Amy Sedaris at Borders

One of the funniest people on the planet is Amy Sedaris. She made an appearance at Columbus Circle's Borders store last week, and she drew an overflow audience.

We heard Amy before we saw her, as her distinctive voice with its hint of a southern twang rang out on the store's public address system. She invited store shoppers to join us in the events area of the store and wished us all a "Happy Holiday!"

She started with the obligatory photo op, seen here, promoting her humorous book, Simple Times, Crafts for Poor People, a follow up to her successful book on hospitality, I Like You!


Instead of the usual reading, Amy showed the audience a few of the crafts from the book. First, with the assistance of an  overly eager fan, she began pulling items out of her bag and demonstrated making homemade twist ties, using tape she stole from a television appearance.

I have to say that this craft looked like something a person who lives in the subway might make, but that was probably the point. She's Martha Stewart for the slightly off-kilter.

Next she invited a stylish young lad, Johnny, who was wearing a plaid shirt under blue jean overalls tucked into boots. She had Johnny create a craft using lettuce as a bed, then placing five rings of pineapple on the lettuce. Inside the pineapple he put a peeled banana, topping that with mayonnaise and a cherry. You can imagine the visual had the audience giggling.

Amy kept the audience in stitches with her non-stop repartee, and answered questions, most of which revolved around her character Jeri from  Comedy Central's Strangers With Candy. Although that show ended a while ago, it still has many fans, and Amy gave them what they wanted. She is very quick on her feet, reacting to everything that happened and poking gentle fun at the people who asked a question.

I've seen Amy and her brother David in person, and if they ever wanted to raise money for a charity, they should auction off a dinner with both of them; they'd make a killing.