Ask David Sedaris

What's you methodology to keep each week new, unique, and captivating?

Who is your favorite comedian?

What is your process for editing your work? How do you go from ideas to paper?

Has your time living in France affected your attitude towards your upbringing in America, which you've written about extensively in your prior works?

When you write, is there any specific message or feeling you are trying to convey to the reader (or is mostly just story telling), and if so do you think that readers of our time are able to understand what you're trying to show?

Hello David,

Do you ever feel like a stranger in your own life, what with the writerly compulsion to continually "get it down" while it's happening, as though you were more of an observer than the subject of your experience?

Do you feel that self expression through comedy has improved your outlook on the mental health of the nation? In other words, are we less firghtening (or frightened) when we recognize ourselves through you?

How do you think graphic design and typography effects your books. Or maybe how they are perceived.

How has your family reacted to having their often revealing exploits included in your memoirs?

You seem to reflect so much on your relationship with your siblings in your books. If you believe you have an especially close bond with them, do you think it is because of something your parents did or did not do?

Did you ever think of becoming a Speech Therapist after your own experiece as a child in school?

I have seen you "perform" previously in Morristown and one of the question that arose while watching was, when you decide to tell this story what goes through your mind? In essence you have an event (the neighbor in NYC), when you get down to how the story is going to be told do you add in more description to make it funnier or is it based more on the event itself and how absurd it is?

How did you go about getting your first book deal and how did the transition to writing as a professional affect your work and your process?

"Go Carolina" is one of my favorite essays of yours; do you have a favorite from your own work?

What's your high score in Dig Dug?

As a teacher of high school students, what advice would you offer me to offer them about surviving the ever present drama in their lives?

I am a huge fan of your writing and also of your sister Amy's acting. Would you ever consider doing a movie or a television show with your sister?

When are you and Amy going to collaborate on a screenplay?

You and your sister(Amy) are so talented and funny, what was there about your family that produced such gifted children?

David, Did you realize, as you were growing up and living it, that your life was would make others laugh? Or only as an adult make that realization? By the way, how's your dad?

Stop Drop and Roll out the Candy Colored Clown.

I have admired and share the prospectives you display, each piece that goes to print. we have met through Paul, and while i find the humor to be nostalgic for a live i never lived. Younger people seem to not get the subtle dry bits (which i consider to be icing) but It seems i have to put Mitch Hedberg on to get a response, How much thought do you put in to expanding your base readership in the particular project?

What was the best Christmas present that you have ever received?

David,

I've had the pleasure of hearing your Billie Holiday impersonation - can you do Nina Simone or maybe Sarah Vaughan or any other famous singers?

I bet you'd be great at Peggy Lee!

Thanks,
Chris

What do you have against my friend Larry? What did he ever do to you? The stuff you said in the New Yorker piece about Camel cigarettes, bad poetry, and procrastination - well, it was all true, but why did you have to be so cruel about it?

I heard you quit smoking and that a large part of your upcoming book is about the quitting experience. Have you remained smoke free?