The first section consists of pieces clearly labeled as short fiction and the second half contains autobiographical essays, a distinction that is not made in his subsequent books.

[2] For years before Barrel Fever's publication, David Sedaris would write stories and, according to him, "just stick them in a drawer," as it did not occur to him that anyone would ever want to publish them.

After he started appearing on NPR's This American Life, three different publishing houses called him to ask if he had a book of his stories, and he noted "it was convenient because I just happened to have one in my drawer.

Heard noted that although the short story "My Manuscript" was clearly presented as fiction, many reviewers took his description of a guitar teacher called "Mr. Chatam" as fact.

To further complicate things, upon investigation it turned out that there actually was a guitar teacher in North Carolina, who fit the description in some ways, but had been exaggerated for comedic effect.