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Yesterday, The Takeaway spoke with Kaylin Andres, a 23-year-old diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer who uses comedy as her coping mechanism. And the conversation led to more questions: How have others used comedy and laughter to get through tough times?

In the past few years, cancer – a subject once relegated to medical journals and hospital corridors – has become a recurring character on the comedy scene. Larry David tackled the subject in Season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Seth Rogan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt traded cancer jokes in the 2011 film 50/50. Kaylin Andres continues this tradition in her new comic book, Terminally 'Illin. At the age of 23, Kaylin was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that usually affects young children. In the midst of chemo and radiation, comedy became her coping mechanism. 

Lizz Winstead, comedian, social critic, and co-creator of The Daily Show, tells how she fought to find her own voice, both as a comedian and as a woman, and how humor became her most powerful weapon in confronting life's challenges. In Lizz Free or Die she tells about her childhood longing to be a priest, her role in developing The Daily Show, and her habit of diving into everything head first.

Mary Phillips-Sandy, editorial producer of Comedy Central's Indecision blog, talks about political news and how the Comedy Central team covers news through the humor site. 

Rachel Dratch talks about her new memoir, Girl Walks Into a Bar: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle. The former Saturday Night Live star recounts the adventures and unexpected joy of dating and becoming a mother when she least expected it, at the age of 44.

Stephen Fry tells about arriving at Cambridge University as a convicted fraudster and thief, an addict, liar, fantasist, and failed suicide, convinced he would be sent away. Instead, he befriended bright young things like Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie, and emerged as one of the most promising comic talents in the world. The Fry Chronicles  is his story of his journey to stardom.

Shalom Auslander talks about his novel Hope: A Tragedy, a humorous and haunting examination of the burdens and abuse of history, and a compelling story of the hopeless longing to be free of those pasts which haunt our present lives.

Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, talk about joining forces to write a novel. Lunatics is about two men: Philip Horkman, a happy man who owns a pet store and is a referee for kids' soccer, and Jeffrey Peckerman, the sole sane person in a world filled with jerks and morons, who is having a really bad day. The two collide in a swiftly escalating series of events that sends them running for their lives.

While the most recent leg of the 2012 GOP campaign trail has been marked by eight vote leads, libertarian bluster, and plays to religion, it can also be defined by a lack of one key political ingredient: humor. The seriousness of all the candidates thus far has left voters on both sides of the aisle yearning for effortlessly funny former frontrunners like Bob Dole and John McCain. And, as Pete Dominick, comedian and CNN contributor has noted, boring politics makes for bad politics.

Stephen Merchant, writer and co-creator of the original, BBC show “The Office” and HBO's “Extras,” with Ricky Gervais, talks about his career and his first-ever stand up tour called “Hello Ladies,” where he discusses his successes and failures in his personal life as well as his ride to professional success. He’s performing at Town Hall December 20-21. Merchant will also discuss his newest project with Ricky Gervais and HBO, the new show “Life's Too Short” featuring Warwick Davis.

James Martin, SJ, a lifelong Catholic, a Jesuit for over 20 years, and a priest for 10 years, reveals the humor in the Bible, and explains how joy, humor, and laughter help us to live more spiritual lives, understand ourselves and others better. In Between Heaven and Mirth Father Martin illustrates examples of healthy humor and purposeful levity in the stories of biblical heroes and heroines, and in the lives of the saints and the world’s great spiritual masters.

John Hodgman discusses the third and final installment in his trilogy of Complete World Knowledge, That Is All. Like its predecessors, this book compiles incredibly handy made-up facts into brief articles, overlong lists, and fascinating narratives on new and familiar themes.

Mindy Kaling, best known for her role as Kelly Kapoor on The Office, for which she’s also a writer and producer, shares her observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, and her career—from a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright to a comedy writer and actress. In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? she writes about what she thinks makes a great best friend, what makes a great guy, and what is the perfect amount of fame.

Writer and comedian Andy Borowitz talks about choosing the 50 Funniest American Writers and looks at the craft of humor writing. In The 50 Funniest American Writers: An Anthology of Humor from Mark Twain to The Onion, he brought together contemporary masters such as David Sedaris, Roy Blount Jr., Ian Frazier, Bernie Mac, Wanda Sykes, and George Saunders, and reached back to Mark Twain, Thurber, and Lenny Bruce.

Master caricaturist/portraitist Drew Friedman talks about his craft and his Borscht Belt heroes. Even More Old Jewish Comedians, the third and final installment of his series, includes figures like Olive Oyl voice Mae Questel, Ed Sullivan show regular Jean Carroll, stand-up comedian and "Law & Order: SVU" detective Richard Belzer,  "Welcome Back, Kotter"’s Gabe Kaplan, and other and pop culture legends.

Magician  Penn Jillette talks about why he’s a skeptic and an atheist, and he shares his opinions on just about any topic. His new book God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales is a collection of essays illuminating the Ten Commandments—some of them true stories, some of them fantasies, all of them entertaining, smart, and eye-opening.

Calvin Trillin, New Yorker staff writer and The Nation’s deadline poet, talks about his latest book of collected works, Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years of Funny Stuff. He cover topics from the literary life to the horrors of witnessing a voodoo economics ceremony and the mystery of how his mother managed for thirty years to feed her family nothing but leftovers.

Film and television historian Ben Model talks about curating The Ernie Kovacs Collection, a 6-DVD box set, which is the first-ever comprehensive collection of Kovacs’ work. Kovacs, whose offbeat humor graced the airwaves for just a decade in the 1950s and 1960s, was funny but never offensive, and his humor and flair for improvisation influenced generations of TV funnymen: from Johnny Carson and Monty Python, to David Letterman, Pee Wee Herman and “Saturday Night Live.”

Emmy Award-winner and comedienne Judy Gold talks about her return to the stage in “The Judy Show - My Life As A Sitcom,” a journey through her life with a little help from classic television sitcoms. Judy is the mother of two sons, has a girlfriend who is a therapist, and a mother who lives in a nursing home in New Jersey—all of which provides Judy with endless material.