David Sedaris

David Sedaris is perhaps as well-known for being an elf for "Santa" in a department store as he is for being a personality on This American Life. Though the prolific writer and humorist took some mild heat during the great memoir-factuality witch hunt the past couple of years, it's hard to believe that audience members and readers aren't aware that some embellishment occurs in any story retold—be it at the water cooler or on national radio. If anything, what makes Sedaris's storytelling, essays, and memoirs so enjoyable is not that they are so outlandish and incredible, but that his unique perspective turns the mundane fantastical. For example, though most people probably haven't attempted to test into Mensa, many of us can relate to having our intellectual hopes dashed. Also in Me Talk Pretty One Day, Sedaris recounts the frustration of learning French, and of students trying to comfort each other in the only language they share—French (at about the linguistic capacity of a three-year-old). Tonight he recounts his adventures and offers social critiques on humanity.
Mon., Oct. 15, 8 p.m., 2007