Brooks on Books: Sarah Silverman

The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee by Sarah Silverman: Silverman is a lot savvier than her persona would indicate, and here she crafts a memoir that is deeper and more insightful than that persona might indicate. She puts the bedwetter thing right up front--hey, it's right there in the title--and she is courageous enough to include embarrassing details about that aspect of her life and others that may be seen as less than exemplary.

She also speaks with candor and self-awareness (but not the self-obssession and narcissism of her TV character) about her experiences in standup comedy, on "Saturday Night Live," and as a performer and producer of a very funny but underseen sitcom on Comedy Central with her name in the title. She explains her side of controversies in her life such as when she used an ethnic slur on Conan O'Brien's show, and what's more, she uses that incident to explain her philosophies on the use of offensive material and language in comedy. I was both gratified and horrified that she used the book to out a prominent 1980s music star as being apparently racist (though I wonder if there's any way she is missing some kind of context that would change her view, much the way people who attack her often miss the context). I appreciated that she put it in there as a blind item but basically told us who it was.

One aspect of her life is largely absent from this book, though, and that's her romantic life. Oh, she mentions sleeping with guys and makes broad statements about that sort of thing, but it's odd considering how forthright she is that there is so little mention of the high-profile relationship she had with Jimmy Kimmel. And I may not really want to know what dating Dave Attell was like, but it was odd to learn that by reading a photo caption and not see anything in the actual text.

Still, it's a revealing book, and the only reason it's not as funny as, say, Silverman's act is that instead of assembling a collection of bits, she took the time to tell her life story in a thoughtful manner. She even offers some life philosophies that make sense, like her belief in "keeping it special," i.e. not overdoing things that give you pleasure. She does it all with humor, of course, but the book is not just a yukfest. I recommend it without reservation to any fan of Silverman, and fans of comedy in general can appreciate the insights into the world of standup and television, and they can also feel relief that, no, she isn't really the character she plays in public.