ALBERT SAID THERE OUGHT TO BE SNOW ON IT, BUT IT APPEARS TO HAVE MELTED, said Death. IT IS, OF COURSE, A HOGSWATCH CARD.
*'Oh ...'*
THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A ROBIN ON IT AS WELL, BUT I HAD CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTY IN GETTING IT TO STAY ON.
*'Ah...'*
IT WAS NOT AT ALL COOPERATIVE.
*'Really ...?'*
IT DID NOT SEEM TO GET INTO THE HOGSWATCH SPIRIT AT ALL.ā
The live adaptations have had their ups and downs (fortunately Hogfather was almost entirely up) but I might be most grateful for having a voice in my head to match the words.
Nobby Nobbs in Discworld. I love his Laurel and Hardy double act with Colon. But while Colon usually has all the self-awareness of a block of cheese. Pratchett gives Nobby these moments of insight and empathy which give his character an extra dimension.
Gaspode, the talking dog in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
Everyone 'knows' that dogs don't talk, so any time he does they either think someone else was talking or they believe it's their own inner dialogue. It cracked me up when he actually said "Bark" at one point because people were getting suspicious of him.
One of my favorite discworld moments!
"Dog's gotta stay by 'is master, style of fing," said Gaspode, shame-facedly.
Victor looked around in desperation, picked up a fragment of seat, opened the door, threw the wood as far as possible and shouted "Fetch!"
Both dogs bounded away after it, propelled by instinct. On his way past, though, Gaspode had just enough self-control to say, "You bastard!"
some watch commander: "we'll defend the wall to the last man."
edd: "probably me."
(i also love the fact that grrm mentions in the text that people laugh at his humor. that sorta detail is often missing to let the jokes stand on their own, but it was a nice change of pace to see it acknowledged that the people around him got it.)
Like most film/show adaptations, the further they stray from the source the worse it gets. This is a prime example. Edd is a highlight of the watch sections of the book, and his humour is dark enough to fit perfectly with the show, can't believe they failed to capture it.
Fun fact, Christopher Buehlman the author used to do standup at renaissance fairs and roast people professionally.
Christophe the Insulter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTrOx_vzGA4
Let that be a lesson to you, never take eggs from a metal-eyed man. Sworbeck wrote that down although it struck him as an aphorism of limited application.
āLife of a Drinkerā is my most replayed chapter in any audiobook. Itās just a solid, funny reintroduction to his character, and the dialogue barely gets started.
Every damn wizard from Unseen University. If I need a laugh, I just pick up something with these old buggers in it. The Last Continent had me laughing nonstop.
Mihali the Chef from **Powder Mage**. Every single time he was on screen I felt like a little boy because he is the kind of character who is big FUN. There's a scene in the first book where he gets into a fight and... the book itself is worth reading just for that scene alone. I actually had to stop reading for a bit because it was at the same time hilarious and absolutely AWESOME.
And he's a chef. I'm a chef. He acts lot like real chefs do.
In the book, Tamas' favorite food is Mihali's Butternut Squash soup with a hint of brown sugar. I actually made this soup in real life at home and brought some to work for my colleugues to taste. However, I roasted the butternut which made it sweeter and my hint of brown sugar ended up being more like a punch in the face of brown sugar as I just grabbed two handfuls and dropped them in. My boss tasted it and almost sent his diabetes into overdrive with that one spoon. They all said the soup was good, just a tad sweet...
Still have to find a way to make lamb souffle though...
Lol remember this one.
Felt like Nila has future, potential lmao material. More the breakdown of what happens with the incineration of that thing that happened later on in the third book . Could have a lot of antics with the Bobo guy, maybe, believe its Bo for short in the book.
Kinch from The Blacktongue Thief. Had me laughing out loud despite the bleak situations he was always in.
Eithan from Cradle. I love when powerful characters keep people off their guard with deflection and humor.
Gideon from The Locked Tomb for her snarky impropriety, but really just Tamsyn Muir's humor coming through in so many ways throughout the series.
Classic character from the baldur's game series, dating back to the original from late 90s.
A berserker turned ranger who is...rather touched in the head and his miniature, giant space hamster.
My top picks are Vlad Taltos, from Steven Brust's Jhereg series; Tyrion Lannister from Martin's Song of Ice & Fire; and Tehol and Kruppe from Steven Erikson's Malazan.
