Classics being funny can seem a little impossible, right? After all, they’re all serious literature, and there’s no room for humor in those old, stuffy books. But if you believe that, you’d be wrong. Classics can be incredibly funny. Most of them, in fact, are in some way or at least in some measure.
But if you want only the funniest classics, those that will make you laugh out loud (or at the very least chortle), these will suit your tastes. Expect romance, absurdity, and so much more.
Emma by Jane Austen
“I don’t approve of surprises. The pleasure is never enhanced and the inconvenience is considerable.”
Jane Austen is famous for her romance and social commentary, but the truth is that all of her books are funny, and this one especially. Emma follows Emma Woodhouse, a wealthy and confident young woman who enjoys matchmaking her friends and acquaintances. Convinced of her own skill at understanding romance, Emma repeatedly interferes in the love lives of others, often misunderstanding their feelings and creating unintended complications. As her matchmaking schemes go awry, Emma is forced to confront her own feelings and learn to recognize the difference between imagination and reality.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
“How you can sit there, calmly eating muffins when we are in this horrible trouble, I can’t make out. You seem to me to be perfectly heartless.”
“Well, I can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs. One should always eat muffins quite calmly. It is the only way to eat them.”
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is a witty comedy about two men, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, who invent false identities to escape their social responsibilities and pursue romance. Their deceptions become increasingly complicated when both become entangled with women who insist on marrying a man named Ernest.
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
“If a man’s character is to be abused, say what you will, there’s nobody like a relative to do the business.”
This is the story of the ambitious and clever Becky Sharp as she navigates the social world of 19th-century England. Determined to rise above her modest upbringing, Becky uses charm, intelligence, and manipulation to pursue wealth and status, while her kind-hearted friend Amelia Sedley takes a very different path through love, loss, and marriage.
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
“I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”
Meet the affable but hapless Bertie Wooster as he becomes caught up in a series of increasingly ridiculous schemes involving romance, family feuds, stolen silverware, and a blackmailing aunt. With the ever-resourceful Jeeves at his side, Bertie must navigate the demands of his formidable Aunt Dahlia while trying to help his friends. Full of misunderstandings, witty dialogue, and comic disasters, it is one of Wodehouse’s classic Jeeves and Wooster adventures.
Erasure by Percival Everett
“Perhaps if I had written in the time immediately following Reconstruction, I would have written to elevate the station of my fellow oppressed. But the irony was beautiful. I was a victim of racism by virtue of my failing to acknowledge racial difference and by failing to have my art be defined as an exercise in racial self-expression.”
This book is kind of a mix between satire and a family saga, so parts of it are funny while parts are very sad. It’s more of a modern classic as well, but so worth reading for the themes it explores. So, we follow a man named Thelonious Ellison whose books are not selling because his voice is not “Black enough” so he writes a satire, a parody of the experience white people expect Black people to have, and it does incredibly well. Ellison’s resentment just grows at this, because it’s his inauthentic experience that’s successful.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
“You could tell by the way he talked, though, that he had gone to school a long time. That was probably what was wrong with him.”
In this book, you’ll meet Ignatius J. Reilly, an eccentric, lazy, and highly opinionated young man who lives with his mother in New Orleans. After being forced to find a job, Ignatius becomes involved in a series of bizarre schemes and encounters with the city’s equally eccentric characters. This novel pokes fun at work, society, class, and Ignatius’s own inflated sense of superiority.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
“The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likable. In three days no one could stand him.”
This is the story of an American bombardier stationed on a Mediterranean island during World War II who desperately wants to survive the war. However, a military rule known as “Catch-22” traps him in a paradox: anyone who asks to be relieved from dangerous missions because they are insane demonstrates rational concern for their own safety and therefore cannot be considered insane.
Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
“Actually, I do happen to resemble a hallucination. Kindly note my silhouette in the moonlight.” The cat climbed into the shaft of moonlight and wanted to keep talking but was asked to be quiet. “Very well, I shall be silent,” he replied, “I shall be a silent hallucination.”
I adore this book with all my heart! I got a copy for my birthday a few years ago from my husband and it will always be one of my favorite books. The Devil and his bizarre entourage arrive in Soviet Moscow, causing chaos and exposing the hypocrisy of the people around them. Alongside this strange story is the tale of Margarita, a devoted woman who makes a supernatural bargain to reunite with the man she loves, the troubled Master. The novel also features a parallel story about Pontius Pilate and explores love, freedom, morality, faith, and the nature of good and evil.
Final Thoughts
I hope you have found a classic to make you laugh. If not, drop a comment below and I’ll do my best to give you a recommendation you’ll enjoy. And if you prefer to browse on your own, here are some pages you can visit for more great options:
- If you’re relatively new to classics, you should check out some of these easy-to-read classic books.
- If you prefer your books romantic and swoony, try some classics with romance.
- And if you’re still not sure where to start, maybe you can check out my guide to getting started with classics.
What’s your favorite funny classic? Let me know in the comments!
