Are you guys familiar with him? I just finished reading “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and I bought “Naked” and “Barrel Fever” tonight. This guy is sooo hilarious, pmp, crack my face funny, but in a witty way. He pokes fun at his family, his childhood, everything. I ADORE this man!!
The best story I have read thus far is “The Youth In Asia.” Oh my Gawd it is funny. Also, “The Rooster Lives” (or something like that) is hilarious.
I highly recommend his writing. Has anyone else read his work??
Have you heard him on the radio? He is a regular on “This American Life” on NPR. (Ira Glass, the host, got to plug it on Letterman the other night. Dave specifically gave David his blessing as “very funny.”) He also used to be a commentator on “Morning Edition.”
“The Santa Chronicles,” his tale of being an elf at Macy’s, is one of the funniest things I have ever heard, and is capped by his dead-on Billie Holiday impression.
David Sedaris is, without a doubt, one of the funniest people on this planet today.
If you like David Sedaris, I’d strongly suggest listening to the “This American Life” website. There, you can hear him (and others) in RealAudio on your own schedule. (If you listen at work, you boss will just think you have the radio on)
Each week they pick a topic, and let several people ‘do’ it in their own unique styles. IMHO, the five years of archives should be declared a national treasure!! (Yikes! Five years! I wonder if I shouldn’t start saving the episodes for the day the show and website go off the air!)
I usually suggest new listeners start with an episode called Music. It’s a not my favorite episode (or Sedaris’ best story) but most people who start with it become regular listeners. (It’s not really good to start with any artist’s best work, is it? It leaves them nowhere to go but down)
Perhaps my favorite single ‘bit’ is the story about the squirrel on the “First Day”. Don’t miss it!
Since 1995, I’ve maintained a lists on my website on the “top things to do on the Web” and “best uses for a computer” listening to NPR on RealAudio has always been a top ten in both – and I use a computer for a lot of things: musical composition, visual art, novels, programming, ‘the world’s biggest library’… anything but games. (The closest thing to a game I have installed is the I Ching. And clearly that is no game)
I’ve been a fan for awhile now. I originally bought Naked right before a flight and annoyed my husband the whole time by laughing out loud.
Good stuff!
His sister Amy isn’t too bad either. She’s on strangers with candy!
In case you don’t know, David Sedaris has a sister named Amy who must be at least as funny as he is. She’s got a show on Comedy Central called “Strangers With Candy” that ranks with “The Simpsons” and maybe (perhaps this is controversial to some) “Futurama” as the funniest shows in TV history. It was actually Amy who brought the Sedaris fam to my attention, and I’m just itchin’ to read David.
Oh my goodness, I watch that show all the time and I had no idea that was his sister (I thought the name was a coincidence.) I am going to listen to the stuff on the NPR website. I cannot even imagine laughing any harder than I was last night (I stayed up to four in the monring reading “Naked”) but I’ll give it a try. 
Thanks for the info, everyone!!
I’ve been pimping Sedaris for years to anyone who’ll listen, and I often give his books as gifts. I think my favorite story (aside from the elf one) is the one where he decides to become a spy to discover which family member has been wiping their ass with the bathtowels. He smears his head with black shoepolish (his “disguise”) and hides in his parent’s closet and watches his mom put on wig, prance around and paint her toenails. When he described his mom’s toenails as looking like “crumbs at the bottom of the Frito’s bag” I laughed so hard and so long I thought I was going to die.
I’m glad you mentioned how funny his new book is; I read the blurbs on Amazon and wasn’t sure if it was going to be similar to his previous work or not. I’ll probably order it today, now!
KP, thanks for the link, I’m gonna check that out for sure.
Is Amy really his sister? The only sister I’ve ever heard him mention is named Gretchen. Was that a pseudonym? Am I missing something?
David has four sisters: Lisa, Amy, Gretchen, and Tiffany, and one brother, Paul, AKA the Rooster.
I LOVE Naked. The only difference between it and the new one is that the stories are shorter in “Me Talk Pretty One Day.”
Love it!! I highly recommend all of his stuff to everyone.