Man Bites Town

From 1989 to 1992, actor and television writer Shearer contributed a humor column to the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine , informed by his own brand of sophisticated, rueful satire. Brief newspaper columns rarely translate into worthwhile books, but this collection is consistently entertaining. Shearer comments pithily on the regional scene, including L.A. restaurants, Santa Monica's homeless people and California drivers (``I blame the decline in the quality of local vehicular behavior on the influx of people who learned to drive primarily by watching The Blues Brothers ''). Other targets loom larger: invited to a White House Christmas party, Shearer observes, ``The notion of exchanging wishes for peace on earth with the man who, at that moment, was building up a huge armed force half a world away held a certain goofy charm for me.'' Each of these byte-size essays has shape, style, wit and, above all, a resonance that echoes beyond its brief confine. (Apr.)