Humorist David Sedaris "may not be the smartest American writer, but he is arguably the funniest," wrote Sam Jemielty in a Playboy.com article. Sedaris had taken an IQ test to see if he could join the ranks of the "genius fraternity Mensa," according to Jemielty. And as Sedaris reported in his essay collection Me Talk Pretty One Day, he did not really give those heavyweights a run for their money: "There are cats that weigh more than my IQ score." But as Jemielty pointed out, it is humor and not brains that sell Sedaris's work. "His four essay collections have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. And while other popular books by `smart' guys like Tom Wolfe or Don DeLillo often sit unread on coffee tables, Sedaris' tomes get devoured, passed from friend to friend like dirty emails, creating an underground railroad of fans."

Sedaris is the...