Demonstrating that her penchant for swearing began at an early age, comedian Silverman begins her hilarious memoir by describing how, at age three, she gleefully responded to her grandmother's offer of brownies with “shove 'em up your ass.” Growing up in New Hampshire (“where cows are well done and Jews are rare”), Silverman naturally gravitated toward performing and moved to New York, where she attended and eventually dropped out of New York University to pursue a standup comedy career. Mixing show business moments (she wrote for Saturday Night Live for one season, but none of her sketches made it past dress rehearsal) with stories of her childhood and adolescence (punctuated by a persistent bedwetting problem), Silverman never shies away from poking fun at her own expense. Though she's best known for sexually explicit jokes, Silverman is able to address more serious subjects in the book without losing her edge, particularly her teenage struggle with depression and that her often abrasive public persona allowed her to “say what I didn't mean, even preach the opposite of what I believed.... It was a funny way of being sincere.” 8-page color insert. (May)

Often hilarious and occasionally revelatory.… More than just a collection of gags and stand-up leftovers, ‘The Bedwetter’ is a mostly cohesive narrative of how a rebellious comic perspective evolved and became inseparable from the person who employs it, and how anyone who could find offense in that is really the butt of the joke.

It’s irreverent, funny and sometimes winningly serious…. Though Silverman’s book provides her customary shock-and-awe humor ... it is Silverman’s honesty and vulnerability that are most surprising.

Without curtailing her trademark potty-mouth humor and shock tactics, comedian Sarah Silverman has written a memoir that’s sweet, funny, real and, dare I say it, occasionally even touching… Silverman’s book suggests that, behind the cute face and dirty mouth, there’s a clever woman with a warm heart.

Odd, shambling, and funny... as close to an explanation of Silverman and her comedy as we’re likely to get. It seems to be saying, Obviously I’m joking, but it’s also me up there.

An engrossing (and grossing) journey from childhood to childish adulthood.... Silverman’s standup, normally marked by a detached persona and thick outer layer of snark and irony, is off-putting for some, but here she hits previously unseen levels of honesty and sincerity while still retaining her expected level of filth.

In this book, as onstage, she has the power to shock—not so easy in these times. Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor crossed lines; now that the controversy has faded, we remember their genius. And so we will with Sarah Silverman.

Readers...get a fully realized portrait of Silverman: tales from a youth spent moistening mattresses and fighting depression in New Hampshire; her salad days as a struggling comedienne in New York; and the various trials that have come with being the filthiest, funniest woman on television.

Deftly mixes the spit-take funny stuff with an unsentimental but enlightened look back at her not-so-charmed life and career.

"Odd, shambling, and funny... as close to an explanation of Silverman and her comedy as we’re likely to get. It seems to be saying, Obviously I’m joking, but it’s also me up there."

"In this book, as onstage, she has the power to shock—not so easy in these times. Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor crossed lines; now that the controversy has faded, we remember their genius. And so we will with Sarah Silverman."

Silverman is great on-screen, and even her film Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, less than an hour-and-a-half long, is not enough! Luckily, she's in print now and just as funny. This look back at the childhood and beginning career of Silverman, bed wetter extraordinaire, isn't a stab at a complete autobiography, though. It's more of a sketch that highlights particularly influential parts of growing up, like being a bed wetter, which lead to a career of delighting in potty humor. From her humble New England beginnings to her forays into crossing Asian American watchdog groups, fashion police, and various network censors, Silverman's loose collection of stories makes for great reading. Silverman is not known for self-censoring, and her book is filled with off-color language; what's more, at least one photograph makes the title inappropriate for school libraries. VERDICT For any reader who enjoys Silverman's stand-up and television work, her freshman literary effort is highly entertaining, provides a fascinating introduction to the person behind the persona, and should fly off the shelves—order a few. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/09; 300,000-copy first printing; four-city tour; ebook ISBN 978-0-06-198707-6.]—Audrey Snowden, Cleveland P.L.