I rode with David Sedaris all over Toronto.
I discovered David Sedaris after asking my college writing mentor how to become a better comedy writer. He handed me a strange looking book with a pair of boxer shorts on the cover …
Naked by David Sedaris.
I’d never heard of David before, but when I went home and started paging through his book, I was completely blown away.
Our podcast location … David’s limo!
His autobiographical essays were incredibly sardonic, witty, and laugh-out-loud funny, and dealt with his homosexuality and his obsessive compulsive tics and dropping out of school.
Like millions of people around the world, I quickly became obsessed with David Sedaris. I’ve read all of his books and every article he’s written in The New Yorker.
I even went to see him speak, which is how I learned that after every single event he does, he’ll stay late (up to 10 hours!) just to talk to anyone who wants to meet him.
Backstage at CBC radio watching David’s interview!
So it was with a lot of excitement that I squeezed into the back of his limo on his North American book tour for Calypso. I rode with him all over Toronto from his hotel to his CBC interview to his book signing to uncover and discuss his three most formative books.
What was supposed to be a tight half hour interview turned into a beautiful hour and a half long conversation.
Welcome to Chapter 18 with the generous and beautiful David Sedaris.
Listen to Chapter 18:
Click here to Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify, Youtube or Google Play.
What You'll Learn:
What’s the “secret to getting old”?
Why can’t you be a writer if you’re not a reader?
How do we remain artistically and ethically pure after commercial success?
Why do we try to hide our love for money when we generally need it to live?
How do we transition from mimicking other writers to establishing our own voice?
Why does David ask random people he meets who he thinks are funny to open for him at huge events?
notable quotes from david sedaris:
“When the story makes you swell up and you can’t quite fit in your body again, you know it’s a good story.” — David Sedaris | 3 Books Podcast
“I'm still held back by myself. I mean, yeah, I have money, but I spend all my time picking up trash on the side of the road dressed in rags because I can't, not, do it.” — David Sedaris | 3 Books Podcast
“I have some hole in my life. In the same way that actors or comedians have some deep hole or neediness that they need to be adored and approved of. It’s just naked almost, this pathetic need.” — David Sedaris | 3 Books Podcast
“Yeah, I have money, but I pick up garbage dressed in rags on the side of the road because I *can't* *not* do It.” — David Sedaris | 3 Books Podcast
“When you're a young writer you imitate other people and then eventually you stumble upon yourself.” — David Sedaris | 3 Books Podcast
“Because I admired [Tobias Wolff] so much I tried to be him. But you have to be him to be him. ... I don't have his heart. I don't have his sense of justice. So I'll never ever ever be him. But I'm so grateful he's in the world.” — David Sedaris | 3 Books Podcast
CONNECT With DAVID:
word of the chapter:
Resources Mentioned:
David’s first book [17:17]
David’s second book [43:55]
David’s third book [1:12:40]
Naked by David Sedaris
Calypso by David Sedaris
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Ulysses by James Joyce
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris
Her (film by Spike Jonze)
Magnolia (film by Paul Thomas Anderson)
State of Grace by Joy Williams
The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams
A White Bible by Tobias Wolff
The Nature of the Fun by David Foster Wallace
The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir About Writing and Life by Ann Patchett
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