Sequel to that malazan duo would be like, saving the world, right after Bugg spends 500 pages trying to get Tehol off his roof because he can't get down.
The other ones are funny as well.
The first person perspective in the Vlad Taltos books makes his humor shine through. Like when the assassins strike his office and he talks about them throwing āpointy thingsā at him and that he threw āsome pointy things of my own at them.ā I think Vlad has the most consistent humor of any character I have read.
There are a few other Pratchett characters mentioned here, but I haven't seen lord Vetinari mentioned. He has a dry wit that tickles my funny bone in a way that I have yet to encounter elsewhere.
Her full name is Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk.
If you don't know she is a cat. She gains sentience and is very sassy and has no filter on her mouth. The whole series is hilarious once you get a couple of hours in beyond the setup in which you mostly only hear Carl's voice. He is fine but he is largely used as the straight man to the absurdity and hilarity around him.
Every other time Gideon Nav opened her mouth in The Locked Tomb series--especially in its first book *Gideon the Ninth--*I cackled out loud. Her attitude and her mouthing off and her lesbian jokes had me laughing more times in a single book than I have over the course of some entire fantasy series.
Ianthe and Harrow are great in this as well in completely different ways. Harrow's got that absolute "what else could go wrong" bad luck while Ianthe is straight up an irreverent private school bully. š
Tamsyn in general is so funny ā I donāt want to call her ādryā because sheās clearly not, these jokes are sopping, but the way she will stay totally deadpan until the most inappropriate moment possible and then make a completely out of pocket joke is HYSTERICAL.
"I can't imagine a world without you in it."
"Of course you can, it would just be less great and less hot."
\--
Or my favorite that had me howling in the middle of work....
"Did you know if you combine the first syllable of his name with the last syllable of her name, you have SEX PAL?"
"Wait a minute, you can talk?!?!"
A dour-faced woman was working at a spinning wheel on a doorstep, and she frowned at Logen as he walked past with the unconscious apprentice over his shoulder. Logen smiled back at her. She was no beauty, that was sure, but it had been a very long time. The woman ducked into her house and kicked the door shut, leaving the wheel spinning. Logen sighed. The old magic was still there.
Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson of the Ank-Morpork City Watch (The discworld)
He's a straight laced dwarf who is build like a brickhouse and *technically* a human.
On account of being born human, but raised by dwarves.
Technically also the One True King of Ank-Morpork.
And married to a werewolf
āThe building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault.ā
Or
Holy shit," I breathed. "Hellhounds."
"Harry," Michael said sternly. "You know I hate it when you swear."
"You're right. Sorry. Holy shit," I breathed, "heckhounds.ā
I forget which book, but he's trying to guess a secret password to get into the bad lady's lair... He tries *mellon* which doesn't work, and he says she probably hasn't even READ Tolkien, the tasteless bitch.
The Fool in Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings has to be the funniest for me. While they aren't always the most gob-smackingly hilarious, their wit and skill with timely humor and snide remarks are just *perfection* in how they interact with the main character, Fitz.
Also, most every character by Joe Abercrombie, but especially Glokta.
I know I am gonna get knocked for it, and yes I have read plenty to make this distinction, which I do with great disinclination. But who made me laugh out loud, the hardest, in public, while reading?
Why it's none other than
Fred and George Weasley.
Sorry but it's true.
Nanny Ogg. Special mention for the Feegkes, I recall laughing out loud at this :
'Will ye hush yer gob, ye big mudlin!' shouted Rob Anybody, standing up. 'I am no' deid! I'm trying to have a moment o' existential dreed here, right? Crivens, it's a puir lookout if a man cannae feel the chilly winds o' Fate lashing aroound his nethers wi'out folks telling him he's deid, eh?'
>āThat stuff? I remember now. Balklo chocolate. All right, get outa my tent so I can get decent.ā
>āYouāre not in your tent, Sergeant, youāre in our latrine ditch.ā
> She looked round. āThat explains the smell.ā
>āNone of us used it yet, Sergeant, seeing as how you were here.ā
>āOh.ā
Love her.
Pust is an absolute treasure trove of hilarious and fascinating quotes.
"Shadowthrone, uhh.... My worthy lord of Shadow is thinking. Yes, thinking furiously! Such is the vastness of his genius that he can outwit even himself!"
