The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee is comedian Sarah Silverman’s first book.  It’s an autobiography about her life to this point and touches on a number of interesting topics.

If you’re already a Sarah Silverman fan chances are you already have this.  If not go and buy it now.  A lot of reviews have talked about how surprised by Silverman is really frank and honest in this book, but as someone who has been a fan for a long time I didn’t find it that surprising.  She’s always carried that sort of way about her.  She talks about how despite how most comedians had horrible lives, her’s was actually not bad, mainly marred by being a bedwetter until late in her teens.

The book talks about everything from her early life, her family, how she got into comedy, her days of being a NYC standup to her season on Saturday Night Live, and finally her current stint on The Sarah Silverman Program (including a lot of stuff for fans of that show, like a whole chapter just about the writers room and the odd process of making the show).  It’s really a great read and manages to surround even the darkest parts with a lot of humor.  Silverman’s overall intelligence and love of her craft are both on display throughout.  She breaks down the difference between what she does and what racism would be and how she often is horrified by people who laugh at the wrong part of the joke.

One chapter is dedicated to an incident where she used the word “chink” on Conan O’ Brian and how one Chinese-American watchdog group started a big fuss over it, but how the joke wasn’t about being racist, but was trying to point out how there are people who are really casually racist and obtuse.  She follows this by two other controversies she got into by making jokes at MTV award shows about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears respectively and how those jokes actually were wrong and mean spirited and how she did not intend for them to be like that and explains the circumstances behind them.

She also points out various philosophies on life like her mantra of “Make It A Treat”.

Really overall this book is pretty great and you should check it out.