From a comedian and host of a hit TED podcast, a hilarious and enlightening guide to laughing your way into a fuller life

Fourteen years ago, when Chris Duffy was an exhausted fifth-grade teacher, he taught the funniest person he’s ever met: eleven-year-old Gary. Gary was the school newspaper’s official food critic, blasting cafeteria pizza for looking like cardboard and opining that the baked beans weren’t “beany” enough. These days, Duffy is a stand-up comedian and the host of a podcast with millions of listeners, but he’s never forgotten the joy of laughing with Gary during a bleak Boston winter. Gary taught him that life without a sense of humor isn’t much of a life at all.

But Humor Me is more than just the story of a tired New England man learning life lessons from a highly opinionated child. It’s a journey to find what it means to have a sense of humor in a world that often feels profoundly unfunny. How (and why) do we laugh when there’s so much pain and suffering? Duffy finds insights about the underrated importance of humor everywhere from comedy clubs to emergency rooms to a helicopter full of Navy SEALs.

Duffy employs his trademark curiosity and wit to learn how a good laugh can bring us all closer to the good life. Humor Me is packed with strategies for a life filled with laughter, deep friendship, and meaning, and is a genuinely funny read along the way. Much like a dish of cafeteria beans, this book is an experience you’ll be thinking about for years afterward.