A Little Cooking Here, A Little Crafting There

By Broadside Staff Writer Kyle Ridley

Comedian Amy Sedaris’ résumé is as long as it is obscure. How many other actresses do you know star in a hit series one day and then educate families as part of the House Rabbit Society the next?

Whether running a cupcake and cheese-ball business out of her New York City apartment or meeting with her amateur crafts club, The Crafty Beavers, no job is too big or too small.

Adding to her full plate of projects, Sedaris, 47, is also an award winning author. Her 2006 New York Times bestseller, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, was recently released in paperback. She appears Friday at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Md for a special crafts demonstration, Q&A, and book signing.

I Like You is a humorous yet well-informed guide to cooking, crafts and the art of being a good hostess. It includes Sedaris’ original recipes and crafts as well as those passed down from family members and her days of being a girl scout.
“It started off with me thinking I wanted to do an art project and I wanted to do it all in my apartment,” said Sedaris. “It never occurred to me that it was going to come out and people were going to buy it.”

The New York. native added that many of the dishes are melting because the book’s photos were shot during the summer. It’s this comical, down to earth approach that has caught the eye of many pro and beginner cooks. One page details her aunt’s brownie recipe and another lists ideal snacks for those with the munchies.

Aside from tasty dishes, I Like You offers an array of unique arts and crafts, including a pantyhose plant hanger, personalized lighters and a seeing peanut.

“Anything with a googlie eye on it— I'm a sucker for those,” said Sedaris.

Sedaris, recently named one of Entertainment Weekly’s “25 Funniest People in America,” also shares more risqué creations. Last month she made headlines after an appearance on Chelsea Lately where she demonstrated a vaginal cleansing using a homemade vagina that opened to reveal beads representing “unpleasant secretions.”

I Like You’s success has garnered Sedaris a fresh group of fans, many of which hope she writes a follow-up. However, Sedaris said if she ever publishes another book, it will be “completely different.”

“I like coming in when I don’t know the world,” she said. “And now that I know the book world like this . . . I would have to change it up.”

Apart from the book world, Sedaris is widely known for her role as Jerri Blank, the middle aged ex-con who returns to high school, in the off-the wall series Strangers with Candy. The show, which she co-created with Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, gained a cult-like following during its three-season run on Comedy Central.

“We didn’t even know we had an audience until the show ended,” said Sedaris. Strangers with Candy was later made into feature film and released in 2006.

Sedaris has appeared in several movies (Snow Angels, Dedication) and TV spots (Sex and the City, The Closer). Recently she played goofy Principal Hoffman in Nickelodeon’s Gym Teacher: The Movie.

“I prefer smaller roles ... I like being a guest star,” said Sedaris. “It feels more like a job and I like to see how other people do things and take part in that whole world.”
Sedaris said that if she were to take on a major role, she would have to create the material herself. Coincidentally, that’s exactly what she’s working on now.

Twentieth Century Fox TV recently inked a deal with Sedaris to create, write and star in a new comedy series. The single-camera series will be co-produced by David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants and directed by fellow Strangers with Candy alumni Paul Dinello. Sedaris is currently hammering out details for the show and plans to fish it to networks in the coming weeks.