The comedian Amy Sedaris is bringing her funny to a new book, entitled Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People! Arriving in Chicago this week, Amy chatted Nunn on One before her appearance.
Windy City Times: Hello, Amy. I got your new book yesterday. It is really funny!
Amy Sedaris: You like it? Oh, that's good to hear.
WCT: I love that the cover turns into a hat. That's genius.
Amy Sedaris: I figure if you are going to have a craft book then you might as well be able to make something with it. Everything has got to be used for something.
WCT: When did you start crafting?
Amy Sedaris: I have always done things like that since I was a child with Girl Scouts and Junior Achievement. You make something and try to go door to door and sell it. Nothing has changed. I still do that. I just wanted to do a craft book. People who really craft are not going to learn anything but maybe visually they will be inspired by something.
WCT: It brought back memories to me. I grew up in the South so we craft done there, honey.
Amy Sedaris: Oh, there you go!
WCT: That shell picture was a classic.
Amy Sedaris: The bathing suit? We had a lot to choose from and that was a really hard decision. It was ridiculous! [ Both laugh. ]
WCT: Who did the photography?
Amy Sedaris: Jason Frank Rothenberg did the photography for the book.
WCT: Loved it.
Amy Sedaris: Yeah, he did a great job.
WCT: Are you a hoarder with your crafts? Are they all over your house?
Amy Sedaris: They were; I put them all in storage. Some things I have out but not too much. You just get tired of looking at it and it kind of just takes over your home. I couldn't wait to get it out of my apartment. We shot the whole book here in my apartment so I was constantly around it. It was too much.
WCT: The tin can stilts were great. Then you could use them as a telephone after.
Amy Sedaris: I wish I had thought of that! They are really dangerous especially if you use the can upside down. If you didn't use the proper can opener then you could really hurt yourself. They are hard to walk in. My friend, Adam, did it in bare feet. I couldn't believe it. It looked painful.
WCT: The Chianti candle is straight from my college days. Everyone has one in college.
Amy Sedaris: Yeah, I know. It is the nastiest thing. That is a nasty project.
WCT: And talk about Strangers With Candy, you have recipes for fudge and cookies.
Amy Sedaris: I asked different mothers for their recipes. Paul Dinello's mom gave me the fudge recipe. Neil Patrick Harris' mother gave me the ooglie googlie bars or something like that…
WCT: The ooey gooey bars. I will have to try that out.
Amy Sedaris: They are really good.
WCT: Is there anything that you wished had been in the book that you didn't put in there?
Amy Sedaris: It's funny. People ask me that and I can't really think of anything. The whole reason that the sausage chapter is in there is because I wanted to do a sausage link for a sausage curl wig and then we didn't put it in there. We wound up doing a sausage log cabin instead. Which is just as gross, so… That's the only thing I can think of; pretty much everything made it.
WCT: I think you should do a crafting-for-gays book.
Amy Sedaris: Okay. What would that be like?
WCT: Well, you could still do the sandwich-bag condom.
Amy Sedaris: Oh, yeah—big hit.
WCT: And then all the sausage stuff you could go to town with! [ Sedaris laughs. ] What do you think of crafters like Martha Stewart or Rosie O' Donnell?
Amy Sedaris: I met with Rosie O' Donnell and I got to see her craft room. It's great. We do different things. You know what I mean?
WCT: Sure.
Amy Sedaris: Martha's stuff is very complicated for me. I like really simple things. Again, what I learned in Girl Scouts I still like. Her crafts are over my head. I could never do them.
WCT: I can imagine it is intimidating for many people watching her show.
Amy Sedaris: Yes, oh my God. We did a pep-talk chapter in the book—"just slow down, if you are worried that your crafts don't look as good as the ones in this book." Yeah, rrright.
WCT: So what projects do you have coming up? I heard about "The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour."
Amy Sedaris: Oh, yeah; I did that in Canada. Those guys were fantastic to work with. I don't know when that starts to air but I really had a good time on it.
I have a movie coming out that I did with Neil Patrick Harris, The Best and the Brightest, and I think that comes out in the spring.
WCT: That will be great. I like him.
Amy Sedaris: Oh, I love him. He's the best. He inspired my whole chapter "Out of This World" because he does magic tricks. He showed me a bunch of them. There isn't anything that guy can't do.
WCT: Are you going on David Letterman to promote the book?
Amy Sedaris: I just did. I am running around all over the place.
WCT: Including Chicago this week. I will drop by and say hi.
Amy Sedaris: Oh, please do.
Amy Sedaris will be at Borders, 830 N. Michigan, Saturday, Nov. 13, at 3 p.m. Her brother, David, will be at Borders, 2817 N. Clark, on Tuesday, Nov. 16, at 6 p.m. Visit www.borders.com for detail and future events.
