Saturday night, the Center for the Arts was filled with plenty of hilarity and mirth, as National Public Radio humorist and internationally best-selling author David Sedaris returned to Buffalo for an evening of stories and essays.
In a sold-out Mainstage Theater, Sedaris pleased an anxious audience that consisted of Starbucks-drinking, sweater vest-wearing Barnes and Noble hipsters and scholarly professors.
Sedaris began the evening by reading a soon-to-be-published short story in "The New Yorker" magazine about his current relationship with partner Hugh. In the story, he stays honest to the formula that catapulted his career to international recognition. In a bizarre-but-true tale, Sedaris spoke of a large boil growing on his spine, and how his boyfriend literally soaked up the stinky-smelling specimen with love.
"After smelling the pus that was gushing down my back, I thought, 'This must be what evil smells like,'" said Sedaris.
Like much of his other work, the story at first appears to be about the boil. But its twisted, comedic prose came full-circle, telling about the power of fidelity in relationship.
"... And that's what its like to love somebody for six years. To know so much about one person that it makes you want to scream. You remember the first time you touched that person's body, wanting to know everything about him as quickly as possible. You feel empty with lots of extra baggage," he read.
"The plan is not to lose it, but to find somebody so you can have a matching set. These are the kinds of thoughts that ran rapidly through my head while I lay in bed with the boil, searching for the will to live."
Sedaris also shared an exclusive passage from a yet-to-be released untitled novel. The story treads on a topic familiar to fans of Sedaris's nonfictional essays: family dysfunction.
The piece recalls an argument between a man and his wife on Thanksgiving afternoon. Through the banter and bickering, the story escalates to a squabble about the size of the man's nipples.
Though most of Sedaris's published work is nonfiction, mainly humor essays on his childhood and relationships, one audience member asked after the readings how his family feels about him airing their dirty laundry.
"My family is alright about what I write," he said. "Well, mostly because they make money off of me, but also because I don't see it as making fun of them but admiring (them) for being so funny."
"They make mistakes, but how funny they are makes up for it in most cases. My brother actually sells these hideous t-shirts (alongside) my book, which I am embarrassed about. What can I do about it though? I mean I can't exactly accuse of him of exploiting me."
Sedaris switched gears from his work-in-progress novel to read from his latest bestselling essay collection, "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim."
The story, entitled "Baby Einstein," depicts his Raleigh, N.C., upbringing and his hopelessly redneck brother Paul's first child. A seemingly opposite person from Paul, Sedaris struggles to understand how this child will survive a reality in which she is smarter than her hick parents. He recalls discussing with his mother and sisters who of the siblings would be the first to have children.
"(My thoughts) did not include my brother, because every time I saw him he was destroying something. Not by accident but willfully, gleefully. He'd dismember his baby, with every intention of putting it back together, but then something would come up - a karate movie, the chance to eat two dozen tacos - and the reconstruction would be forgotten about."
The phenomenon of Paul and his Southern lifestyle is illustrated with a passage about the baby's first holiday season.
"On baby's first day of winter Madelyn sat before a video of 'A Christmas Carol,' then watched as, in imitation of a Victorian gentleman, my brother applied a pair of mutton-chop sideburns. This was accomplished not with a disguise kit, but simply, using two strips of raw bacon that ran along through the miracle of fat against human flesh."
Sedaris transitioned from his latest bestseller into more exclusive material: his journal.
This may have been the only weak moment of the entire evening. Sedaris seemed only to be sharing these pieces because he needed to fill time.
However, the laughs did not stop. Entries were in typical Sedaris form: witty and humorous.
The author also took time at the end of the evening to entertain questions from the sold-out theater. One woman asked after the previously announced film adaptation of his 2001 bestseller book, "Me Talk Pretty One Day." After plans to write the screenplay himself fell through, the idea of handing over his stories to someone else gave Sedaris doubt.
"I didn't feel comfortable with giving some stranger the rights to alter my family in exchange for a paycheck. That's not me," he said. "Not to mention, I was really excited to choose the characters for the movie. I asked Jack Lemmon to portray my father and he said he would be thrilled to do it. And then he died, like, the next day. I mean, where do you go from there?"
The Presidential election was another topic asked about, though Sedaris, who lives half of the year in Paris, France, appeared uninterested in politics.
"I found the debates to be depressing and embarrassing to see both candidates stumbling over their responses. Neither of them seemed to answer any of the questions the moderator was asking."
"If I think that a person is telling the truth, I just listen harder," said Sedaris.
The evening was capped off by a book signing in the CFA Atrium, the line stretching the length of the building. Sedaris signed autographs and made hundreds of new friends among his following.
He offered a word of advice to aspiring writers.
"I think anybody can become a successful writer if I can," said Sedaris. "Just write the words and the rest will come later. You can become a great writer like me, but I can't promise you'll be as rich as I am."
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