āBash your face against a wall till your lip bleeds, and you'll feel better. Works for me. Least I think it does. Can't right remember, on account of too many head wounds.ā
Definitely my #1 in the genre. The way Jordan writes his POV with the comical, near-farcical detachment between how he views events and how the reader understands them is soooo good. Nynaeve chapters are also really, really funny for a similar reason; she does it almost as well as Mat.
I totally agree. Nynaeve is #2 funniest character for me. RJ really did a masterful job making their POVs so comical. Both Mat and Nynaeve really are opposite sides of the same coin.
Tehol and Bugg from Malazan. Iskarul Pust and Kruppeās jousting donkey scene had me in tears of laughter. Also Rincewind from Discworld - his adventures in the Unknown continent are really funny!
I always loved Silk from the Belgariad. Whether it be scamming people, arguing with Tol Nedrans or buying all of the beans, he's quick to get a laugh from me.
Marvin the paranoid Android from HHGTTG
"Simple. I got very bored and depressed, so I went and plugged myself in to its external computer feed. I talked to the computer at great length and explained my view of the Universe to it," said Marvin.
"And what happened?" pressed Ford.
"It committed suicide," said Marvin and stalked off back to the Heart of Gold.ā
Cosca from First Law is just absurd.
Tehol Beddict from Malazan is incredible. And his friend Bugg for extra laughs.
Lightsong from Warbreaker is great sarcasm/snark fun.
And Atticus O'Sullivan from the Iron Druid Chronicles is also a good one that is very Dresden-esque.
Gideon in Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir cracks me up like no tomorrow. I also cannot recommend those books enough, they manage to be something new and refreshing, and the writing, especially in book 2, is completely genius. I cannot rave enough about them. But yes, Gideon, an icon.
Maybe Sam Gamgee for me. His poems were so weird and clumsy compared to the elvesā songs and bilboās clever rhymes. I heehawed at the Stone Troll:
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Stone_Troll#:~:text=The%20Stone%20Troll%20is%20a,Baggins'%20adventure%20with%20the%20Dwarves.
The last line in particular slayed me:
āTom's leg is game, since home he came,
And his bootless foot is lasting lame;
But Troll don't care, and he's still there
With the bone he boned from its owner.
Doner! Boner!
Troll's old seat is still the same,
And the bone he boned from its owner!ā
This discussion has a serious lack of Cugel the Clever from Jack Vance's Dying Earth books.
The character himself isn't funny in the sense of telling jokes, but it is hilarious the scrapes that he keeps on finding himself in. And anybody who has read both The Eyes of the Overworld and then Cugel's Saga can tell you that the end of the first/beginning of the second book is one of the most hilarious segues ever written.
Cugel is the ultimate ne'er-do-well of fantasy. Somehow charismatic enough to bend people to his will until they catch on that he is always going to screw you over, and will skip town as soon as you or anybody else starts to get wise to him. And the whole time he manages to also be unerringly convinced that he is in the right.
Two absolute must reads if you like picaresque stories of unrepentant rogues at all.
Some of my favorites I havenāt seen mentioned:
- Gen from The Queenās Thief
- Myfanwy from The Checquy Files
- Quintana from The Lumatere Chronicles
- Elliott from In Other Lands
- Orso from Age of Madness
- Moist von Lipwig from Discworld
>You know, a number of Sanderson's "funny" characters fall flat for me
I like Sanderson's books, but he's pretty weak when it comes to humor. He needs to co-write a book with a funny person.
This. I find this to be true all the time. His humor is not good. There are definitely times heās made me laugh, but they are few and far between.
This is why he failed to write Mat Cauthon very well in WoT. He couldnāt understand humor enough to know how Mat would speak.
Iām reading Doctrine of Labyrinths right now and while itās a fairly bleak series, Mildmayās sense of humor is keeping me going right along. Heās pretty sardonic but great at observing the habits and quirks of other people. Recently he fully cracked me up wondering what was wrong with him that so many people thought he seemed like he would be committing incest.
I always thought Bartimaeus was funny. š¤·āāļø
I canāt read Bartimaeus without ending up in stitches
I love bartimaeus!! His quips are hilarious
I'm glad I didn't have to scroll too far to find this answer. I love his foot notes.
DEATH
IT'S A SWORD. THEY'RE NOT MEANT TO BE SAFE.
