This live performance was recorded
in October, 2002.  David Sedaris reads his work to an adoring audience and he
does a great job.  Three of the stories are also on his recent book Dress
Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (reviewed in Metapsychology
December 2004) and the other pieces are much shorter: one introduction of a
conversation between Ira Glass and Terry Gross, two short articles from Esquire
Magazine, and a question and answer session with the audience.  What
Sedaris does so well is show the eccentricities and foibles of his family and
his relationship with his boyfriend, making them seem simultaneously ridiculous
and completely natural.  Even the saddest parts of life become incredibly funny
when transformed by his narratives.  He describes his sister Lisa’s parrot
Henry who has a wonderful ability to imitate sounds.  After their mother died,
the parrot would imitate Lisa’s crying and she and the parrot would keep each
other crying for hours, one setting off the other.  But the funniest part of
this recording is Sedaris’ description of his experiment using the Stadium Pal,
which was essentially a plastic bag strapped to his thigh attached by a tube to
his penis enabling him to urinate without having to find a bathroom.  Sedaris
explains both his initial hopes for the device and his growing realization that
this was not a good idea. Sedaris is at his best in front of a live audience
and this is a strong performance.

© 2005 Christian
Perring. All rights reserved. 

Christian
Perring, Ph.D., is Academic Chair of the Arts & Humanities
Division and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Dowling College, Long Island. He is also
editor of Metapsychology Online Review.  His main research is on
philosophical issues in medicine, psychiatry and psychology.

Categories: AudioBooks, Memoirs