Are you lacking direction in how to whip up a swanky soiree for lumberjacks? A dinner party for white-collar workers? A festive gathering for the grieving? Don't despair. Take a cue from entertaining expert Amy Sedaris and host an unforgettable fete that will have your guests raving. No matter the style or size of the gathering–from the straightforward to the bizarre–I LIKE YOU provides jackpot recipes and solid advice laced with Amy's blisteringly funny take on entertaining. You don't even need to be a host or hostess to benefit–Amy offers tips for guests, too! (Number one: don't be fifteen minutes early.) Listeners will discover unique dishes to serve alcoholics (Broiled Frozen Chicken Wings with Applesauce), the secret to a successful children's party (a half-hour time limit, games included), and much, much more!
eMusic Review 0
01.08.09
Amy Sedaris, I Like You
2009 | Label: Grand Central Publishing
David Sedaris's potty-mouthed sister goes where Martha Stewart fears to tread
When a kid at your child's birthday party spills punch on his shirt, you can turn to Martha Stewart for stain-busting advice. When a kid at your child's birthday party catches on fire, however, Amy Sedaris has got you covered. In I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, Sedaris goes where Stewart fears to tread, covering both the eventualities and the unlikelihoods that throwing a party entails. Entertaining the elderly or infirm? Check. Quarantining a mentally instable partygoer? Check. Tip-toeing around a guest's alcoholism? Check. Martha Stewart can help you get out punch, but Sedaris will lead you through removing blood, urine, and mud.
It would be reasonable to assume that I Like You is simply a send-up or novelty. After all, Sedaris is most well-known as Strangers with Candy's 46-year-old high schooler Jerri Blank, whom any host would be wise to keep away from the medicine cabinet. The odd thing about I Like You is that, when she's not giving tips on feeding lumberjacks and unsolicited advice on genital maintenance, Sedaris proffers some shockingly practical and original insight. Her chapter on hosting or being an out-of-town guest is dead-on, as is the observation, "The moment someone says, 'Hey everyone, listen to the lyrics of this song!' your party is over."
Sedaris calls herself "clinically simple," and though her humor sometimes verges on the juvenile, potty variety, I Like You is far from the disposable pulp that many comics try to pass off as reading material. This audiobook version wins extra points for taking advantage of the medium to add texture and humor to the text.