PREVIEW
An Evening With David Sedaris
7:30 p.m. April 16. $45-$60. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-881-2100, www.foxtheatre.org.
Humorist David Sedaris is set to meet the queen of England next month, but not for the reasons you might think.
It’s not due to his many accomplishments as an essayist, including having nine best-selling books under his belt; his appearances on the popular NPR show “This American Life”; or the half-dozen well-received plays he’s penned with his sister, comedy actress and author Amy Sedaris.
No, the meeting with Her Majesty was arranged because of Sedaris’ skills as a trash collector.
That's right — the renowned writer has picked up so much litter around his home in West Sussex, England, while out walking — a side effect of his Fitbit addiction, detailed in a 2014 New Yorker essay — that he's gotten the attention of the royals (not to mention a local dump truck named after him).
But, ever self-deprecating, Sedaris says he’d rather anybody else go in his place.
“I know plenty of people who can just be themselves with a famous person,” he says. “But if you and I were going to go out for lunch, and you said, ‘Oh, I invited my friend Maureen. She did a shampoo commercial in 1977,’ I would just be completely starstruck and unable to look her in the eye because she did a shampoo commercial in 1977. I don’t know what my problem is, but there you have it.”
Don’t be surprised if he brings up his trepidation over meeting stars — or any number of other awkward, hilarious situations — during his April 16 appearance at the Fox Theatre.
He talked about being back in the South and what to expect from his stop in Atlanta over the phone from the home he shares with his longtime partner, painter Hugh Hamrick.
Q: You grew up in North Carolina. How is it coming back to the South after years spent living in Europe? Is it a total culture shock?
A: I bought a house on the coast of North Carolina a couple of years ago, so I've been spending more time down there than I have in years. One thing I notice when I go back to the South is, living in Europe, you just don't hear about God that much. How he's watching you, how he wants you to save your unborn child, how he wants you to try out for plays as actors, models and talent for Christ.
Q: You’ve talked about becoming starstruck, but I’m sure there are a lot of people who get starstruck around you. How do you deal with that?
A: Sometimes people come up to me to get a book signed and I notice that their hands are shaking, and that just breaks my heart. So sometimes I'll say, "I just want you to slap me across the face." Or I'll take their hand and I'll use their hand to slap myself across the face. I'm a pretty sorry excuse for a celebrity. But maybe a lot of people don't get out that often, they don't get a chance to meet people that often.
Q: You clearly enjoy interacting with your fans face to face, but you’re not active at all on social media. Do you feel like you’re missing out by not engaging with fans in that space, or is that by design?
A: Well, I never read anything about myself. Whatever you write about me is none of my business. That's a RuPaul line — what other people think of me is none of my business. That's one of my favorite things that he's ever said, and I think it's so true. So, I know I have a Facebook page, but I've never looked at it. I don't follow anybody on Twitter, I've never sent a tweet. I know on one hand, that makes me feel archaic, but I don't know, I feel like in person, I deliver. That seems more valuable to me than sending out a tweet that I'm picking up trash on the side of the road.
Q: What can people expect from you on this tour? Are you showcasing all new stuff, or is it a little bit of everything?
A: Well, right now (at the beginning of the tour), I have six new stories. So I'll read them out loud, then I'll go back to the room and rewrite them and read them and rewrite them. And usually, if I have six stories at the beginning of a tour, maybe one will fall by the wayside, maybe one will need so much work that it's too much work to do on tour. But if I'm lucky, then I can find the time, and I can get up extra early and devote an hour to it.
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