Actress, author and bunny lover Amy Sedaris brings her acerbic wit (and a few wacky craft projects) to Haverford.
Amy Sedaris' January performance at Haverford College was billed as an interview with two Haverford students. But it was Sedaris, the actress, comedian and author known for her sarcastic and irreverent humor, who got off the first question.
“So you guys are Quakers,” she asked after Joseph Bernardoni and Ali King, both Haverford seniors, welcomed Sedaris onto the stage of Marshall Auditorium and into a large, upholstered armchair. “Or do you just dress like one?” she added, eyeing Bernardoni's suspenders and top hat ensemble.
Before fielding any serious questions, Sedaris, star of the Comedy Central series Strangers With Candy and author of I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, demonstrated a craft project from her book, an item she has dubbed the“Eye Burrito.” She showed Bernardoni and King how to cut the leg from a pair of women's tights and fill it with beans to make a sort of face-soothing beanbag which, according to Sedaris, resembles a certain part of the male anatomy. And don't worry if you don't have beans,” she added. “You can use kitty litter too!”
Sedaris spent about an hour answering questions with her trademark blend of perkiness and sardonic wit about everything from cupcakes to rabbits to Girl Scouts. Concerning that first item she deadpanned,“I make cupcakes on the side to support my drug habit.”
About halfway through the interview, things got artistic as Bernardoni and King requested that Sedaris help paint a mural for the newly unveiled Ryan Student Center. The subject matter? Barack Obama, a hero of much of the Haverford community. Donning a smock adorned with her name and cartoon bunnies, hand-decorated by an admiring Haverford student, Sedaris adopted a loose interpretation of“mural” and produced an acrylic-on-canvas collage of phrases and doodles that had little to do with Obama but sparked laughs nonetheless. As a finishing touch she painted a patch of grass along the bottom.“You know, for his grass-roots campaign,” Sedaris explained.
Bernardoni was fascinated with Sedaris' adoration for her pet rabbit—a subject she has discussed on numerous visits to the David Letterman show---and asked what it is about the creatures that appeals to her. “Oh, I just love how they always think they're gonna get eaten,” she said. “And how [mine] comes galloping out when I come home with the groceries.”
Much was revealed about Sedaris in the interview—that she used to dream of working in a women's prison, and that she can perfectly mimic Alvin the chipmunk's singing voice, for example.
Before Sedaris left the stage, the audience also got the chance to ask questions. One student, toting a roll of Scotch tape, requested that Sedaris give a brief Piglet-style performance. “Oh, I brought tape!” she countered, and proceeded to tape her nose to her forehead, much to the crowd's amusement.
Another student asked the inevitable family-ties question: What was it like to grow up with humorist David Sedaris, the best-selling author of such books as Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim and Me Talk Pretty One Day?
“Oh, he just makes us all look good,” Sedaris said, tongue planted firmly in cheek.
