There's something so, like, 1950s movie about it. So you're standing in front of, like, a library of bookshelves wearing an elegant suit, holding a pipe in your hands, looking off to the side. GROSS: So I have to start with your author photo before we get into the heavy stuff. So great to talk to you again.ĭAVID SEDARIS: Oh, thank you so much, Terry. The new book is called 'Happy-Go-Lucky.' I spoke with David Sedaris last Tuesday.ĭavid Sedaris, welcome back to FRESH AIR. In Sedaris' new book, he writes about when his father was in his 90s and his power was continually diminishing in assisted living and the ICU. He says, as long as my father had power, he used it to hurt me. Those essays are about his father, with whom Sedaris had a lifelong combative relationship. Several of the essays in his new book take a pretty serious turn. He's had bestselling collections of his personal essays, and he's received The Thurber Prize for American Humor, the Jonathan Swift prize for satire and humor and the Terry Southern Prize for humor. My guest, David Sedaris, is a famous humorist who got his start by reading his personal essays on the public radio show This American Life.