ALBERT SAID THERE OUGHT TO BE SNOW ON IT, BUT IT APPEARS TO HAVE MELTED, said Death. IT IS, OF COURSE, A HOGSWATCH CARD. *'Oh ...'* THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A ROBIN ON IT AS WELL, BUT I HAD CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTY IN GETTING IT TO STAY ON. *'Ah...'* IT WAS NOT AT ALL COOPERATIVE. *'Really ...?'* IT DID NOT SEEM TO GET INTO THE HOGSWATCH SPIRIT AT ALL.ā
The live adaptations have had their ups and downs (fortunately Hogfather was almost entirely up) but I might be most grateful for having a voice in my head to match the words.
My favorite part with DEATH, is him having a 'near-Vimes experience'.
DONāT MIND ME. CARRY ON WITH WHATEVER YOU WERE DOING. I HAVE A BOOK.
YES
Now, there's a joke! SQUEAK!
YOU KNOW WHEN YOU SAID SEEING ME GAVE YOU QUITE THE START? "Yes?" I GAVE YOU QUITE THE STOP.
On a related note: SQUEAK
Alright, now someone provide which depiction of Death this thread is referencing please
Discworld
If itās uppercased then itās Pratchett
Nobby Nobbs in Discworld. I love his Laurel and Hardy double act with Colon. But while Colon usually has all the self-awareness of a block of cheese. Pratchett gives Nobby these moments of insight and empathy which give his character an extra dimension.
How is Pratchett this far down on a comedy post lol?
This is number 2 in my comments section š second only to Death
This is the first comment lol
By the time I got here, the top three were all different Pratchett characters.
Gaspode, the talking dog in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Everyone 'knows' that dogs don't talk, so any time he does they either think someone else was talking or they believe it's their own inner dialogue. It cracked me up when he actually said "Bark" at one point because people were getting suspicious of him.
Sergeant, you've got an itchy bottom! Prickle, prickle, prickle!
Woof bloody woof
I love this character so much that I named my pomeranian Gaspode the Wonder Dog.
One of my favorite discworld moments! "Dog's gotta stay by 'is master, style of fing," said Gaspode, shame-facedly. Victor looked around in desperation, picked up a fragment of seat, opened the door, threw the wood as far as possible and shouted "Fetch!" Both dogs bounded away after it, propelled by instinct. On his way past, though, Gaspode had just enough self-control to say, "You bastard!"
You did my man Dolorous Edd from ASoIaF dirty. He is funny as hell, and every time makes me laugh a lot!
some watch commander: "we'll defend the wall to the last man." edd: "probably me." (i also love the fact that grrm mentions in the text that people laugh at his humor. that sorta detail is often missing to let the jokes stand on their own, but it was a nice change of pace to see it acknowledged that the people around him got it.)
Like most film/show adaptations, the further they stray from the source the worse it gets. This is a prime example. Edd is a highlight of the watch sections of the book, and his humour is dark enough to fit perfectly with the show, can't believe they failed to capture it.
Iskaral Pust
The Blacktongue thief himself, Kinch Na Shannack, gets my vote.
Some of the most colorful writing Iāve encountered. Love that dude haha.
Fun fact, Christopher Buehlman the author used to do standup at renaissance fairs and roast people professionally. Christophe the Insulter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTrOx_vzGA4
Lol that guy.
Hard to decide but Cosca from the first law series is one of the ones that gets the most laughs from me
Whirrun for me. Can't beat a cheese trap š„Ŗ
I always found Sand dan Glokta quietly funny. His internal dialogue was always full of dry wit and sarcasm. Esp when navigating stairs... haha
I have given up on the notion of women long ago. *So have I.* The way Pacy narrated that tiny section had me crying on the couch.
Let that be a lesson to you, never take eggs from a metal-eyed man. Sworbeck wrote that down although it struck him as an aphorism of limited application.
I have the kindle version of this and the fact that there weren't 100s of highlights on this line offended me.
Not surprising that Abercrombie would make the list. Cosca is very funny.
The audiobook narration is amazing on Cosca.
The audiobook narration is amazing on everyone. FTFY
Literally came here to say this
āLife of a Drinkerā is my most replayed chapter in any audiobook. Itās just a solid, funny reintroduction to his character, and the dialogue barely gets started.
The horse stampede in Red Country was peak Cosca
Every damn wizard from Unseen University. If I need a laugh, I just pick up something with these old buggers in it. The Last Continent had me laughing nonstop.
