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Ninth-century satirist al-Jahiz remains a beloved figure in Islamic literature, but his modern-day counterparts — including comedian Bassem Youssef and cartoonist Ali Farzat — don't have it easy.

About this time every year, we present an encore broadcast of the life and times of Crumpet the Elf. Crumpet is the alter ego of writer David Sedaris, who once worked as a department store elf.

Our continuing discussion of Serial turns to a consideration of the true crime genre, its tendency to reveal the oddities of human behavior, and what can be taken away from this series.

Indie animation king Bill Plympton's latest feature, Cheatin', tells the loopy love story of Jake and Ella, and how their perfect romance fractured. Reporter Jon Kalish visited Plympton in his studio.

Actor Kenneth Choi is best known as the boisterous Chester Ming in The Wolf of Wall Street. Growing up in Chicago, acting was his passion, but his dad didn't approve. So he ran away — to Hollywood.

The actress stars in the new film Into the Woods, in theaters Thursday. On screen she's a natural. But as a kid, she had a stutter so severe she could hardly say her own name.

Anthony Matthews is a master of the consumer complaint, writing and collecting some of the best letters to customer service. Two of his tips for success: use humor and write a real, hard-copy letter.

Tom Toro was a directionless 20-something film school dropout. Then, after an inspired moment at a used book sale, he started submitting drawings to The New Yorker -- and collecting rejection slips.

Dillon Helbig wrote a book over winter break and slipped it onto a local library shelf in Boise, Idaho. After librarians found it, they entered it into their catalog. Now it's on a long waiting list.

3M employee Art Fry had a problem: When he sang with his church choir, his paper bookmarks fell out of his hymnal. Thankfully for Fry, his coworker Spencer Silver had a new adhesive in the works.