Pure Drivel

By RICHARD CORLISS

He was once overheard boasting to a friend, "I've read War and Peace." So we know Steve Martin is intelligent. Now we know he is intelligent in print. In these comic essays (most from the New Yorker), the voice is often that of the old stand-up Steve: a fellow less cool, less together--and thus funnier--than he thinks he is. Martin takes inspiration from prescription bottles, the Schrodinger's cat paradox and Marlon Brando on Larry King Live. The little gems come at a hefty price--87[cents] each ($1.17 in Canada!)--but are worth it for their expectation-defying musings on philosophers, paparazzi and the word underpants. This is high-wire humor, as pure as the drivel snow.

--By Richard Corliss