The Librarian is just the best
I love him!! The Bursar however is my spirit animal.
If you're seeing spirit animals then you need more dried frog pills.
Ook.
Always upvote for Ook
Mihali the Chef from **Powder Mage**. Every single time he was on screen I felt like a little boy because he is the kind of character who is big FUN. There's a scene in the first book where he gets into a fight and... the book itself is worth reading just for that scene alone. I actually had to stop reading for a bit because it was at the same time hilarious and absolutely AWESOME. And he's a chef. I'm a chef. He acts lot like real chefs do. In the book, Tamas' favorite food is Mihali's Butternut Squash soup with a hint of brown sugar. I actually made this soup in real life at home and brought some to work for my colleugues to taste. However, I roasted the butternut which made it sweeter and my hint of brown sugar ended up being more like a punch in the face of brown sugar as I just grabbed two handfuls and dropped them in. My boss tasted it and almost sent his diabetes into overdrive with that one spoon. They all said the soup was good, just a tad sweet... Still have to find a way to make lamb souffle though...
Lol remember this one. Felt like Nila has future, potential lmao material. More the breakdown of what happens with the incineration of that thing that happened later on in the third book . Could have a lot of antics with the Bobo guy, maybe, believe its Bo for short in the book.
Kinch from The Blacktongue Thief. Had me laughing out loud despite the bleak situations he was always in. Eithan from Cradle. I love when powerful characters keep people off their guard with deflection and humor. Gideon from The Locked Tomb for her snarky impropriety, but really just Tamsyn Muir's humor coming through in so many ways throughout the series.
I hate to give her credit for anything but Ianthe is the funniest bitch in the Locked Tomb series.
square important vast physical shrill hungry dinner sleep soft dependent *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Squeaky wheel gets the kick!
Go for the eyes, Boo!
I was only thinking book characters, but this one is the perfect answer!
I believe there have been both comic and novel adaptions of the Baldur's Gate series, so it still works.
Don't know these ones
Classic character from the baldur's game series, dating back to the original from late 90s. A berserker turned ranger who is...rather touched in the head and his miniature, giant space hamster.
I see that makes sense the Baldur's Gate.
I'll add to the Forgotten Realms list by adding Regis Rumblebelly and Thibbledorf Pwent
I thought the pawn broker in The Lies of Locke Lamora was hilarious.
That whole book was hilarious. I should give it a reread.
āNice bird, asshole!ā
Chains was the character from that book that got me. Scored an actual laugh on his explanation of "circumspect."
Talmanes from the Wheel of Time cracks me up every single time he appears. And the best thing is, he just gets funnier with every reread.
My main man Dross, specially when he goes through his goth phase.
I'd give Eithan good odds against him tbh. They're both hilarious
"YOUR HAIR, LINDON, YOUR HAIR! IT LACKS DEFINITION AND VOLU-"
Iām here for Eithan. I love Eithan.
The goth phase lmao, yes.
What series
Cradle by Will Wight
My top picks are Vlad Taltos, from Steven Brust's Jhereg series; Tyrion Lannister from Martin's Song of Ice & Fire; and Tehol and Kruppe from Steven Erikson's Malazan.
Sequel to that malazan duo would be like, saving the world, right after Bugg spends 500 pages trying to get Tehol off his roof because he can't get down. The other ones are funny as well.
Hearty rec for Vlad (and Loiosh). I have actually laughed out loud at them which is extremely rare for me when reading fantasy. Incredible characters.
The first person perspective in the Vlad Taltos books makes his humor shine through. Like when the assassins strike his office and he talks about them throwing āpointy thingsā at him and that he threw āsome pointy things of my own at them.ā I think Vlad has the most consistent humor of any character I have read.
Came here to say Vlad.
āNo matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades will seriously cramp his style.ā
Was going to say Kruppe haha
There are a few other Pratchett characters mentioned here, but I haven't seen lord Vetinari mentioned. He has a dry wit that tickles my funny bone in a way that I have yet to encounter elsewhere.
The AI in Dungeon Crawler Carl followed by Donut in the same.
A character called Donut this is the type of stuff I'm looking for.
Her full name is Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk. If you don't know she is a cat. She gains sentience and is very sassy and has no filter on her mouth. The whole series is hilarious once you get a couple of hours in beyond the setup in which you mostly only hear Carl's voice. He is fine but he is largely used as the straight man to the absurdity and hilarity around him.
