At Home with Amy Sedaris

Cafe Society
1

I had high hopes. Loved Strangers With Candy and think old Amy is pretty damn funny. I figured something like this would be right up her ally and could really make something good.

But this new show sucks on ice! Painfully unfunny in every way. Either Amy shouting non-stop as one of her one-dimensional and interchangeable characters, or a repetitious droning of segment intros. Seriously, how long does that “Woman who lives in the Woods” intro need to be? Yeah, okay, “Crafting Corner”. Dance around with scissors.

A real waste of potential, and a good idea for a comedy poorly executed. I think if she shit-canned all the guests and terrible characters and did a straight-up parody of a craft-show-gone-off-the-rails, aka Martha Stewart on Crack, it would be funny.

But this isn’t. Disappointed.

Anybody else watching?

2

Yep and I love it. But I think she is amazing and would watch her recite the phonebook.

3

Made through half the first episode. Apparently she was running with scissors and stabbed funny in the eye just before the taping.

4

Horrifying. Had to abort after 15 mins max. I was writing stuff like that when I was 8.

5

It actually gets much worse.

6

I watched the first two episodes (which were aired back-to-back).

Yeah, very odd stuff. I’m used to her humor but there’s just something not right about this.

I think the network knows they have a dog on their hands and stuck it out of the way, just burning them off.

One really good joke: “Me Talk Filo One Day!”

Amy has never done well in her hostess/craft persona.

7

But she could. The odd-ball crafts and cooking parts are almost funny. Get rid of the shrieking “characters” and it could work, I think.

For example, the “Grieving” episode. The “pantyhose eye burrito” craft project could have been funny, and almost was. But the other 20 minutes of that Hogg lady shouting non-stop was intolerable.

I predict no season two. But what do I know?

8

I too gave it a try and bailed during the first episode. My husband and I got partway through the Woman Who Lives in the Woods, we looked at each other perplexed and I turned the channel. I was disappointed. Now, whenever we see the previews for it we both groan.

9

It’s not perfect, but generally great in my book. Some of the jokes and wordplay are straight out of the Strangers With Candy playbook, but that’s a good thing to me. I could live without “Woman who Lives in the Woods” stuff, but the guests have generally been solid.

I do find it fairly amazing how much mileage she’s gotten out of the “70s craft book / cookbook” thing over the years.