David Sedaris Reads On Campus (And I Document It One Week Later)

David Sedaris is clearly a funny guy, and maybe he’s just dedicated himself wholly to this personality trait. We briefly discussed in class that part of his talent lies in his ability to perform his stories well and the other part lies in his dedication to write down the funny things he sees. From this assessment, it does not seem that his work is particularly extraordinary. I’ll be honest: I’d read only about three of his short stories from the collections he’s printed, but more often I’ve heard him through readings and interviews on the radio. Some people just have the gift of telling a great story. I think a lot of that is the desire to entertain people. David Sedaris seems to fit this description. Yes, his stories are oftentimes hilarious, but he will stop at nothing to entertain people. His reading included several dirty jokes, passages from his diary, and some painful memories he’d put into funny story form. His willingness to pull from the depths of his personal life to entertain others shows an audacity that is at once respectable and appalling. Does he document his life with the intention of showing it all to the public? I assume it’s become exhausting at times. I’m not decrying Sedaris for exploiting family members and innocent members of the public, but I do think all of us are loaded with these ridiculous stories, and perhaps we are more reticent to share them. As a writer and a great storyteller, Sedaris has simply found the way to document daily life and share it with a larger community. His unique voice and apparent immunity to laughter certainly helps the delivery of it all.

Though Sedaris has capitalized on the humorous narration of ‘everyday life,’ I must also give him credit for being somewhat of a cultural anthropologist. Sedaris talks about some of the most preposterous human behavior I’ve ever heard and he seems to track it through different populations. Enter the stories of people ‘shitting on their hands’ as a normal bathroom routine. I do apologize for typing such horrid things, but I’m only writing what Sedaris must have repeated fifty times during his reading. Perhaps people are just more willing to tell Sedaris their own strange anecdotes, after hearing so many from him. If he has made himself a magnet for such stories, then he has certainly earned them. Or perhaps David Sedaris has always had the ability to draw these stories from people through his personality; onstage he seemed a very inquisitive person and bold enough to ask people anything. Regardless, Sedaris chronicles strange human behavior I never would have dreamed to exist. Alongside his humorous and silly readings, I also appreciate that Sedaris suggests a book for the audience at his readings. It’s always interesting to see what people do with their celebrity power, and it only seems right for a writer like Sedaris who has ‘hit the jackpot’ to suggest books and even to say “I would buy this book before I’d buy anything I’ve written. It’s much better.”