Essayist David Sedaris brings his droll humor to the Basie Wednesday.
It’s one thing to have earned the status of America’s bestest-selling purveyor of humor on the printed / pixelated page as the author whose Holidays On Ice, Me Talk Pretty One Day and When You Are Engulfed in Flames have been embraced by those thirsting for something a wee bit edgier than Erma Bombeck or Dave Barry.
It’s another thing entirely to successfully transfer the humor from the page to the stage. So it’s testament to the finely tuned skillsets of David Sedaris that his frequent tours have become dependable draws for venues the size of Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre, to which he returns Wednesday night.
Sedaris – whose latest, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, has been nominated for a Grammy in its audiobook version – will read from his excerpted works, riff on recent events, and interact with the audience, sometimes in ways that might give pause to even the most “fearless” of comedy-club commandos.
The 2013 suicide of Sedaris sister Tiffany — and the controversial New Yorker article he wrote about it — served to cast the public radio-friendly spinner of stories in a new light for some longtime fans. But Sedaris hasn’t shied away from addressing this and other non-Lighter Side of Life experiences in his conversations with the audience, and even hard-hitting journalistic exposés of his “real-ish” reminiscences have failed to tarnish the appeal of evergreen pieces like “Santaland Diaries.”
Tickets for the 8 pm show ($29.50 – $69.50) can be reserved here.
