that slow-moving Yuletide party with tasks such as stretching something the furthest, making words featuring the letters on the nearest car registration plate, and turning something upside down that normally wouldn't go that way.
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The Guilty Feminist – Deborah Frances-White

From the hit podcast soon to be a live show, Deborah Frances-White's book version of The Guilty Feminist has chapters which all begin with the phrase 'I'm a feminist, but … ' offering numerous examples where noble intentions falter when set against the challenges of everyday life. Among the topics raised are make-up, rape fantasies, catcalling, manspreading, and 'bridezillas'.
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I'm a Joke and So Are You – Robin Ince

Mates with top scientists and probably the most bookish stand-up in British comedy, Robin Ince has distilled much of his thinking into a publication that's ostensibly about comedy (it was triggered by the death of Robin Williams in 2014), but is ultimately about so much more. Such as the way our identities are formed through daydreaming, anxiety and imposter syndrome, and how we use humour to handle grief.
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Best Foot Forward – Adam Hills

Adam Hills aka The Official Nicest Man in Comedy has delivered his memoir, featuring stories of growing up in the suburbs of Sydney listening to recordings of Billy Connolly, Peter Sellers and Kenny Everett, his first gigs at the Sydney Comedy Store, and an unfortunate incident in a children's ward. Plus, he passes on free advice to anyone wishing to make it in the comedy world. What a nice man.
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The Story of Brexit – Jason Hazeley & Joel Morris

The guys behind those spectacular adult Ladybird books (The Hipster, The Shed, The Do-Gooder and so on) put together a non-partisan volume about the B-word after coming under intense pressure from their fans for such a work. Sadly, this is the penultimate book in the series with the swansong collection The Wonderful World of Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups just out in time for Christmas.
Buy The Story of Brexit on Amazon