How to Write Funny (Read-Response 1)

David Sedaris has been introduced to me as a humorist, so when I picked up his book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, I fully anticipated a work rife with witticisms and the occasional turn of phrase that might, at best, elicit a grin from me. I don't normally read non-fiction at all, and reading essays about someone else's life just never seemed all that interesting to me. Then I cracked open the cover on this book, and had my opinion altered almost immediately.

Sedaris covers a wide range of topics in this collection of essays. Most of the essays focus on his family life with his parents and sisters. A few of them find their focus outside the familial unit, like "The Girl Next Door" and "Chicken in the Henhouse." It was in one of these essays that I found what I think I was looking for in his writing.

The essay is titled "Full House" and is about his first sleep over at another boy's house. He was in the sixth grade and has discovered that he's gay. This came as a surprise to me, though I couldn't begin to explain why that is. My brother is gay, and it surprised me just as much to find that out. Maybe it's the religious upbringing I suffered through coming out.

In this piece, Sedaris describes both the events of that night and his budding attraction to members of the same sex. I have to admit, when I read "A naked boy was what I desired more than anything on earth," I nearly threw the book in the trash. It felt dirty and more than a little creepy to me for a grown man to be saying this. I have two kids myself, and nothing scares a parent more than the thought of a pedophile.

I had to step back for a moment and think about what I was reading. This was a recounting of how the author felt when he himself was in the sixth grade, not how he's feeling at 25 or 30 years old. I tried to remember what I was thinking about in the sixth grade and was able to forgive Sedaris his young lustful thoughts as I remembered all the girls I liked in when I was 11. It was a long list.

After my brief moment of panic, I continued reading the essay and like I said, found what I was looking for. What was it about Sedaris that makes his writing so funny? There's nothing funnier than real life, and much like Jerry Seinfeld or George Carlin, Sedaris tells his stories with a truth that belies disbelief and shows him for the faulted person that he is; that we all are. He does this using language that is both genuine and fantastic at the same time, eliciting fits of laughter in place of the grins I'd anticipated.

It is here, in the turn of phrase or even the use of a single word, in an otherwise serious or uncomfortable situation. That is where the comedic genius of Sedaris lies.