# Sedaris family:  Comedic geniuses!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedaris-family-comedic-geniuses/97978>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 13, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedaris-family-comedic-geniuses/97978 "2002-03-13T03:02:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedaris-family-comedic-geniuses/97978/21 "2002-03-15T02:11:24Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Number Six \*  
> \*\*I was recommended _Me Talk Pretty One Day_ by a friend who thought I would love it. I got half way through the first chapter (Go Carolina) where I encountered Mr. Sedaris’ idea that boys with speech impediments must be gay. Such small-minded idiocy embedded in what had up to then been a somewhat amusing story left me unable to enjoy any of the rest. If equating a disability with a particular sexual orientation is Mr. Sedaris’ idea of humor, his style is one that does not appeal to me. \*\*

I think you’re missing the joke. DS had a speech impediment as a child AND is gay.

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**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedaris-family-comedic-geniuses/97978/22 "2002-03-15T07:47:13Z")

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My only exposure to David Sedaris is _Me Talk Pretty One Day_, which I bought on the highest recommendations (many at this board).

Nothing but one long self-aware over-wrought attempt at humor. I don’t think I cracked so much as a smile throughout.

Normally, I am very protective of dust jackets for my books (take them off when reading the book, etc.) but I received some joy when I finally found the jacket for this book months after I finished it. Under the cushions of the couch, all wrinkled and destroyed.

Is all his stuff like this or was this book just particularly lame? (I know you all don’t think it is lame, what I’m asking is it all in the same style, which apparently doesn’t work for me.)

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**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sedaris-family-comedic-geniuses/97978/23 "2002-03-15T07:49:45Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Cliffy \*  
> **What story were you reading?**

Look carefully at the part of my post that you quoted.

> [@](#):
>
> \*\*That has nothing whatsoever to do with the story, which was about the efforts of the American South to “cure” homosexuality.  
> –Cliffy \*\*

I got the point; it was less than subtle. However, to say that his essay doesn’t equate speech impediments with homosexuality is disingenuous.

He says, explicitly, that the boys sent to the speech therapist were future homosexuals identified by their teachers via their speech impediments–“Did they hope that by eliminating our lisps that they might set us on a different path . . .” and goes on in great detail to list the particular methods the therapist used to try to help him. On a basic level, the essay says that boys with lisps are future homosexuals and implies that attempts to cure the former were thinly disguised attempts to eradicate the latter.

> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Sue Duhnym_\*\*  
> I think you’re missing the joke. DS had a speech impediment as a child AND is gay.\*\*

I got the joke. I just don’t think it’s funny.

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