The Thing About France: David Sedaris [S1E1]

David Sedaris--one of the best-known American humor writers and radio personalities--has written extensively about his time in France. No one skewers the French like he does. He's written about our language, especially our weird gendered words, living in a village at Normandy, and shopping at unusual Parisian boutiques. He came to my apartment one afternoon and we talked about his French teacher (15:40), the different types of humor on each side of the Atlantic (2:43), his love for certain French words (16:44), our health care system (25:15), and his dislike for the French habit of kissing (29:57).

[@Joe_J-MT_Boy]

It's apparent that he's never lost his sense of wonder. Many things in everyday life make Mr. Sedaris stop and fire up a journal entry. Interviews like this one give us some background on his viewpoints and attitudes as he goes through life just like we do. He might live in some very nice places, but they are not the gated communities the rich in America are so fond of. I admire his learning of the languages of the countries he sometimes lives in or visits often. Again, a mark of respect to his audiences that they most definitely feel and sense.

[@joanfordham1305]

David Sedaris is a LIKEABLE AMERICAN . Amazing !

[@elainemagson213]

So wise! He's just brilliant.

[@jhb61249]

I lived abroad three times in two countries. The thing I liked most was the freedom from my American controls and freedom from controls of the country I was visiting. No one "owned" me.

[@lauraindira8421]

What were the countries?

[@hannathompson7998]

Everywhere he lives he writes about from his perspective, both good and bad (but let’s be honest the negative is usually more funny so he focuses more there, like most comic writers). France is no different, it got the David Sedaris treatment just like everywhere else, it’s not that he was particularly singling France out or mocking it, it was just where he happened to be at the time. And thusly he made his observations and shared them with the world. C’lest la vie!

[@Lizardlafemme]

David Sedaris’s stories in one word are “poignant”. And yes, I had to look the spelling up. Thank you for making normal extraordinary.

[@elainemagson213]

I'm sorry to say that this interviewer really doesn't get him at all. Wouldn't it have been nice if he'd spoken without interruption. LOL.

[@tjwash5118]

David Sedaris is a storyteller, not a one liner comic, so like you said, his stories need room to breath, uninterrupted

[@colibri1]

We were taught in the eighties in French class about the French preferring exact change in stores.

[@marciasloan534]

I had the time of my life in France

[@elainemagson213]

It's a pity the story about the French teacher hurt her feelings - but the fact that the class DID appreciate her does come across when David is reading it aloud. I found that story so funny that I was laughing aloud - which is exceptional when I'm walking alone.

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

3:13 ... people who groan at puns are the ones who don't have command or enough knowledge of language to come up with their own... jokes are easy, it's just memorizing, but for a good pun you have t know your way around words... 21:08 ... exact change.. 🤣 it's the same in Israel. While there I frequent a local grocery store and at the checkout the bored-to-tears attendants (all young women) give you "the look" when you hand them some paper money, and I always feign "I'm sorry, this is all I have" with a smile and the give me the change with a snort of disgust... it's hilarious!!

[@N_Loco_Parenthesis]

When you are abroad you are free...and you can stay free because you don't really belong anywhere.

[@tiffinyharrington9307]

The French oncologist...”unfathomable” is right. Never here would you find that attitude. And nor could any doctor here even afford that attitude.

[@c.a.savage5689]

Maybe they could if the cost of malpractice insurance wasn't so high. I have lived in France for nearly 40 years and the healthcare is excellent. Doctors are well paid but the government oversees, i.e., controls how much they can charge. So un-American, right?

[@joanfordham1305]

David you have to learn enough French to love Brassens the whole of Brassens and he will open up so much more the one about the people who kiss on public benches Brassens will teach you so much and as an acute observer you will gain so much .Ask your partner!

[@gretadarling]

22:00 Bookmark :)

[@nonbiz1520]

I understand what you went through with your sister. I had to kick my brother out of my dad's doctor of the year award. It was the last time I saw him.

[@kristiehueston9757]

Ggggggggggggg

[@janisthompson9801]

I’m so sorry. At my second marriage, all were having a great time! My eldest brother was to deliver the 'toast to the bride', he gave, instead a 'roast of the bride'! Funny, yes. Upsetting, yes. Distasteful, oh my, yes. Hard to forgive, but hard to listen to. He’d dead 10yrs now, still have trouble laughing at the stories 'bout him.❤️🇨🇦❤️

[@gilleous]

Madame the interviewer, please learn to not interrupt your guest. I’d rather hear him finish what he has to say.

[@phily8093]

She's French. She can't help it.

[@bm4114]

She interrupted him once, and it was minor. I don’t know what you were going through 9 months ago Jill to be so sensitive about this non issue, but I hope you’re doing better now.

[@_SPREZZATURA_McGEE_]

@@bm4114 haha.. u are funny -- in a david sedaris way

[@3506Dodge]

I have never been asked for my credit card for medical treatment in the US. I'm asked for insurance information. Foreigners may see other countries differently, but that doesn't mean they see it correctly.

[@LuciThomasHardylover-qx6ts]

The point was about having to prove that you can pay before you receive any medical attention. Like the French oncologist who knew it was immortal to charge exorbitant fees for treating someone's cancer.in Europe health care is considered a basic right for all, not a high status way to a fortune.

[@renszatrapp9639]

Re health...America in a nutshell...money is EVERYTHING

[@nonbiz1520]

Really? No Puns?

[@2msvalkyrie529]

A humourless discussion about Humour. ?

[@joanfordham1305]

Leclerc is a wonderful supermarket chain with a real heart.Leclerc help poor people David Sedaris is lovely but he is used to America where money has a ludicrous love of money.I adore France and the French .Bravo for not speaking English The English and Americans are usually reprehensible monoglot 9

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Any more generalizations you'd like to squeeze in ?

[@3506Dodge]

Americans have these contradictory views of France because they haven't been there.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Ditto the French view of America which is generally based on never having been to USA .?

[@williamjameslehy1341]

@@2msvalkyrie529 no. French people travel abroad constantly, while most Americans don't even own passports.

[@balthasardenner5216]

American here. The first year at my job I was given one week of vacation. The second year I was given two, and that has held the same for several years. How many weeks of vacation did you, as a French person, get on your first year at your job?

[@likmijnreet4542]

the host talks too much and is hard to understand