David Sedaris wants to be better (at everything)
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. For over three decades, beloved humorist David Sedaris has chronicled the absurdities of modern life, including his own. He got his start writing about his short tenure at Macy's as Crumpet, a Santa Land elf, in an essay titled The Santa Land Diaries. When he first read the essay on NPR's Morning Edition back in 1992, it generated more tape requests than any other story in the show's history to that point and turned him into an overnight sensation. He's since published several best-selling collections of personal essays, been awarded the Thurber Prize for American Humor, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2019. His latest book of personal essays, The Land and Its People, casts Sedaris in several roles.
Devout brother, itinerant traveler, grieving friend, and reluctant caretaker. Sedaris, who is now 69, writes, I'm in the hard part of getting old, the part where everything irritates you. The easy part comes a little later, when my short-term memory disappears. David Sedaris spoke with guest interviewer Sam Fregoso, host of the interview podcast Talk Easy.
David Sedaris, welcome back to Fresh Air. Thank you so much, Sam. Your latest collection of essays, The Land and Its People, are pieces you've been reading on tour around the country, I think, for the last four or five years. Does performing these pieces in front of an audience help you make them better? Sure. Yes, the audience is my first editor, and they tell me everything I need to know. One of the new pieces I wrote, I was talking about how frustrating it is to be in line behind someone who's buying lottery tickets. I just hate it when you get there, and then the person in front of you is like, no, that's 19-3-3-6. On my deathbed, I'm going to want all that time back that I spent standing behind people buying lottery tickets.
And when the audience, let's say, for instance, when they cough, they tell me that I need to cut whatever it is that I'm reading.
What insights does David Sedaris share about his writing process?
Or, you know, of course, when they laugh, that's fantastic. But I don't mind a groan. A collective groan is fine with me. you know, that kind of horrified sound. That's all fine with me. I mean, there are different laughs, too. You know, there's a laugh of shock, and there's a laugh of recognition, and there's a laugh that says, I shouldn't be laughing at this, but look, I am. So... And I can gauge them. You know, I've just been doing this for so long. I can gauge it. And then, like... Sometimes if you have, well, try it again next time, I said, and then you change it to, I said, try it again next time, then it'll work. So if I have the opportunity to have the audience in front of me, I don't want to read anything the same way twice in a row.
I want to take the opportunity to change that word repeatedly. There's something I'm working on. I've been reading out loud, and it's a crow, and it would be the name of a crow, right? Like, I determine the crow's name. And so I thought... I've been going with Scott, but then I changed it to... And Scott gets a huge laugh. And then I tried, oh, Thomas. Thomas would work. And then I tried Thomas, and it got nothing. Why is Scott... a good name for a crow and Thomas not. I can't tell you, but it's interesting to swap that out every night. When you're out of town and you're away from Hugh, does your writing routine change at all when you're in all these different cities? Are you waking up every morning and getting to the page?
What's the process? Well, when I'm at home, I get up and I go right to my desk. But when I'm traveling, I just have to write when I can find the time, right? So I usually get up first thing in the morning. But see, I have a lot of little...
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:35
2
What insights does David Sedaris share about his writing process?
2:35–8:03
3
How does performing in front of an audience influence Sedaris's work?
8:03–18:54
4
What daily routines does David Sedaris follow while touring?
18:54–21:27
5
What role does Duolingo play in Sedaris's life?
21:27–48:04
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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