Bill Hader's Reading List

"Jon Ronson makes me laugh. I've read all of his books."

"George Saunders is a complete genius. I discovered his books my first season on Saturday Night Live and was blown away."

"Charles Portis has written three unbelievably funny novels... my personal favorite, The Dog of the South."

"He's best known for True Grit, which is a much deserved classic."

"Steve Martin's Born Standing Up is essential reading. I would recommend that to anyone starting out not only in comedy, but performing in general. It's very inspiring."

"In Cold Blood (obviously)"

"Good true-crime books: Columbine, by Dave Cullen"

"The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson"

"Over Christmas I read Crime and Punishment."

"Last summer I read Light in August. I like taking my time with those books."

"Then I moved on to Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels."

"one of my favorite books that people recently love to trash is A Confederacy of Dunces. I think it's one of the funniest books ever written."

"Vernon Chatman wrote a book called Mindsploitation , where he found these online companies that will do your homework and sent them impossible assignments. Their responses are like Dada art."

"I would recommend that to anyone starting out not only in comedy, but performing in general. If I’d read that book in high school I would’ve gone into comedy sooner, I think. It’s very inspiring."

"The baseball writer Bill James recently wrote a book called Popular Crime, where he explores several high-profile cases and how they affected the American psyche. It’ll make you feel like less of a creep, because James is obsessed with this stuff and seems pretty stable."

"A terrific account of Hollywood in the ’40s, when things start to go south for the studios."

"The first series I was obsessed with."

"The first adult novel I read, and this is a favorite memory of mine, resulted from my grandfather — who was a voracious reader — taking me to Novel Idea in Tulsa, Okla., to pick up a book for school. As we headed to the checkout line he said, ‘Why don’t you pick out something to read for pleasure?’ I went to the Young Adult section, and he stopped me: ‘No, no. Go to the Fiction section.’ I was 12, and this was a big deal. The Fiction section is where all the books with sex and bad language li..."

"One of my favorite books that people recently love to trash is A Confederacy of Dunces . I think it’s one of the funniest books ever written, but I come across more and more folks who find it vastly overrated. I don’t know if I just hang out with contrarians or if it’s some latent backlash. I’m such a nerd for that book, I want to go to New Orleans just so I can take the Confederacy of Dunces Tour."