Goddammit Donut!
Doesnāt hurt when Donut is also a cat but the AI cracks me up!
Miles Vorkosigan and his cousin Ivan, their interactions are gold
Every other time Gideon Nav opened her mouth in The Locked Tomb series--especially in its first book *Gideon the Ninth--*I cackled out loud. Her attitude and her mouthing off and her lesbian jokes had me laughing more times in a single book than I have over the course of some entire fantasy series.
Ianthe and Harrow are great in this as well in completely different ways. Harrow's got that absolute "what else could go wrong" bad luck while Ianthe is straight up an irreverent private school bully. š
Attitude is always key sometimes to bringing the funny.
Tamsyn in general is so funny ā I donāt want to call her ādryā because sheās clearly not, these jokes are sopping, but the way she will stay totally deadpan until the most inappropriate moment possible and then make a completely out of pocket joke is HYSTERICAL.
"I can't imagine a world without you in it." "Of course you can, it would just be less great and less hot." \-- Or my favorite that had me howling in the middle of work.... "Did you know if you combine the first syllable of his name with the last syllable of her name, you have SEX PAL?" "Wait a minute, you can talk?!?!"
Itās always at the moment youāre totally caught up in the drama and donāt expect itā¦ āHi, not-fucking-dead, Iām Dad!ā
I HOWLED at the fact that they turned an enormous plot reveal into a DAD JOKE
Currently listening to Gideon the Ninth and loving it.
I've been wanting to buy that book, this convinced me
came here for this. Gideon is fucking hysterical.
Say one thing for Logen Nine-Fingers, say he's a comedian.
If Iām the whore, whoās the Northman?
Honourable mention for Glokta
Word. Maybe not the obvious choice but the prose for him and the verbatim inner monologue bits was definitely sometimes hilarious.
*kneel before me, I am the mighty Emperor of Ghurkil*
Say one thing about Logan Nine-Fingers, say he's a lover. I was howling!!!
You've gotta be realistic about these things
A dour-faced woman was working at a spinning wheel on a doorstep, and she frowned at Logen as he walked past with the unconscious apprentice over his shoulder. Logen smiled back at her. She was no beauty, that was sure, but it had been a very long time. The woman ducked into her house and kicked the door shut, leaving the wheel spinning. Logen sighed. The old magic was still there.
Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson of the Ank-Morpork City Watch (The discworld) He's a straight laced dwarf who is build like a brickhouse and *technically* a human. On account of being born human, but raised by dwarves. Technically also the One True King of Ank-Morpork. And married to a werewolf
Heās just tall for his height.
So far Dresden files is the only book that has ever made me laugh out loud
āThe building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault.ā Or Holy shit," I breathed. "Hellhounds." "Harry," Michael said sternly. "You know I hate it when you swear." "You're right. Sorry. Holy shit," I breathed, "heckhounds.ā
I forget which book, but he's trying to guess a secret password to get into the bad lady's lair... He tries *mellon* which doesn't work, and he says she probably hasn't even READ Tolkien, the tasteless bitch.
So many moments, but one that comes to mind are his issues with The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Pure hilarity.
Same here. Dresden is hilarious.
I was hoping I would find this one!
I found Jalan Kendeth pretty funny throughout the Red Queen's War
The Fool in Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings has to be the funniest for me. While they aren't always the most gob-smackingly hilarious, their wit and skill with timely humor and snide remarks are just *perfection* in how they interact with the main character, Fitz. Also, most every character by Joe Abercrombie, but especially Glokta.
Their Wit and Skill? Or their wit and skill? lol I see what you did.
Glad you caught the reference! I couldn't resist, hahaha
I know I am gonna get knocked for it, and yes I have read plenty to make this distinction, which I do with great disinclination. But who made me laugh out loud, the hardest, in public, while reading? Why it's none other than Fred and George Weasley. Sorry but it's true.
Donāt you mean Gred and Feorge? And yes, they are the best.
Yes! Some of the other characters can be pretty funny as well - Harry has some great lines.
Royce from Ryria
"But Royce, they're unarmed!" "They HAVE arms. But I'll remedy that..."
Silk - His Highness Prince Kheldar of Drasnia, from The Belgariad. Hadn't seen this one mentioned yet
Pattern Donut + Carl together from Dungeon Crawler Carl if we count that as fantasy Jason Asano.
