Holy shit, dude is funny as f$%k.
I have three of his books, but have only read one (Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim) and I think I read a string of his essays in GQ years ago. But yesterday (6.24.19) my roommate came up to me at 3 pm and said "Hey, you wanna go to Reno and see David Sedaris?" Apparently I was the only person she could think of that might be interested. I grabbed DYFiCaD off the bookshelf and said "Let's go!" (unbeknownst to me, I had two other books in a box upstairs in my room!).
We trekked down and got to the Radiant and Original Sundance Bookstore about 6pm.
They had set up chairs in their front garden and the place was packed, not to mention there was a snaking line through the parking lot of folks waiting to get books signed. I think the even was supposed to start at 6:30, but it was after 7 when Sedaris took "the stage".
He read some essays he's penned for some CBS Sunday show, read his commencement speech from Oberlin College, and told some really funny, really off-color jokes (dude is dirty as f#$k, which was great, I mean the jokes he told were completely un-PC).
He finished up around 8 and then stuck around until probably close to 11pm to sign books (I stood in line for a few hours and left after 10).
I hadn't been to a book signing/reading since I left SF back in 2009, so it was kinda cool.
I was actually amazed that he stuck around and signed so much stuff (there was no limit, so some folks have like a dozen books!). He also spent at least 5, often 10-minutes talking to each person asking them about themselves. Not sure if he was mining for material or just interested.
But I've never been to a signing where the author actively engages his fans for extended periods of time (his media escort kept trying to move the line along rapidly, but he still took a minimum of 5-minutes with each person).
What's more, the whole thing was FREE!
He's on a tour and regularly his appearances cost between $50 and $75, so it was a trip that he stopped in little ol' Reno for the night.
He's definitely worth seeing if you can or just listen to his audiobooks (most of which he reads). His essays and diary entries are off-the-nuts funny.
