• Laugh The Beloved Country: A Compendium of South African Humour
  Compiled and written by James Clarke and Harvey Tyson [top]
  First published in 2003 in South Africa by Double Storey Books
  Reprinted in 2003 with corrections in South Africa by Double Storey Books, in hardback with dustjacket, 318pp, ISBN 1919930329

About this book/synopsis: Here in one volume is a distillation and compendium of South African humour, written in English over the last 200 years - from bitter satire to wild farce, from sharp wit to gentle humour. The compilers have tried to display the full range and variety in this book: the elegant good humour of Gordon Forbes, the sad ironies of Nat Nakasa, the sparkling mirrors held up to an anxious society by Gus Silber, the wit of Christopher Hope. The overall results is less an anthology than an anatomy of a society rich in funny moments and human folly, rich too in experiences that cry out to be laughed at. As Archbishop Tutu says, "Thank God for satirists, cartoonists and humorists of all shapes and sizes, of all races, ages and genders...such as are represented in this collection, for keeping us sane and human."

Contents:
Introduction: Satire vs. Smiles by James Clarke
1. Apartheid by Ben Maclennan
2. Pressure in Confined Spaces; Breeding Discontent; and Bob Sec's Life by Les Aupiais; 3.This is Africa, Baby; Rating the Robbers; Apartheid: When Did It Go?; Boom in 'Asset Protection'; An Alternate History; by Arnold Benjamin
4. Naughty Days and Dog's Meat Nights by Doc Bikitsha
5. The Kafir Drum; and Unto Dust by Herman Charles Bosman
6. The Penis Mightier than the Sword; All That Sparkles; The Height of Stupid Courage; and Read Before You Speak by Darrel Bristow Bovey
7. How Not to Run 'The Comrades'; Melanin-Challenged Person's Jaundiced View
8. Cartoonists: Their Wit Down The Years by David Bullard
9. Taxi-ing to a Dead Stop; Strike While the Sun is Cold; The Whitest Land on Earth; Marking Secretaries Day; No Such Thing as a Free Lunch; Ancient Egyptian Airlines by James Clarke
10. Small Black Dogs and the House Call; Open Gardens; Green Lizards and Old Brown Sherry by Chris Ellis
11. Elitist (poem); Quarry Pond Samosa (poem); Sailing Alone Around the Word (poem); Carpe Diem (poem); On the Death of an Old Computer (poem) by Gus Ferguson
12. My Native Bowler, Hendriks by Leonard Flemming
13. When the Bed Fell on Segal; Diary Notes: Copenhagen 1955; Diary Notes, Berlin, 1962; The Three Ronnies; Lovers of the Long Shot by Gordon Lovell Forbes
14. How to Be Normal in South Africa; Mind Games: The True Confessions of a Mental Mutant by Arthur Goldstuck
15. Historical Humour
a. Francois le Vaillant (1753-1824)
b. Cape Satire in the 1800s
c. Andrew Geddes Bain (1797-1864)
d. Louis Cohen (1855-c.1920)
e. Sol Plaatje (1876-1932)
16. Excuse the Patrons, Please by Jenny Hobbs
17. Darkest England by Christopher Hope
18. Horrible New World; I Must Run; What's So Remarkable by A. B. Hughes
19. Going Slow; Odendaalsrus Leaves Me Cold by J. D.
20. Why Not a National Men's Day?; Who Said Parties Are Fun? by Carol Lazar
21. Legal Humour: Sam Ellmann; Mr Justice Ronald (Ronnie) Wordscrambler, H. H. Morris KC (lots of extracts from 'In & Out of Court'; Judgments - stories of humorous judgements given in court by Mr Justice James Fitzpatrick (1816-80); Mr. Justice Israel Goldblatt (1897-1982); Mr. Justice Leopold Greenberg (1885-1964)
22. Madam & Eve - two pages of history and context and three pages of cartoon strips
23. My Last Ride on a Horse; and Women Whose Hearts I have Broken by Fred Mayne
24. Reflections on Growing a Little Older; and On the Waterfront by Neil McMahon
25. Biting political satire in two scenes by Zakes Mda
26. Dunkeld Bus Club; M15A; Omnibus Clause; Eau, I Say There; Ode to a Nightcap; A Point of Etiquette; The Soft Answer; No Aksent; The Limit; A Slice off the Withers, Please; Poor Kate; You Could Have Knocked Me Down With A Neutron; Miss Naboomspruit of 1951; and With Fogbound J. and K.C. Taradiddle QC, through the Law Reports by Joel Mervis
27. Blame Me on History; and Natives Very Cross Here by Bloke Modisane
28. Are you bilingual; They're Down to Earth; Kissing a Banned Girl May Be...; The Myth of Born Musicians; Yes, There's Too Much Self Pity; Castles in the Air; A Native of Nowhere; and Met with Smiles and Questions; all by Nat Nakasa
29. December 1986 by P. J. O' Rourke
30. A Dip in the Gene Pool by Jo-Anne Richards
31. Part One: Morning 1955 by Richard Rive
32. The Withered-Leaf Insect by San Chant
33. Dancing Dangers; and The SAR's Crazy Mixed-up Coach; In the Dog Box; Puppet the Terrier Gets Stuck with Needles; New Laws to Send Johnny Foreigner Packing; At Least they Haven't Torn Up The Runway for Building Blocks Yet by John Scott
34. Indecent Exposure by Tom Sharpe
35. All Stressed Up and Nowhere to Go; Upgrade Your Home Security System; and How to Occupy a Government Building by Gus Silber
36. Baby, It's the Truth; and Life in Ward 566; by Ken Smith
37. The Man from Non-Europe; and Driving Lesson by Sylvester Stein
38. What Kind of Tourist are You?; On Your Trip You Will Encounter; South Africa on the Move; The Street; and How We Are by Marianne Thamm
39. Girls in High-heel Shoes by Can Themba
40. Kill the Whales; Out to Launch; and Woods, Grass and Weird Trees by Harvey Tyson
41. Raubenheimer's Disease; and There's No Place Like Home by Pieter-Dirk Uys
42. A Bit Slow; Origins Obvious - Definitely Home-Made; Race Relations and The Joke's on Him by Hey, Man, Van der Merwe
43. Irish Vaughan's Diary: My Diry Diray Diery; Tek Tokkies; God, the Devil and his Fork and Fire; Dancing; and Good and Bad
44. Not with a Whimper; Will Claudia Sleep with Enrique? A Rainbow over Signal Hill; and Let Them Eat Prozac by Peter Wilhelm
45. Bugs Wilmot
46. Finale - political cartoons by David Marais, Abe Berry, JM Jackson, Andy, Dov Fedler, and Zapiro
Acknowledgements