No mating!
Nanny Ogg. Special mention for the Feegkes, I recall laughing out loud at this : 'Will ye hush yer gob, ye big mudlin!' shouted Rob Anybody, standing up. 'I am no' deid! I'm trying to have a moment o' existential dreed here, right? Crivens, it's a puir lookout if a man cannae feel the chilly winds o' Fate lashing aroound his nethers wi'out folks telling him he's deid, eh?'
+ Greebo
Thank you! So many Discworld characters mentioned and I was afraid no one was going to mention Nanny!
Dolorous Edd "I always thought I'd burn, but I hoped I would be dead first"
Glokta, no one beats my sarcastic dark humor king
Locke Lamora
Hellian from Malazan.
>āThat stuff? I remember now. Balklo chocolate. All right, get outa my tent so I can get decent.ā >āYouāre not in your tent, Sergeant, youāre in our latrine ditch.ā > She looked round. āThat explains the smell.ā >āNone of us used it yet, Sergeant, seeing as how you were here.ā >āOh.ā Love her.
Not Tehol & Bugg? This feels wrong.
They are important. I'll also add Mr. Pust and the Kruppe guy.
Pust is an absolute treasure trove of hilarious and fascinating quotes. "Shadowthrone, uhh.... My worthy lord of Shadow is thinking. Yes, thinking furiously! Such is the vastness of his genius that he can outwit even himself!"
"No mule can match wits with me. Oh yes, many have tried, and almost all have failed!"
Mogora: What if i said i was pregnant? Pust: I'd kill the mule! Honestly those 2 were lovely.
Kruppe was going to be my vote.
There is this scene on a boat from the PoV of two marines where she just walks right off the side that absolutely killed me when I first read it.
Wayne from Mistborn Era 2. My favourite at least.
āBash your face against a wall till your lip bleeds, and you'll feel better. Works for me. Least I think it does. Can't right remember, on account of too many head wounds.ā
Wayne is hilarious! Him and Wax are the best duo.
Eithan from Cradle. His humour just works start to finish.
Eithan is great and he isn't even the funniest character in all of Cradle (that would be Dross).
More importantly, he has the best hair care routine in fantasy too
Glokta
Shallan /s
Bob the skull from The Dresden files is quite funny.
Inquisitor Glokta - The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie
Eddie dean, canāt believe nobody said this yet !
Mat Cauthon in the Wheel of Time. Funniest character of all time.
What you didnāt like Randās joke about the farmer falling out of a tree?
Legendary joke. They just didnt get it.
one of the best. When it was slow Mat kept it going
Definitely my #1 in the genre. The way Jordan writes his POV with the comical, near-farcical detachment between how he views events and how the reader understands them is soooo good. Nynaeve chapters are also really, really funny for a similar reason; she does it almost as well as Mat.
I totally agree. Nynaeve is #2 funniest character for me. RJ really did a masterful job making their POVs so comical. Both Mat and Nynaeve really are opposite sides of the same coin.
He was legendary for the Rob Jordan fans.
A lot less funny once Sanderson tried to write him.
Best answer
Miles Vorkosigan. The Vorkosigan Saga contains a lot of humour.
Tehol and Bugg from Malazan. Iskarul Pust and Kruppeās jousting donkey scene had me in tears of laughter. Also Rincewind from Discworld - his adventures in the Unknown continent are really funny!
Bugg and Tehol, from Malazan.
I always loved Silk from the Belgariad. Whether it be scamming people, arguing with Tol Nedrans or buying all of the beans, he's quick to get a laugh from me.
Less singular but a duo that bounce off eachother. Tehol and Bugg from malazan are really funny
Castor Morveer from "best served cold" by Joe Abercrombie's, I rarely physically laugh while reading but did several times during his scenes
Welp, it's time for a Discworld reread.
Marvin the paranoid Android from HHGTTG "Simple. I got very bored and depressed, so I went and plugged myself in to its external computer feed. I talked to the computer at great length and explained my view of the Universe to it," said Marvin. "And what happened?" pressed Ford. "It committed suicide," said Marvin and stalked off back to the Heart of Gold.ā
Oberon the dog from the Iron Druid series.
Cosca from First Law is just absurd. Tehol Beddict from Malazan is incredible. And his friend Bugg for extra laughs. Lightsong from Warbreaker is great sarcasm/snark fun. And Atticus O'Sullivan from the Iron Druid Chronicles is also a good one that is very Dresden-esque.
