THE BIG PICTURE: An American Commentary, by A. Whitney Brown, HarperPerennial, 180 pages, softcover, $9.95.

If you spent your last $9.95 on A. Whitney Brown’s “The Big Picture,” your pockets would be empty but your soul would be full of laughter.

Brown, best known for his political commentaries on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” comments on world events as only he can do. In the words of Johnny Carson, “This is funny, funny stuff.”

Nothing is spared from Brown’s biting satire. In “The Big Picture” Brown discusses Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Saddam Hussein, the Middle East, the contras, flag burning, abortion, the national debt, the environment and elections.

A quick look at some of the material in this book shows that Brown is a creative and talented comedy writer.

Abortion: “Dan Quayle thinks Roe v. Wade are alternative ways to cross the Potomac.”

USA Today: “A good newspaper if you want to take your mind off world events.”

Flag burning: “Amending the Constitution to protect the flag is like amending the Bible to protect Catholic school uniforms.”

Bush’s inauguration: “A $30 million inaugural ball was a real relief after all the substantive discussion of the campaign.”

Rats used in medical research: “Rats are rats, and for all the disease and plague they caused in the Middle Ages, they owe us.”

Higher pay for members of Congress: “I don’t think we want people leaving productive, necessary jobs to go to work for the government. Suppose the Wright brothers had been congressmen? Instead of airplanes, we’d have been fighting the Nazis with kites that cost $10 million apiece.”

Use of nuclear bombs in World War II: Harry Truman bore that burden alone. “He’s still paying the price, too, because, to this day, Truman’s birthplace in Independence, Mo., is the only tourist attraction in America where you never see Japanese with cameras.”

Although these are just snippets from larger essays, they still show what can be expected from Brown. If these tidbits of humor brought a smile to your face, the full commentaries will have you falling out of your chair.

That, my friend, is “The Big Picture.”

Jim Emple is an editor on the NEWS copy desk.