Some people do funny. Some people do smart. Joe Queenan is the rare animal who can do both.

As a recovering redneck from Lubbock, Texas I bristled at some of his comments. Sometimes I enjoy Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks. I've even been known to enjoy Olive Garden from time to time.

But when he talks about things I disdain, Joe makes me laugh out loud.

Favorite targets include:

Michael Bolton: "His sacrilegious version of Sam Cooke's 'Bring It on Home to Me' is a premeditated act of cultural ghoulism, a crime of musical genocide tantamount to a Jerry Vale rerecording of the Sex Pistols' 'Anarchy in the U.K.'"

...Tom Clancy: "In Tom Clancy's otherwise unreadable Op Center: Acts of War there is an illuminating passage where one of the characters explains how to survive physical torture after falling into the hands of an enemy. I tried to apply his elaborate antitorture technique while watching Grease, and it simply didn't work."

...and he has a real beef against Cool Waiters: "His demeanor reminded me of the time an old friend described Vanity Fair as a magazine that was read by every cool waiter in St. Lous."

In the midst of all this highbrow negativity, Joe details his experiments with, and subsequent addiction to popular culture. He describes a unique sensation, the curious letdown that comes when something sucks, but doesn't suck as much as you wanted it to.

Satisfying laughs on every page, and it works better if you're open to making fun of your own preferences. I must admit that Joe ruined Garth Brooks for me. I didn't realize how trite his lyrics were until Joe put them down on paper.

By the same token, Joe turned me on to Elvis Costello, so I consider it a fair trade.

The funniest part of this book is the index in the back, where you will find entries like this:

Clancy, Tom
delineates antitorture techniques that can be used to survive a performance of Grease, 100

made fun of for no good reason, 142

Recommended: Yes