­­It’s the holiday season once again, and that means the eternal hunt for gifts is on. But why waste your money on a scarf no one will wear when you can give the gift of laughter? Here’s my handpicked guide to some of the best mirth-inducing presents you can bestow on your loved ones and frenemies.

Books! 
Yes, they still print ’em! And they make great, inexpensive gifts that look good on a shelf next to your uncle’s bowling trophy. There’s no shortage of great comedy books this year, many of them with Canadian connections.

My first pick is Norm Macdonald’s oddball memoir, Based on a True Story, which is surprisingly literate and an unusual blend of fact and fiction, an amalgam of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Chuck Barris’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. I’m in the book, in a good way, but that’s not why I’m recommending it.

Another book: Canada by Mike Myers. This handsome tome is a words and pictures paean to the country he loves. Myers tells about his personal journey to success with pit stops along the way to celebrate a lot of Canadian icons.

Yet another book: Ritch Shydner’s Kicking Through the Ashes is a perfect volume for the comedy nerd in your life. During the ’80s and ’90s, Shydner was the ultimate road warrior, and he painstakingly recreates the golden years of American standup and lays bare his experiences with club owners, groupies, drugs, alcohol and David Letterman. It’s like a history of the Second World War written by an infantryman who survived, but just barely.

Last book: the new Joan Rivers biography, Last Girl Before Freeway, dishes all the dirt and triumphs of everyone’s favourite trail-blazing female comic. This is the one I’ll be reading over the holidays.

Film!    
Don’t Think Twice — nope, not the Bob Dylan song, but the movie by Mike Birbiglia, the brilliant New York monologist considered by many to be the spiritual heir to Spalding Gray. Just out on DVD, the film was never released in Canada, but it’s yours —and a great gift — for about $20. The film is a hilarious and touching look at an improv group that implodes when one of its members gets cast in a SNL-type show. A perfect stocking stuffer for the improv/sketch comedy fan in your life.

Records!
Comedy records are the rage once again. Only this time they’re mostly available as downloads, which makes them a bit harder to wrap and put under the tree. 

Lots of our best local comics have put them out, and I especially recommend those by Adam Richmond, Amanda Brooke Perrin, Darrin Rose, Pete Zedlacher, Jeff McEnery and Matt O’Brien.

For a more total immersive experience, I’d have to recommend the lavish DVD box set put out by Toronto troublemaker Darren Frost. Containing all four of his DVDs and three bootlegs, this is a thorough compendium of the most transgressive comic working in this country. Warning: do not give this gift to anyone under the age of consent or with delicate sensibilities. They may never recover.

Special bonus 
And finally, for a $2,500 contribution to a children’s charity of your choice, I will take you and three companions for dinner and a show at my club and regale you with forbidden tales of the comedy biz.

Includes a meet and greet with the comedians after the show, but due to our liquor laws, I can’t ply you with booze. You’ll have to do that part on your own. Oh, and I’m married, so please don’t try to fix me up with your niece Marci. Happy holidays, one and all.

To take Mark Breslin up on his charitable challenge, send him an email.