I got an e-mail from a reader a long time ago telling me that I so full of bulls*** that he was surprised I managed to use a keyboard with hooves as big as mine must be.

My reply was swift and to the point “Yu sir aree a complte bob.” And, I issued a challenge, “Pruv it!”

To which he sent me a pile of my own columns in an envelope labeled “BS.” Which pretty much ended the matter. Because as we all know, the U.S. Postal Service is the authority on all things.

Besides, the guy was right. For the most part, I am full of BS. But any critic who labels him or herself an expert on any subject (TV, books, music, movies, etc.) is so full of BS that he or she must constantly be slipping with every step they take.

Case in point. Consider the first sentence in my last paragraph, “for the most part.” By saying this, I'm trying to imply that I am only a little bit full of BS, while at the same time claiming everyone else in my line of work is fully covered in BS. I just pulled a total BS move.

BS can be a wonderful thing when detected. Think about it. You're sitting at a bar, listening to a guy at the next table talking into his jerk-off cell phone about car dealership haggling, and you think, “God, this ass clown is full of BS.”

And what happens? You smile. We smile because we're happy we found the BS a-hole in the crowd, and it was not us. And we're happy because deep down, we all have a need not to be scammed.

Why am I so into BS at the moment? I mean for other than its holistic healing properties? Because the one show known for its keen observance of BS, “Penn & Teller's Bulls***!,” has begun its fifth season on Showtime. And baby, in my expert opinion, it is a fantastic display of television courage. (Again, that sentence right there is critic BS.)

I have rarely laughed as hard when not watching “South Park” than when I'm watching the premiere show on identifying the BS in our times. God bless these two atheists who stand naked in all their vulnerability and proudly shout “Go do something impolite to yourselves, whatever group we are targeting!” Indeed.

Every group or idea from PETA, Boy Scouts of America, the global warming environmental mentally ill, the NRA, war on drugs, Wal-Mart-hating groups, recycling, alien abductees and the death penalty to fat people have felt the sting of Penn and Teller's wicked ways.

And every episode seems to get funnier as these two dig beyond the five-second evening news sound bytes that many of the aforementioned groups suckle from.

The next episode, April 19, will target satanic conspiracies. So break out the black candles and prepare to be enlightened.