Joel Stein might have been the only expectant father in history to worry about having a boy. When he and his pregnant wife learned the sex of their baby, the Time columnist and L.A. resident feared he wasn't tough enough to raise his future son. “I don't think of myself as a man so much as a person who happens to have a penis,” Stein says in his book, Man Made: The Stupid Quest for Masculinity, a sort of Diary of a Wimpy Adult. The writer blames his nebbishy ways on his '70s, liberal, Jewish, Free to Be You and Me childhood. In his quest to finally grow a pair, Stein embarks on such masculine adventures as hunting, drinking hard liquor, learning how to take care of dogs, camping with the Boy Scouts and working with firemen in Hollywood. “The real reason Jews don't have dogs is that we're smart,” Stein says. He even enters a three-day boot camp and fights former UFC mixed martial arts champion Randy Couture in the ring. Rob Huebel knows a thing or two about fictional fatherhood: The actor-comic plays a new dad in the current movie What to Expect When You're Expecting. He also appears in Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital and is an Upright Citizens Brigade regular. Huebel and Stein will mark their territories as they discuss Stein's book, which, of course, is already rumored to be adapted into a movie. So pay close attention. It'll put hair on your chest. Temple Emanuel, 300 N. Clark Drive, Beverly Hills, Wed., June 13, 7:30 p.m.; $20. writersblocpresents.com. Stein also reads at Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., W. Hlywd.; Thurs., June 14, 7 p.m. (310) 659-3110.

Wed., June 13, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., June 14, 7 p.m., 2012

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