Arts & Culture
David Sedaris author of “Naked,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” and “Barrel Fever.”.
Sedaris appearance packs in laughs in Laird Room
The Pointer
mbiem244@uwsp.edu
Lines of ticketholders snaked from the second floor of the Dreyfus University Center to the concourse level of the building prior to David Sedaris’ performance on the evening of Monday, Oct. 19. Eventually, over 700 people filed into the Laird Room to hear Sedaris speak.
The National Public Radio humorist and best-selling author‘s stop in Stevens Point was part of his national tour, which will continue into early November.
Although Sedaris has not performed in Stevens Point before, the community was not short of devoted fans.
Hanna Smith, who first heard of Sedaris by listening to NPR’s show “This American Life,” came to the performance with background knowledge of some of Sedaris’ works.
“One of my favorites is his review of various Christmas pageants at elementary schools,” she said.
While the pageant review was not included in Monday night’s performance, the crowd enjoyed Sedaris’ other writings. One fan favorite entitled “Just a Quick E-mail,” was a fictional e-mail from a woman named Rhonda to another named Robyn. Rhonda wrote to thank Robyn for the cheap wedding gift, and the letter became a rant about recent events that happened between the two women. With each sentence, the plot became more twisted and outrageous. By the end of the “quick” email, the audience learns that Rhonda married Robyn’s husband, Robyn is a paraplegic as the result of a car accident involving Rhonda and the two women are also sisters. After each twist of the plot, the audience’s laughter grew.
“The story just kept escalating,” Rebecca White said. “I knew it was fictional, but it was like, ‘Who would send this sort of e-mail?’.”
Other stories Sedaris read will be in a book available next year.
“They might be considered fables, but since I have questionable morals, let’s just call them ‘stories with animals,’” Sedaris said to the audience.
One such story, “The Spider in the Bucket,” got many laughs from listeners. In the tale, a male spider was looking for a mate when he became trapped in a bucket without food for several weeks. Finally, a dead mosquito fell into the bucket as well. The spider used the blood inside the mosquito to write a farewell message to a fictional lover in hopes that other spiders who found his corpse would remember him as a “sex god” rather than a wimp. Soon afterwards, a wounded female spider also fell in the bucket. The male spider fell in love with her and nursed her back to health. When the female spider regained consciousness, she found the note on the side of the bucket. Enraged, she ate her fellow prisoner, escaped the bucket and went back into the wild to find a more suitable mate.
Sedaris combined romantic language and an ironic plotline to achieve his famous satirical style, which draws in the audience.
For example, when the male spider spends the night caring for the wounded female, Sedaris said, “The miracle of love was that you could experience it without bursting. It would not blow you to a million pieces.” Of course, the irony was that the female spider felt no such affection and even ended up eating the male.
During the show, Sedaris also promoted books with a similar sense of humor. Our Dumb World by The Onion was mentioned and excerpts were read.
“It’s that fave atlas put out by The Onion. Sooo naughty,” Sedaris said in advertisement of the book. He recommended, jokingly, that people should purchase the atlas as a Christmas present so that family members could read it aloud all day during Christmas.
Aside from reading from his fables and diary entries, Sedaris included time to connect with the UWSP audience.
For instance, he noted that Stevens Point has “the most cheerful YMCA” and a well-lit pool with large windows. Sedaris explained that he tries to swim every other day while on tour, and has seen a variety of YMCAs in his time.
At the end of his show, Sedaris allowed for several audience members to ask questions. One individual wondered if it was strange to know that while touring and giving book signings, “everyone knows all these things about your life” since many of Sedaris’ stories relate to his family and personal life. One anecdote he delivered to the audience related to his various family member’s experiences with jury duty, and several of his books include extensive stories from his childhood.
“I don’t think the things people know are really of any consequence,” Sedaris said in reply. “I don’t actually feel that anybody knows that much about my family… they know it’s funny, too. It’s more of an illusion of exposing myself.”
When asked what topics he considers to be off-limits, Sedaris said that he does not want to expose people’s secrets.
“I’ve never written anything that would prevent anyone from getting a job,” he said.
In general, attendees of the performance seemed impressed by the venue for the event.
Smith said she thought the Laird room was a good location for the performance.
“I’m surprised. I didn’t expect it to fit that many people or have such a good sound system… I would definitely go to see other speakers [in the Laird Room],” Smith who had never previously attended a speaking event in the Laird Room, said.
The room was completely filled by supporters of Sedaris, and by the resounding laughs heard on Monday evening, it seemed that the audience enjoyed the performance.
“I’m definitely a fan of Sedaris. I was impressed we got someone of his status and caliber here at Stevens Point,” White said.