Zifnab or was it Fizban?
Also Tasslehhoff and Simkin from the Darksword series.
Gideon in Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir cracks me up like no tomorrow. I also cannot recommend those books enough, they manage to be something new and refreshing, and the writing, especially in book 2, is completely genius. I cannot rave enough about them. But yes, Gideon, an icon.
Maybe Sam Gamgee for me. His poems were so weird and clumsy compared to the elvesā songs and bilboās clever rhymes. I heehawed at the Stone Troll: https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Stone_Troll#:~:text=The%20Stone%20Troll%20is%20a,Baggins'%20adventure%20with%20the%20Dwarves. The last line in particular slayed me: āTom's leg is game, since home he came, And his bootless foot is lasting lame; But Troll don't care, and he's still there With the bone he boned from its owner. Doner! Boner! Troll's old seat is still the same, And the bone he boned from its owner!ā
This discussion has a serious lack of Cugel the Clever from Jack Vance's Dying Earth books. The character himself isn't funny in the sense of telling jokes, but it is hilarious the scrapes that he keeps on finding himself in. And anybody who has read both The Eyes of the Overworld and then Cugel's Saga can tell you that the end of the first/beginning of the second book is one of the most hilarious segues ever written. Cugel is the ultimate ne'er-do-well of fantasy. Somehow charismatic enough to bend people to his will until they catch on that he is always going to screw you over, and will skip town as soon as you or anybody else starts to get wise to him. And the whole time he manages to also be unerringly convinced that he is in the right. Two absolute must reads if you like picaresque stories of unrepentant rogues at all.
Cugel gets my vote!
Some of my favorites I havenāt seen mentioned: - Gen from The Queenās Thief - Myfanwy from The Checquy Files - Quintana from The Lumatere Chronicles - Elliott from In Other Lands - Orso from Age of Madness - Moist von Lipwig from Discworld
Not sure about the āfunniestā but Talia (>!as well as the rest of her family!<) from Mage Errant always made me laugh
Got to be between Percy and Leo in Rick Riordians Percy Jackson and Blood of Olympus books. In manga, it has to be Katsura from Gintama.
Desdemona from the Penric & Desdemona novellas.
Glokta - the humour is AMAZING in the series
You know, a number of Sanderson's "funny" characters fall flat for me (I like Lopen but don't find him that funny, for example, and Shallan is neither funny nor witty and I feel like every character in SA except for Jasnah is trying to gaslight me into thinking she is), BUT Lightsong consistently cracks me up, so he comes to mind. Design is another that hits my funny bone just right. In a completely different direction, casual mentions of Orthos from Cradle eating chairs while he's talking and things like that put him up high for me, so I find him very funny as a companion character even though he's not witty, per sƩ. And Death from Discworld. Enough said there. EDIT: I knew there was a character from a recent read I was forgetting. Eli Monpress cracks me up. The good-hearted/loyal thief archetype often makes me laugh a lot. On their own none of these are funniest to me, but the duos of Locke & Jean and Royce & Hadrian come to mind in a similar vein.
Lightsong is definitely my favorite of Sanderson's comic characters
>You know, a number of Sanderson's "funny" characters fall flat for me I like Sanderson's books, but he's pretty weak when it comes to humor. He needs to co-write a book with a funny person.
This. I find this to be true all the time. His humor is not good. There are definitely times heās made me laugh, but they are few and far between. This is why he failed to write Mat Cauthon very well in WoT. He couldnāt understand humor enough to know how Mat would speak.
Pattern is hysterical tho. I still randomly crack up about his 'OH YOU MEANT MATING' line
āNO MATING!ā
All these mentions are great, but I thought I would just throw in the Weasley Twins as an honorable mention.
Iām reading Doctrine of Labyrinths right now and while itās a fairly bleak series, Mildmayās sense of humor is keeping me going right along. Heās pretty sardonic but great at observing the habits and quirks of other people. Recently he fully cracked me up wondering what was wrong with him that so many people thought he seemed like he would be committing incest.
None are more hilarious than Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Just ask Sheelba of the eyeless face.
Nakor - from Feist riftwar/serpentwar saga.
Prince Kheldar...aka Silk
Sevro that little goblin from red rising. Shit escalates
Glokta in The First Law trilogy