Comics Book

The irony flowed like wine Monday night when Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller appeared at a party at the tony Manhattan lounge Metronome to celebrate the release of their new book, ''Feel This Book: An Essential Guide to Self-Empowerment, Spiritual Supremacy, and Sexual Satisfaction.'' The wry-namic duo mounted the small stage (dramatically erected a good 20 feet above the audience -- ''THIS is weird,'' said Stiller) and explained why they felt compelled to collaborate on their mock-New Age tome. ''Who better qualified to tell you about your life than someone who's been on television?'' deadpanned Garofalo. ''We couldn't NOT do this book. We owe it to you, the fan-atics.''

Although they stressed that they wrote the faux self-help book with no research or knowledge of human psychology, after their appearance the two did confess to EW Online some esteemed influences on their writing: ''Deepak Chopra... Marjoe Gortner... Robert Tilton,'' they both chimed in. ''Ernest Borgnine... Shelley Winters.''

If they're using Chopra's career as a model, they've already got the devoted following taken care of: At the sold-out barnesandnoble.com-sponsored event attendees were so starstruck that they broke into hysterics just hearing Garofalo say the word ''whilst.'' And the writers hope that's just the beginning of the blockbuster-size buzz. ''I've already hired people to stand outside the Cinerama Dome and the Ziegfield Theater for our book,'' Garofalo told EW Online at the event. ''We're starting a competing line in tandem with 'Star Wars.'''

After a short reading, the pair fielded questions from the audience. When asked how closely they collaborated on the book, Stiller admitted that they wrote their alternating chapters separately: ''We'd call each other every once in a while, and she'd say, 'Have you written anything?' And I'd say... 'No.' It literally came down to a call from the publisher saying, 'We're going to take the money back if we don't get the manuscript.'''

Then a fan familiar with Garofalo's ''binge food'' stand-up routine asked her what she was devouring now. Answer: the giant oatmeal raisin cookies sold at her neighborhood market. ''They're the size of a baby's head,'' Garofalo raved. ''I lay them out on the floor and eat them while watching E!, going, 'I'm in show business, too!'''

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