David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall by David Sedaris
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Book Reviews of David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall
Book Review: Opt for the CD--you won't regret it!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you've started a paperback version of one of David Sedaris's books without really getting into it I urge you to buy one of his audio books instead. Listening to David Sedaris read his own works is an entirely different experience. Over the past three years I have accumulated all of his audio books and personally, "Live at Carnegie Hall" is the best bang for your buck. Hearing him read his stories live--and being able to hear the audience's reaction--really make you feel like you're right there, in the room, with him. Also, his inflections are better when he is playing off the audience! The best reason to buy the Live at Carnegie Hall CD, however, is because it contains some of his absolute BEST stories including "Six to Eight Black Men," "Repeat After Me," "Who's the Chef" and "Hejira." The only thing missing is "Rooster at the Hitching Post" from "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim." (A live version of "Rooster at the Hitching Post" is on the aforementioned CD. "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" is also a worthy purchase. I teach a writing workshop and I can't tell you how many of his stories I have used to help students improve their writing. David Sedaris would undoubtedly find that ironic. If you've read "Me Talk Pretty One Day" you know why.) Finally, let me offer this last selling point: if you are looking for an audio cd to listen to on your commute to and from work you can't go wrong with this or any of his other audio books. His stories generally range from ten to thirty minutes and, no matter how bad your day was, you can always trust that David Sedaris has experienced something worse. I find him to be the perfect travel companion. Do buy his CDs. Now. Today.Book Review: Sedaris, Hilarious Stuff
Summary: 5 Stars
Want to listen to something hilarious? If you're a fan of Public Radio, you have probably heard David Sedaris reading his stories. Or perhaps read them in "The New Yorker", "Esquire", or in his books. He's a very funny, irreverent, whimsical gay man and devastating when it comes to satirizing his family. And he's not afraid of being the butt of jokes. He lives in France so there are touches of humor involving dealing with the Gallic language. Unless you're immunized against laughter, you'll roar about the man with the rubber hand, blind hunters, wearing women's clothes when men's clothes don't fit, parrots, a contraption for the incontinent, and many mundane items he manages to make subjects of humor.
It's the way he reads his pieces as well as the pieces themselves that provoke laughs. Every good reader aloud is something of an actor. Sedaris is a comedian delivering one-liners in the progress of his narratives. The Dutch St. Nicholas legend he recounts is a classic. Lie in bed at night or in the morning and listen to this guy. You'll crack up. As with every comedian, either you like him or you don't, so you're going to have to see if you're on his wave length. I've heard him before, but I've never before heard him deliver seventy minutes of uninterrupted hilarity like he does on this Carnegie Hall CD.
Book Review: Laugh-out-loudable!
Summary: 5 Stars
They aren't kidding when they say pull over while listening to this disc in your car!David live is even more fun than David in print - he has a delivery style that is perfectly suited to his material, and has a way with a stutter, a pause and an emphasis that highlights his humorous material. This guy is a natural!
Primarily a look at family interactions (the bit with his sister Amy, which opens this reading, works on many levels - the interplay of siblings, the breaches of privacy, and that all too volatile mix of love and bickering), David knows how to play his subjects to the hilt, without forgetting that these are people worth caring about. Another tale involving sister Amy's pet parrot (who is a verbal copy of its owner) is both absurb and heart-warming, especially when the parrot goes on the attack.
The funniest tale (involving a device for bladder weary truckers) is gutter humor at its best. Raunchy to the extreme, this piece might be unlistenable if someone besides David delivered it. Instead, he fills the tale with a sense of awe and wonder, and his delight in the device is every infomercial watcher's sense of satisfaction when learning they haven't been ripped off this time.
Truly hysterical work from one of America's funniest writers.
Book Review: Thanks for my new ABS OF STEEL!
Summary: 5 Stars
Forget workout videos. My abdominal muscles took a few days to recover from laughing so hard, but I am noticing a more toned look in my belly. That's because I listened to this CD over and over again. I didn't know I could laugh in great, gulping guffaws like that. I hope my neighbors didn't hear me, but I'm fairly certain that's why they have been giving me funny looks lately. David Sedaris is just that funny. Reading his stories will make you laugh out loud, but actually listening to him read his stories demands a soft place to roll around on the floor and at least 1 half hour in which you might be able to quiet your breath back to a normal rhythm. If you listen with a friend (I listnened with my boyfriend), expect to dissolve into giggles many weeks later when you catch that friend's eye over something that reminds you of a story. This is a 10-STAR cd.Book Review: The talented Mr. Sedaris
Summary: 5 Stars
Sure, this CD is laugh-out-loud hilarious, as is many of his books. But how many authors can actually read their stories out loud in front of a rapt and eager audience at Carnegie Hall? Not many, I think.
Mr. Sedaris displays a talent for describing excruciatingly humorous situations, but also can convey moments of warmth and tenderness. "Repeat After Me" is a good example, and I particularly love the ending. "Six to Eight Black Men" is another incredibly funny tale. Like a Seinfeld episode, the story line veers off to multiple ludicrous tangents, only to return neatly, full circle, back to the original starting point. Despite his self-deprecation, Mr. Sedaris is obviously a very skilled writer and perfomer, and I look forward to his upcoming works.