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'OPTIONAL' IS MANDATORY

September 21, 2008 12:16 am

IF THERE WERE a Pulitzer Prize awarded for Most Outstanding Book Blurb, comedian Steve Martin would sweep up.

But it'd be a toss-up for top honors between the blurb he wrote for Eric Idle and the one he contributed to the new collection of humorous essays, dialogues and short fiction from Alan Zweibel, "Clothing Optional."

"I laughed. I cried. Then I read the book," remarked Martin of the Monty Python cast member's "The Road to Mars."

"Humor writer, author, playwright. But enough about me. Alan Zweibel's book made me laugh out loud," Martin said about the efforts of the writer on the original Saturday Night Live.

Whether Zweibel is writing about his magazine assignment at a nudist club, his stint as commissioner of the local Little League, his embarrassment at being found out after relieving himself in the community pool, or the best nectarine ever, he's one funny guy.

Be prepared to laugh out loud. And not just at the jacket's blurbs.

Kurt Rabin is a copy editor at The Free Lance-Star.