FYI He’s coming to Raleigh in October.
His brother still lives in Raleigh and owns a flooring business, I have seen a van for Sedaris Flooring driving around.
I adore everything about David Sedaris except his voice. I’d much rather read his books than listen to them on audio, but I’ve seen him live three times just because it’s so much fun to laugh (and cringe) with lots of other people.
I’ve been a fan of David Sedaris’ books for years, but had never heard that recording. It’s wonderful - especially the “Away in a Manger” part.
Santa Santa did not allow me to finish.
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This is remarkably true of humour in general though. Last year I put together a distillation of several “Ten Funniest Books of All Time” lists and worked my way through it. A couple of the books I found hilarious. The rest were somewhere between “I cracked a wry smile once” and “I have just read a whole book supposed to be one of the funniest ever written and it contains no humour perceptible to me whatsoever!?”
And I don’t even mean that I saw these books as containing jokes that were bad. I mean I literally don’t even know which bits were supposed to be funny.
I have always known that tastes in humour vary but until I did this exercise I had no idea of the scale upon which they do.
I’m curious about which books were in the ‘contains no humour…’ category.
mmm
The number one would be Portnoy’s Complaint. It’s very often not merely on but at the top of lists of funniest novels. I have absolutely no idea what bits people find funny. It just seemed like a sad story of a somewhat abusive childhood, to me.
Good stuff - thanks.
The event in my neck of the woods was last night. Short version: If you like his work at all, you should definitely go see him.
Long version:
The event was held at a small independent bookstore. It was neat, because the setting was fairly intimate. It was also frustrating, for two reasons:
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There were no seats. The crowd (about 100 people) milled around in the open area of the bookstore until the reading began, at which point most everybody just sat on the wooden floor.
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The store’s air-conditioning system wasn’t built to handle 100 folks in the store. On a mid-June evening in Alabama, that’s not a good thing. It was steamy in there.
He read some selections from his newest book for about 45 minutes, then took questions from the audience for another 30. He signed books before and after the event. As others have mentioned, he’s very chatty and personable. I’ve never been to an event like this, and I guess I figured it would be more … assembly-line-like, if that makes sense. But he seemed genuinely interested in each person, and talked with them while signing their books. He spent maybe three or four minutes talking with each person.
I enjoyed it much more than I’d expected I would. I laughed out loud (along with the crowd) multiple times as he read. He has an excellent sense of timing and storytelling in general, and it greatly enhanced the material. There were many excerpts that I probably wouldn’t even have paused over, much less smiled or laughed at, if I was just reading them myself; but his delivery made them much funnier.
He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, of course. If you’re not a fan of his writing before you go, I’m not sure you’d come away with your opinion changed. But if you like his stuff even a little bit, I’d highly recommend going to see him. You’ll be glad you did.
That’s terrific! I’m glad you got the chance to see him.
Me, too. Despite the heat, sounds like a good event.
He will often recommend other authors’ books to the crowd (“You’re already here because you like me, but you might like X too”) and once I saw him inviting people to give him cigarettes as they stepped up for him to sign their books (“I’ll sign your book no matter what, but I have to admit, I’ll like you more if you give me a cigarette”). He’s since kicked the habit, I believe.
He did that last night. Don’t know if it was an arrangement with the bookstore, or if he was cross-promoting for his publisher … but the ticket I bought included a copy of his book, along with another, the title of which is escaping me at the moment. He spent a few minutes after his reading talking about the other book and the author, and encouraging the attendees to buy that book as well.
When I heard him about a decade ago at Oberlin College, it was Max Brooks’s World War Z, which has sold pretty well since, I’d say.
I’ve read IIRC one or one and a half of his books, and once or twice on NPR. I’m not a fan.
There’s no accounting for taste, and he’s not to my taste.
The linked essay A Number of Reasons I’ve Been Depressed Lately is indicative. The joke about lines forming at the back is kind of cheap and not funny, and he’s depressed because he can afford to send a thousand dollars to the Hillary campaign and they ask for more. His remarks about that aren’t pointed enough to be funny, and that makes it hard to care whether he is depressed. I can see how his stuff is supposed to be funny and insightful, but it ain’t working for me.
Well, he has good taste in other authors, which is something. I loved WWZ, especially on audio.
Regards,
Shodan
Oh NO. He was here last Thursday. I wish I’d checked his schedule after hearing him on Fresh Air! 
He did that when I saw him last year at SUNY Purchase. I just think he’s a big supporter of other authors.
For what it’s worth, I just remembered the name of the “other” book he was promoting last night (and for bonus points, the name of the author as well): The Rules Do Not Apply, by Ariel Levy.
I’ve read and enjoy most of his stuff, and seen him live.
What is meaningful to me about him is that his presence grew from his radio readings of his work. He started out with the NPR radio show “This American Life”. Much like his colleagues at the time, Sarah Vowell and David Rakoff, they all had distinctive radio voices and shared a very droll style. All of their writing careers really blossomed from their radio work.
So, I can see how just reading his works is not as entertaining as reading them while hearing his voice in your head. Same with Sarah, and the late David R. It really helps to get the voice in place to make it all work.
Ira put him on Morning Edition and then later when he began This American Life he invited Sedaris to contribute. Santaland Diaries premiered on ME.
Bumped.
He’ll be back at Oberlin on May 28, and I’ll be there to hear his commencement address!: https://www.oberlin.edu/news/best-selling-author-and-humorist-david-sedaris-will-give-2018-commencement-address