Comedy, like pornography, should be left to illiterates willing to do anything. In both, you have to be able to take a pie–or something else–to the face without flinching. And you have to make it look like you’re enjoying it. Being spectacularly dumb helps in that process.

The only exceptions to this rule of smart people not being funny are: Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Moms Mabley, James Thurber, S.J. Perelman, the Marx Brothers, Lenny Bruce, everyone at MAD, everyone in Beyond the Fringe, Joan Rivers, Buddy Hackett, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, everyone at National Lampoon, Michael O’Donoghue, everyone at SNL, everyone at SCTV, everyone at Spy, everyone at The Simpsons, Larry David, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Tina Fey, Maria Bamford, etc., etc., etc.

Okay, my theory was wrong. Smart people can be funny, though they still should never have sex on camera (or off). I mean, yuck. 

One such group of very smart and funny people are the writers and artists behind the new publication The American Bystander. Created by Michael Gerber and edited by Brian McConnachie and Alan Goldberg, this magazine-ish book is a throwback to print material comedy nerds loved as kids, though it’s not musty in any way. It brings together all sorts of contemporary comic voices (George Meyer, Jack Handey, Simon Rich, Roz Chast, etc.) and is full of funny gags, articles and interviews.

But The American Bystander is not only funny–it also ranges beyond just jokes. The smart Q&A with musician/writer Josh Alan Friedman, former Screw scribe and son of Stern novelist Bruce Jay Friedman, is a particular favorite of mine. I mean, he worked for the portly beaver merchant Al Goldstein!

The first issue, Kickstarted into existence, has already been a big success. It costs $25 (Cheap!) at Amazon and stores near you and $20.00 (Cheaper!) if you PayPal Publisher@Americanbystander.org. Check out the website for more information. Issue #2 will be Kickstarted in March, and I’ll remind you about it then.•