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(U-WIRE) SAN JOSE, Calif. -- David Sedaris is at it again, wildly entertaining sold-out crowds with his sharp wit, pitch black humor and wonderfully off-the-wall stories and essays.
During his tour of 36 cities in 37 days, the best-selling author and regular on National Public Radio's "This American Life," visited Cupertino's Flint Center Sunday, and addressed an eager audience with a freshly written notebook in hand.
As always, Sedaris' uncanny skill of picking up on the absurd details of life and translating them into comically written gems was present in his new work.
As the lights went down and the first signs of movement stirred upon the stage, the crowd hushed to a silence, expecting Sedaris to appear. Instead, two giggling, teenage girls traveled across the stage toward the mic, and began to tell a fractured story about a "strange little man" and a black cave.
Huh?
Turns out, they were approached by the eccentric, 5-foot-6 man in front of the Flint Center and asked if they would introduce him.
"You can say whatever you want," he told them.
This unorthodox introduction is just a fleck of sugar in the icing on the cake, as far as Sedaris' quirkiness goes.
Once Sedaris made it to the stage, he started with a grotesque, yet engaging animal fable that was inspired by a nature show that he saw, describing how crows sometimes peck out the eyes of baby sheep.
The story was morbid and a bit disturbing, but the lively dialogue Sedaris acted out between the crow and mother sheep begged the attention of all ears in the vicinity.
Amid his depiction of the realities of nature, Sedaris intertwined the realities of human nature as well, satirically commenting on how oftentimes, people with differences harshly and ignorantly interact with each other.
He proceeded to share some of his off-the-wall autobiographical essays.
One essay that he wrote after moving to Paris involves his adoption of the French word "d'accord," which translates into "o.k." or "alright."
Since he can barely understand the language anyway, he adopts the permissive word, which leads to an array of adventures including a massive mouth operation and getting trapped in a hospital's waiting room in his underwear.
In his essay "Town and Country," Sedaris describes a plane ride with a well-to-do husband and wife in their 60s, who make him feel "the shame of the tragically outclassed." As the "stately couple" opened their mouths, however, their language puts the swearing sailor archetype to shame.
It appears to Sedaris "as if they'd kidnapped people from a Ralph Lauren ad and forced them into a David Mamet play."
The rowdy couple inspire Sedaris to realize that "s--- is the tofu of swearing. It can be molded to whatever conditions the speaker desires." For example,
"This tastes like s---," "Hell, it's hot as s--- in here," "It's windy as s---" and "S---."
As the evening progressed and an hour and a half quickly sped by, Sedaris wrapped up the last half-hour with a Q&A session with the audience.
In reviewing David Sedaris, one can only go so far. It's an attempt to explain the unexplainable. Thus, in order to fully experience Sedaris in all his glory, I strongly suggest checking him out for oneself.
(C) 2006 Spartan Daily via U-WIRE
