Mean Girl Humor

Not my taste...  

Just a night of pandemic stories from an unlikeable, mean little man imitating his elderly father's voice and bragging on himself. Some fat girl jokes, a funny but stale Jew joke, some live babies on anti-abortion billboards jokes, even a wisecrack on mental illness that was spot on.  The crowd was waiting to laugh, but it seemed forced. Nothing fresh or topical.

A 70-city tour, Sedaris is selling wares, testing out essays for the newest book, just very commercial... 

I saw George Carlin, Lily Tomlin(twice!), even snarky old Gore Vidal late in their careers, and they earned the ticket price and laughs still. Sedaris, not so much.  Pandemic humor could be funny, but his humor is uppity, not shared. Maybe a more likeable, or self deprecating personality could pull this off. Maybe if the crowd he was entertaining were all snarky sisters like Lisa and Amy, and if we too disliked the Dad, it would have seemed a less long evening...

I was on the main floor, midway, and between essay readings, a lot of people left, in groups... He told us later the show was sold out, but sometimes people decide not to come, because of covid still. He told us about living in New York, but family and friends there had funnier tales of life in lockdown and on deserted streets that seemed more relatable...

I just thought him an unlikeable wealthy man, with trite observations and not uncomfortable truths so much as an oblivion to other people's realities. Don't get me wrong -- I was there ready to laugh and don't know Sedaris' material.  No highlight classics about Santa's elves though, like a Tomlin or Carlin might have worked int a set.  Nothing local to Minnesota (other than the pro life billboards were spotted here), no news of the day jokes. Just a few obligatory  Trump/election mentions in regards to his father, aged 98...

Mostly I saw a sad small little man hidden behind a lecturn mocking his father and spilling out his grief as if our laughs would justify... something.  I don't think it was me; I just don't think it was funny outside his private circle. He didn't like his Dad, but he never gave US a reason to laugh at the befuddled senior left behind in his assisted living unit, locked away in the pandemic, mocked by his adult children.  The funeral/death jokes were oldies too -- nothing particularly fresh or observant, or funny really...

If you don't don't believe me, or trust my tastes, wait for the next book and see if the essays make your u smile even. Tomorrow: Whitney Cummings. I thought she would be the weekend undercard to Sedaris, but his show wasn't that good.  It was a lot of older folks leaving early, truth be told.

Maybe they lost people in the pandemic and Sedaris' tone-deaf tastes aren't as widely accessible as he imagines?