Laughter Is the Best Medicine for These Times

COS COB, Conn. – Do you ever want to do a news cleanse? Just turn off all those screens and hunker down with a good book that will entertain you? Here comes Chicken Soup for the Soul’s latest humor collection. If you thought they only published self-help books, think again. This is the latest of nine very popular collections of humorous stories from the iconic publisher, which published its first book in 1993.

The 101 feel-good stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Laughter’s Always the Best Medicine (February 18, 2025, 978-1-611591132, $16.99) are all true, told by the people who lived through these embarrassing, hilarious, and truly human experiences. Editor-in-chief and publisher Amy Newmark says, “I must have sounded like a crazy person cackling away in my office while I was selecting and then editing these stories. Even on the third pass through them I was laughing.” She continues, “If laughter is the best medicine, then this book is your prescription. Turn off the news and spend a few days not following current events. Instead, return to the basics—humanity’s ability to laugh at itself. All I can promise is that these pages contain the antidote to whatever is troubling you. They will definitely put you in a good mood.”

No one is safe from the storytellers in this new collection—from their spouses, to parents, to children, to other relatives, to friends and colleagues. And of course, the funniest of all are the stories the writers tell about their own mishaps. You’ll read about domestic disasters, the most embarrassing moments people have ever had, social gaffes, misunderstandings based on language, the things kids say at just the wrong time… a huge variety of stories and situations that will make you laugh out loud. It’s good (mostly) clean fun, and it will bring back your own memories of your favorite stories, those that became legendary among family and friends.

Barbara D’Antoni Diggs, for example, tells the story of the day her mother nervously cooked an Italian dinner for her husband’s discerning uncle, making the large meatballs he liked two days ahead. It was only the day after the dinner that she realized the “meatballs” she’d pulled from the freezer and added to the sauce were actually bran muffins. Michelle Eames shares another domestic disaster story, about the time her family worked very hard to roast a pig for the Fourth of July, building a second fire on top of the first one. When they finally opened up the pit after cooking all day, they found a lump about the size of a groundhog covered in aluminum foil, not the 100 pounds of meat they had been looking forward to. The family dined on a last-minute six-foot sub that evening.

Eric Barr shares his own embarrassing story about how he comes from a long line of people with no sense of direction. As he attempted to drive home from JFK Airport, with his mother and grandfather arguing about which roads to take, they got so confused that they ended up driving past a police kiosk right onto an active runway. In another airport story, Karl Haffner relates how he had to return to the car rental to get his expensive camera after already waiting in the TSA line for an hour. He knew he’d miss his flight when he returned—until a TSA agent thought he was the actor Woody Harrelson traveling under an assumed name and escorted him straight to his gate.

ABOUT CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL

Chicken Soup for the Soul publishes the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. With well over 100 million books sold to date in the U.S. and Canada, hundreds of titles, and translations into more than 40 languages, the phrase “chicken soup for the soul” is known worldwide and is regularly referenced in pop culture. Today, more than 30 years after it first began sharing happiness, inspiration and hope through its books, this socially conscious company continues to publish 10 new titles a year. It has also evolved beyond the bookstore, with a podcast, education programs, dog and cat food, and licensed products.

                                                                   ###

 For a review copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Laughter’s Always the Best Medicine or an interview with Amy Newmark or one of the contributors: