Meet David Sedaris
So in stark contrast to the miserable woman in the supermarket was the lovely David Sedaris who we went to see at the BBC Radio Theatre this afternoon.
I’ve heard writer and essayist David Sedaris quite a few times on the This American Life podcast so I was hoping for more of the same – autobiographical stories that ramble along somewhere between pathos, observational comedy and pure self-deprecation.
And so it was.
But what really made the afternoon was Sedaris’ obvious and genuine delight in reading to a live audience. Happiness oozed from the man, positively bouncing off his shoes and radiating around the room, and when we all applauded and whooped (does anyone actually whoop on anything other than Radio 4 comedy shows?) his bashful grin was just plain charming.
At the end he thanked us all very much coming, said he was so pleased to see us, signed some books and drifted out of the theatre with the kind of goodwill that someone like say, the ant eating fools on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, can only ever dream of.
His show, Meet David Sedaris, will be on Radio 4 next April.
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 pm
oh this is daft myself and Ally (ms dusty)& E went along to his this evening show! we could have had a works outing. he’s the best isn’t he. It’s a small world but I woulsn’t want to paint it etc..
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:25 am
Ha, really! At least we weren’t at the same show. Hope he was as cheery for you as he was for us – he couldn’t stop beaming.
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
He was excellent and was very cheery and grateful we’d all sat through the show and the odd re-take
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I’ve never been to a TV or radio recording – right I’m off to Youtube to look for footage of him
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm
You really ought to fix that Mondo. So don’t go to Youtube – go here http://www.bbc.co.uk/tickets/
There are always interesting comedy shows going on at the Radio Theatre and at the Drill Hall. We’ve been to quite a few things over the years, but some have been a bit hit or miss. I think it helps if you like either a. comedy panel shows or b. that particular type of radio comedy drama which you only ever hear at 6.30pm on Radio 4.
The most notable thing I’ve ever seen taped is Have I Got News For You. Notable because Bruce Forsyth was hosting and notable because despite this, Mr C’s mother managed to fall asleep in the middle of it.
David Sedaris is great though. Let us know if you find anything good on Youtube.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Sounds like a great afternoons fun… great venue too, where I saw Sparks the other week. Nice that he came out and signed some bits and bobs afterwards too. I was hoping Sparks might do that, and had a few ‘bits’ (and to be honest, one or two ‘bobs’ too) in the man-bag just in case, but alas it was not to be!
Do a reminder post when it’s about to be on – would love to hear it (but will forget by then!)
P
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Ah, Piley I thought of you whilst we were there actually! And I almost hoped that there would be some interesting ‘characters’ around for me to report back to you – sadly not, everyone was perfectly normal and well behaved dammit.
I will try and do a reminder post if I remember myself. Six months is an awfully long time away. But on the plus side, I’ll probably have forgotten everything he did yesterday by then!
November 25th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
He’s a natural live performer. We caught him reading from ‘When You Are Engulfed In Flames’ at the Bloomsbury Theatre last year. He had the audience in the palm of his hand.
A lot of those stories read like they’ve germinated from pub or party anecdotes anyway. Doing them live is like returning them to their natural habitat.
Plus he’s a great big show-off (of the best kind) who obviously loves to entertain an audience. Some of his funnier stories are about earlier thwarted variations on that exhibitionist impulse. Like the one about his brief youthful phase as a crystal meth addicted performance artist. Or the one where he tells his disgusted hippy guitar teacher that his true musical ambition is to sing ad jingles for local stores in the style of Billie Holliday.
November 25th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Hello Spud, you are exactly right in the sense that the stories are ‘returning to their natural habitat’. I’d never thought of it like that, but yes!
PS Thanks for the Terry Riley tip-off. I’ve been listening to ‘In C’ on Spotify and it’s great.