Dirty jokes and my opinion...who needs beer?

What's the difference between a group of very smart pygmies and a women's track team?

One is a bunch of cunning runts...


Taking a cue from Drew Carey's book "Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined", I decided to be a little unrefined myself and begin this review with a dirty joke, just as each chapter of this book begins with a dirty joke. I know, it's in pretty poor taste. Sorry. Take comfort in the fact that most of the jokes in this book are a lot worse.

As far a Drew Carey goes, I only know of him from reruns of his stand-up special on the Comedy Central network(or as I like to call it, the "Win Ben Stein's Money channel". There are other funny people in the world, you know, Comedy Central...) and episodes of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?". I was mildly curious, and out of things to read, when I ran across this title. Having no idea what I was getting into, I picked it up and began to read.

The idea of this book, according to the introduction, is for the reader to feel as though he/she and Drew Carey are hanging out, drinking beer, and talking informally. Although I didn't quite get the sense that Drew and I are bar buddies, I was impressed by the informal, conversational tone of the book, though at times I was not impressed with the content.

What that content is, is a series of essays written by Drew Carey, on topics ranging from sexual harassment, to home theaters, to Las Vegas.Unlike most comedians, Carey doesn't rely on ghostwritten segments of old stand-up routines to fill in the book. What is here is 100 percent written by Carey, showing a surprising knack for writing. Some of these essays are funny, some are ranting, some are shockingly personal. The result is a book that is one part comedy, one part political statement, and one part autobiography. Most of them are fairly dirty humor on some level, and most can be a little offensive. One chapter(titled "101 Big Dick Jokes"...I can't believe I just typed that) is very offensive, but considering the subject matter, it may just be because I'm female and don't get the humor behind that, if there is any.

The essays part of the book is split between personal revelations from Drew Carey and "funny" essays that aren't always funny. Most of them are only in the smile range, and only one of them, "Life Without Football" had me actually laughing out loud.

What saves this book from complete and utter mediocrity is the last section, entitled "Stories of the Unrefined". Five short stories written by Drew Carey, some of them at the last minute, all of them based on aspects of Carey's real life, but fictional. All of them are great. From the warm-and-fuzzy whimsy of "The Christmas Story" to the darkly hilarious "A Friend In Need" and "Tackling Jim Brown"(both about a clueless, but infuriating character named Larry), all five of these left me wishing for more. Carey has a very vivid writing style--he excels at descriptive passages, but has no problem keeping the action moving.

In any case, I would rather have seen a few more short stories and a few less unfunny chapters on things like Mimi(from the Drew Carey show), and Carey's plans to go on a fad diet. Overall, this book isn't that great. However, if you're not looking for a life changing experience, just light reading to pass the time, its perfect. If anything, read the short stories.