Said David Sedaris, last night at the Overture Center, here in Madison.
Were you there? We were.
I had to worry about him a few times. Was it comic stage business when he made repetitive fussy little noises and then switched to humming to himself in a way that felt like desperate self-soothing as he searched for his place in his readings? He also spent a lot of time urging us to by another author's book — "Long Island Compromise" by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. He called her the female Philip Roth. Really? Maybe, but I got tired of hearing about her, and the bit that he read from her book wasn't as good as what he was reading us from his next book — "The Land and Its People."
पोस्ट्स
२७ टिप्पण्या:
Even our heroes have feet of clay.
I wonder what the deal is with this. Jeff Goldblum is coming? has recently come? to Houston to do some kind of talky-music-y performance. David Sedaris is doing this thing. I'm sure I've heard of other people, celebrities for things other than their prowess as raconteurs, taking on stage shows. Are they running out of money?
It's fine with me if they want to do it. But if it's "their nightmare"? Why bother? Why not just live within your considerable means?
Sounds like he's got the DJTs.
Goldblum does a great big-band show, with a hot young protégée as the singer. If that’s what brings him to your town, it’s well worth the price of admission. CC, JSM
Sedaris has been doing this for a long time and he charges a lot of money and packs a big concert hall. He's modest about what he's doing when he writes about it. I just thought he wasn't feeling good last night, because it wasn't as strong as it was 5 years ago (the other time I saw him).
I think Goldblum would be fun to see - given that every role he plays is quirky and interesting, I long ago concluded that he's more or less playing himself.
David Sedaris I care nothing for, so please forgive my ignorance of his prior performances. I thought he was just a writer who had been pressed into public appearances.
Sedaris has been doing this for a long time. Perhaps it's just wearing on him at this point. And his audience has got to be the same faces in every city. Probably similar demographic to the "No Kings" protestors. (Protest on the weekend, Sedaris on a Wednesday night...what a week!)
The writer he mentioned, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, rang a bell with me so I looked her up. Indeed. She had written the book, "Fleishman is in Trouble", then the screenplay to the movie that followed. I liked the movie and loved the story and dialogue of the screenplay so much, I considered buying that book to read, just to see how she wrote it.
And then promptly forgot about it. I might have to revisit it. As for Mr. Sedaris, he once made me laugh out loud for a few years. I find him tedious at this point. Tried to watch a couple of videos of him talking to an audience. Couldn't get through any of it because...it's the same feel, same words, same self-anguished persona. But he doesn't need my approval. He's done just fine.
He's only 68. That's a spring chicken these days. And Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Good God what a name. At least its not Mindy Goopnik.
And she's the new Philip Roth. Well, OK. I thought one was enough.
Sedaris is great on audio when he reads his own stuff. I've tried to read him, and just couldn't do it. I need his voice added to the mix.
He should try reading some Ogden Nash and selling that online.
When I read David Sedaris I hear his voice narrating the words, doesn't everyone?
"Sedaris has been doing this for a long time. Perhaps it's just wearing on him at this point. And his audience has got to be the same faces in every city. Probably similar demographic to the "No Kings" protestors. (Protest on the weekend, Sedaris on a Wednesday night...what a week!)"
Last night, he talked about the way the audiences are the same everywhere. Like, if he's in Oklahoma, the people who come to his show are ALL the people in Oklahoma who are like that, but all the people at the show are always like that. He assumed they were "the Democrats," but I think he meant older white women and the men they bring with them.
He also talked about the "No Kings" people and disparaged them. He didn't like how they dressed. Said they looked like the Tea Party people. He said he'd like a dress code based on the Civil Rights protests of the early 60s, with men in suits and ties and women in dresses and professionally lettered signs.
By the way, circa 1960, even school kids knew how to letter signs properly, using rulers and counting and measuring letters and penciling it all in before going over it with a marker. No one would hold up corrugated cardboard from an unfolded box that they'd just written on without measuring. That would have been insanity 60 years ago
Isn't it amazing that I can tell you with confidence what everyone knew how to do 60 years ago?
"Sedaris is great on audio when he reads his own stuff."
I don't think there is anyone in the world who has listened to his audiobooks for as many hours as I have (counting hours while asleep).
I would pay a lot for an audiobook of "A Carnival of Snackery" that has him reading the whole thing — Tracy Ullman reads much of the original audiobook. I love her, but it's not good for sleeping and it's too intense. It's the gentleness of his voice that makes the humor work so well.
Maybe he was tired. Just an off day for him. It’s a lot of pressure to preform when you’re the only one carrying the weight of the performance.
I used to adore David Sedaris. Gobbled up his books. Laugh out loud funny. For years, I handed out Holidays on Ice to friends. Totally relatable to normies like me. Then I went to see him. All I could see was the gay. The backbiting, the outlandish, Baroque outfit, the whiny partisanship. Double plus not funny.
An Evening with Cary Grant
"That would have been insanity 60 years ago."
I think you might be on to something about No Kings.
Sedaris first became really well-known for a funny audio performance, when he read an extended version of his story "The Santaland Diaries" on NPR's "This American Life." (It was the true-ish account of his time working as a Macy's department store Christmas elf.) I think this was the reverse of how it works for most writers -- they get noticed for their writing, and then people discover the audiobook versions or their appearances on TV or radio.
“ Isn't it amazing that I can tell you with confidence what everyone knew how to do 60 years ago?”
What is really amazing is that some think they can tell us with confidence what will happen 60 years into the future.
I never really knew, but I figured Sedaris was a guy on NPR every Saturday afternoon. When I had a yard I listened when doing stuff outside because I became tired of radio baseball. I did go see Paula Poundstone in person, too eager to please for me.
Did they let Meade in finally?
I saw Sedaris doing his reading about ten years ago, and it was quite entertaining. It's tempting for an artist to over-commit with long tour dates and you might have got fatigue for your money.
Now, if you want to see an on-stage meltdown, go see Ryan Adams. Last fortnight he had a mother of all tanties here in Melbourne.
---- I had to worry about him a few times.
[sigh] Ummm.... coffee is perking. Feel free to smell it.
----- He said he'd like a dress code based on the Civil Rights protests of the early 60s, with men in suits and ties and women in dresses and professionally lettered signs.
Wait! Is there still hope?
Penmanship for Protesters.
He and his sister Amy should write that book.
Saw him in a small club in SF about 15 years ago. Was as funny as anyone I'd ever seen and then a bit funnier.
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