The 5 Funniest Discworld Books (Ranked by Laughs Per Page)
Looking for Terry Pratchett's most hilarious Discworld novels? Here are the 5 funniest books that will have you laughing out loud on every page.
The 5 Funniest Discworld Books (Ranked by Laughs Per Page)
Every Discworld book is funny. That's sort of the point. But let's be honest—some of them are funnier. Some books have you snorting on public transport. Others make you read passages aloud to confused family members. And a precious few make you genuinely worried about your ability to breathe.
If you're looking for pure, concentrated comedy—the kind of books where the jokes hit so fast you barely recover before the next one lands—these are your targets.
Here are the five funniest Discworld books, ranked by what we're scientifically calling "laughs per page."
5. The Truth
What's It About?
Ankh-Morpork gets its first newspaper, run by the earnest (and increasingly exasperated) William de Worde. What starts as a newsletter becomes an investigation into a plot against Lord Vetinari, featuring the most menacing yet absurd villains in the series: Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip.
Why It's Hilarious
The Truth is Pratchett at his most quotable. Every page drips with observations about journalism, truth, and the glorious stupidity of the press—observations that somehow feel even more relevant now than when it was published.
The running gag with Mr. Tulip's creative vocabulary ("—ing") never gets old. The dwarven printing crew are comedy gold. And Otto Chriek, the reformed vampire photographer who keeps accidentally reducing himself to dust, steals every scene he's in.
Best Line: "A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on." It's become one of Pratchett's most famous quotes for a reason.
Laughs Per Page Rating: You'll highlight more passages than you leave unmarked.
4. Pyramids
What's It About?
Teppic, a young man trained as an assassin, inherits his father's kingdom—an ancient Egypt analogue called Djelibeybi. The kingdom is so obsessed with tradition and pyramid-building that it's literally suffocating under the weight of accumulated time. When the pyramids start warping reality, things get weird. And then weirder.
Why It's Hilarious
Pyramids is pure absurdist comedy. It's got a camel mathematician, philosophers who argue themselves into and out of existence, and a dead king who keeps complaining about his mummification.
Pratchett tears apart ancient history, philosophy, and religious bureaucracy with gleeful abandon. The Discworld's pyramids don't just store dead kings—they store time, and when that goes wrong, you get multiple sun gods fighting in the sky and arguments about whether the kingdom actually exists.
Best Line: "Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life." Classic Pratchett.
Laughs Per Page Rating: Dense with humor, especially if you appreciate mythology jokes and philosophical absurdity.
3. Witches Abroad
What's It About?
Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick go on a road trip. Their mission: stop a fairy godmother from forcing a servant girl to marry a prince. But this isn't your grandmother's fairy tale—it's a sharp satire of how stories control people, wrapped in one of the funniest journeys in fantasy literature.
Why It's Hilarious
The jokes start the moment the witches leave Lancre and don't stop until they reach Genua. Granny discovering that other cultures exist (and finding them all lacking) is endlessly entertaining. Nanny Ogg's attempts at foreign languages create international incidents. And Magrat... well, Magrat tries her best.
But the real genius is Greebo. Nanny's horrific tomcat gets temporarily turned human, and Pratchett's description of him as a dangerous, attractive stranger—while we know he's still thinking like a cat—is comedy perfection.
Best Line: "The entire population had turned out to watch them go, and were now carefully examining their chickens and counting their children."
Laughs Per Page Rating: Relentless. The road trip format means constant culture-clash comedy.
2. Moving Pictures
What's It About?
Cinema comes to Discworld. The magical influence of Holy Wood draws people to make "clicks"—moving pictures powered by demons in boxes. Victor Tugelbend, a student who's perfected the art of academic failure, becomes an unwitting star. But something ancient and hungry is waking up in the hills of Holy Wood...
Why It's Hilarious
Moving Pictures is Pratchett's love letter to Golden Age Hollywood, and it's absolutely stuffed with movie references. Every trope gets skewered: the studio system, the star-making machine, the agents, the merchandising. CMOT Dibbler as a movie producer is inspired casting.
But what pushes this into the top tier is the pacing. The jokes come machine-gun fast, layered on top of each other. You'll catch new gags on your third read.
The talking dog Gaspode provides running commentary. The wizards get a front-row seat to technological change they don't understand. And the climax—involving a giant woman and an ape—is pure cinematic chaos.
Best Line: "The only thing known to go faster than ordinary light is monarchy, according to the philosopher Ly Tin Wheedle. He reasoned like this: you can't have more than one king, and tradition demands that there is no gap between kings, so when a king dies the succession must therefore pass to the new king instantaneously."
Laughs Per Page Rating: Maximum density. You'll miss jokes because you're still laughing at the previous one.
1. Guards! Guards!
What's It About?
A secret society summons a dragon to overthrow Lord Vetinari and install a puppet king. Standing against them is the Night Watch—the most pathetic, underfunded, and ignored police force in Ankh-Morpork. Led by the cynical, drunk Captain Vimes, they're about to become heroes. Accidentally.
Why It's Funniest
Guards! Guards! combines Pratchett's sharpest satire with his most lovable characters. The Night Watch are comedy gold: Vimes' bitter monologues, Sergeant Colon's creative policing, Nobby Nobbs existing as a species of one. And then Carrot Ironfoundersson arrives—a six-foot dwarf who takes everything literally—and the ensemble is complete.
The dragon itself is funny. The secret society (The Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night) is funnier. And the constant mockery of fantasy tropes—chosen ones, rightful kings, heroic destiny—shows Pratchett at his subversive best.
But what really earns the top spot is Errol, the tiny swamp dragon who becomes a one-dragon air force. His scenes are somehow both ridiculous and genuinely sweet.
Best Line: "It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us."
Laughs Per Page Rating: Off the charts. This book invented a new kind of fantasy comedy.
Honorable Mentions
These nearly made the list:
| Book | Why It's Funny |
|---|---|
| Mort | Death trying to understand humanity never stops being hilarious |
| Maskerade | Opera satire with Nanny Ogg at her most outrageous |
| The Last Continent | Australia jokes for 400 pages—if that's your thing, it's really your thing |
| Jingo | War satire so sharp it draws blood |
| Wyrd Sisters | Shakespeare parody with witches—what's not to love? |
What Kind of Funny Are You Looking For?
Different books hit different comedy notes:
Satire that makes you think: Small Gods, Jingo, The Truth
Ensemble chaos: Guards! Guards!, Moving Pictures, Maskerade
Culture-clash comedy: Witches Abroad, The Last Continent
Absurdist philosophy: Pyramids, Small Gods
One-liners and wordplay: Honestly, all of them. But Mort and Soul Music are particularly dense.
The Bottom Line
If you want to laugh—really laugh—start with Guards! Guards!. It's the complete package: lovable characters, sharp satire, fantasy parody, and jokes that land on every page.
From there, work through this list. Moving Pictures if you love film. Witches Abroad if you want road trip comedy. Pyramids if you want something standalone and weird. The Truth if you want Pratchett at his most quotable.
Every book on this list will make you snort in public. That's a guarantee.
Ready to start your journey? Check out our complete guide to where to start with Discworld, or see how the top starting points compare in Guards! Guards! vs Mort vs Small Gods.
