Giving facetiousness

Over this past summer, when the Queen of Satire, David Sedaris, was in town he graced George Stroumboulopoulos with his presence to deliver his usual razor-sharp witticisms. Also, I don’t watch a lot of Stroumboulopoulos (unless he’s interviewing Margaret Atwood about dabbling in modernity), but does he always sit that uncomfortably close to people?

Sedaris spoke about his “slum lord” parents, renting apartments to gays and same-sex marriage:

“Nobody wants to get on a plane, and go halfway across the country, and wear clothes they don’t feel comfortable in, and choose between the beef and the chicken, and to sit in a loud room where this horrible band is playing, and they’re getting their picture taken . . . nobody wants that! So I wish that gay people would fight for the right to marry and then not one of them would ever, ever do it.”

Amen, sister.

(As a sidenote, my favourite Sedaris moment has always been a story about his childhood dream to sing commercial jingles in the styling of Billie Holiday.)

Michael Lyons is a queer-identified, chaotic neutral writer, activist, misanthrope, sapiosexual, and feline enthusiast. He is a columnist, blogger and regular contributor with Xtra and has contributed to Plenitude Magazine, KAPSULA Magazine, Crew Magazine, Memory Insufficient e-zine, The Ryersonian, Buddies Theatre blog, Toronto Is Awesome blog and Fab Magazine and more.

Keep Reading

Samantha Josephs in front of the cover of 'Carrying'

Samantha Josephs gets dirty

The author of “Carrying” talks writing erotica, trans pregnancy—and her novel’s upcoming movie adaptation
A cartoon of two people standing close together; one is holding a puppy, the other is holding a book

How a Canadian kids’ book became the centre of a U.S. Supreme Court case

“Pride Puppy” was written to highlight the joy of Pride. It became a political flashpoint
A cartoon of people raising their fists with police officers facing them. There are flowers in the background

Queer censorship isn’t new in Canada, but we’ve won the fight before

Key figures from censorship fights in the 20th century reflect on what we can learn from them today
A cartoon of a nondescript personified animal riding a horse

Trans Albertans are strong. We aren’t going anywhere

Trans Albertans reflect on what makes their home province special, even in the wake of Premier Danielle Smith’s legislative attacks and book restrictions
Advertisement