Nutritiousness aside, May Contain Nuts provides 100% of the daily recommended amount of that essential life-enhancer, laughter. With more than 70 contributors and 150 shots from the loose canon of American humor, it's a stellar edition with plenty of real stars from stage and screen(writing):

* Seinfeld's Peter Mehlman * Hairspray's Mark O'Donnell * Ed's Michael Ian Black * and the world's most famous drive-in movie critic, Joe Bob Briggs

Plus, there's Roy Blount Jr. on how to travel "Southern" outside the South; summer recipes from our man in the kitchen, Henry Alford; Firesign Theatre's Phil Austin's yuletide "Tale of the Old Detective"; P. J. O'Rourke's not-so-intimate "Diary of a Country Gentleman"; Daniel Radosh's "PowerPoint Anthology of Literature"; and Tom Gliatto's helpful overview of today's thriving cabaret scene. With umpteen illustrations, many perplexing charts, and our first centerfold ever, this volume is party-sized for your reading pleasure.

New in This Issue

• a comprehensive teacher's guide
• a food section (including a transcript from Van Gogh's early cooking show)
• up-to-the-minute newscrawl
• a preview of the new all Law & Order Network
• "Blues for Advanced Beginners"
• Ingenious and iffy tributes to Orson Welles, Dale Earnhardt, Beck, John Edwards, and Celine Dion