As half of the musical comedy duo Garfunkel & Oates, Kate Micucci knows something about making people laugh. Now she’s delighting a new audience: children. She made her literary debut this year with The Monster and Puppet Show!, co-written by Elephant & Piggie author Mo Willems (Union Square Kids, Feb. 24), an early reader that follows a would-be entertainer whose sock puppet companion turns out to have a mind of its own. Having recently recorded a children’s album, My Hat, Micucci felt well positioned to write for kids. “I often create from a childlike place,” she told Kirkus via email. “Every time I write a song, it somehow ends up being about a dog or making wishes.”

Micucci especially enjoys school and library visits; she brings along her own puppet, Camille, and performs a song she wrote about the book. At her hometown library in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, she performed alongside the library’s ukulele orchestra. Though Willems and editor Tracey Keevan gave Micucci guidance on writing for children—for instance, leaning on repetition—some things remain constant no matter the audience: “If there’s a setup and a punchline, there’s usually a smile on a kid’s face,” she observes.

With sharp comedic timing, the ability to put on a good show, and a willingness to take risks, the best comedians often make excellent children’s book authors. Next month, Saturday Night Live alum Melissa Villaseñor makes her own debut with the graphic novel Cat and Lola: School Picture Day, illustrated by Jimena Sánchez Sarquiz (Gloo Books, Sept. 22). Villaseñor keeps the one-liners coming as Lola and her divalike feline seek the perfect ensemble for Lola’s class photo, but she also imbues her tale with a message of self-acceptance as her protagonist lands on an outfit that reflects “the colors of my soul.” Above all, Villaseñor told Kirkus, she wants to “remind kiddos…to rejoice in their goofy self and that imperfections are so beautiful.”

It’s been a busy year for SNL players past and present. Kenan Thompson, the show’s longest-tenured cast member, released the picture book Unfunny Bunny, co-written by SNL writer Bryan Tucker and illustrated by Tony Neal (Feiwel & Friends, Jan. 13). The tale follows a young rabbit who learns a serious lesson in stand-up: Collaboration often yields amazing results. Next month, Kate McKinnon publishes another charmingly quirky entry in her bestselling series, the Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science. Illustrated by Alfredo Cáceres, The Jungle of Carabanana (Little, Brown; Sept. 29) sees the feisty Porch sisters confronting yet another devilish fiend. Clearly, SNL cast members can keep kids giggling. Bowen Yang, when can we expect your kid lit debut?

Best known for his role on The Office, B.J. Novak follows up his immensely popular The Book With No Pictures (2014) with a board book, The Little Book With No Pictures (Rocky Pond Books/Penguin, Oct. 20), while stand-up comic and podcaster Pete Holmes makes his debut with Spells To Cast on Your Parents(Doubleday, Sept. 1). Novak once more eschews visuals altogether, while Holmes relies on masking tape for an uproarious take on a magician’s spellbook, but both works employ the same enjoyably subversive premise: making the adult reading their words aloud look utterly foolish.

Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.