A few of her ideas seem like something you’d have to be high to come up with, but I’m pretty sure that Amy Sedaris is actually slightly unbalanced. She doesn’t need drugs to come up with these ideas, but she’s probably taking them anyway, just to be safe. I was a bit skeptical that her humor would translate to the page, but I actually find her funnier in print than I do in her various skits.
Those reading her introductory letter on the first page will understand what they’re really getting into when they read the words: “Even though the word “entertainment” is commonly used today, to me it sounds charmingly old-fashioned, like courtship or a back-alley abortion.” Sprinkled in between the text and pictures are little tidbits of advice, like “Never try to out dress the hostess unless you are the guest of honor or a transvestite.” & “Candles cast a pleasant glow, but don’t overdo it; you’re not hosting a sacrifice (see “Blind Date” page 47).”
Her chapter entitled “Lumberjack Lunch” is chock full of tips on how to entertain a lumberjack. Because, as we all know, lumberjacks are common houseguests and it would be travesty not to know how to entertain and feed them. Sedaris makes sure we’re also armed with the information we would need should we give a gift to lumberjack. (axe guard, guide on poisonous plants) Truly, this chapter is a must-read for any well prepared hostess.
Sedaris claims that she wants to get as much out of her guests as possible, throwing parties where guests are required to buy her junk (only 25 cents!) so she can clean out her house and turn a profit. In the “Rich Uncle Comes to Visit” chapter, she shares her not-so-subtle strategy for squeezing money out of a rich relative who spends the night. She caps off the chapter by saying: “A good host provides warmth and comfort without expecting anything in return, but occasionally our sincere and honorable actions are rewarded, though not always in the amount that we had hoped and are certain a rich uncle can afford.” By Sedaris’s chapter on “Entertaining the Elderly” you either will have been irrevocably offended or happy you’ve managed to score such a funny book.
Lots of recipes are offered in this book, but you’ll probably want to try her cupcake recipes in the book, since Sedaris runs Dusty Food Cupcakes, and her cupcakes have been much in demand. You’ll also learn what foods to serve alcoholics and recipes for those with a serious case of the munchies. Her guides to gift-giving are also helpful, even if they can be wonderfully and incredibly eccentric. The section on what you can make out of panty-hose is so mesmerizing that it almost makes the section on how to craft fake food out of felt seem normal. And it isn’t. It really, really isn’t. Nothing is too strange for Sedaris to suggest. About half-way through you start to think that maybe she isn’t doing this because she thinks it’s funny (after all, the recipes are real) but because she’s providing a genuine service. This, of course, just makes it more amusing.
Long after you’ve memorized all the jokes in this book (and that will take awhile; it’s 300 pages) you’ll come back to it for the practical recipes. This book serves many functions, cookbook, joke book and, if your guests don’t look at the cover for long-- a slick coffee table book.
Though she started out in Chicago stage comedy troupes, Amy Sedaris is mostly known for her satirical role as “Jerri Blank” in the television series Strangers with Candy, which she co-wrote with Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello. She’s also co-written a number of plays with her brother, been a guest star on TV shows like Sex and the City and has had a cameo in a number of movies.
Besides acting and writing, she’s been an anti-fur activist and has worked with PETA in the past because of it. When she isn’t doing that, she runs a cheese ball and cupcake business out of her apartment in New York City. She’s lived with an imaginary boyfriend named Ricky for the past twelve years and keeps a rabbit as a pet. Ricky is not only mentioned in the book, but she’s also spoken about him on Late Show With David Letterman, sometimes even claiming that Ricky was dead and that she is now living with his ghost (also imaginary).
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