Meg Wolitzer

So, back to those save-the-date cards.

While extroverts among us probably enjoy getting these announcements, others surely feel something akin to dread.

For these folks, standing around with strangers, hors d'oeuvres in hand, for five minutes of small talk about what they do for a living probably feels like five years.

If you've ever read an essay by the funny, acerbic writer Samantha Irby, you might think you know how she feels about parties.

She is the author of collections including Quietly Hostile, Wow, No Thank You, and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.

But the tone of Irby's playful piece, Please Invite Me to Your Party, may surprise you.

It was read by the actor Richa Morjani.

She's best known for her roles in Mindy Kaling's Netflix series Never Have I Ever, as well as the fifth season of FX's Fargo.

And here's Morjani exploring social graces with Samantha Irby's Please Invite Me to Your Party.

That was Please Invite Me to Your Party by Samantha Irby, performed by Richa Morjani.

I'm Meg Wolitzer.

Irby is so charming here, you'd be forgiven for thinking she meant everything she said right up to the end.

I think what makes this piece work is the confident amiability of the narrator.

What she observes is what we've observed, but she says it better than we can.

Or better than I can, anyway.

And frankly, she's hinting at the secret truth about parties, which is that most of them aren't all that good.

So you know those video feeds that allow you to see all the action going on, say, in a bird's nest?

I guess they call it a nest cam.

I want to invent a party cam.

Every party would have one, so before you leave your house, you could see what the party looks like.