This week’s Ungirdled Celebrity: Amy Sedaris!

For those of you who don’t know Amy, where do I start?  She has co-starred in a number of movies including Elf, Maid in Manhattan, and Shrek).  She has appeared in a ton of TV series including Sex And The City, My Name Is Earl, Rescue Me and The Closer.  She is a favorite guest on Letterman, Conan, and many other talk shows.  She is the little sister of David Sedaris, and she is the author of one of my favorite books: I Like You:  Hospitality Under The Influence.  If you don’t have a copy, I highly recommend you change that, and lucky you, it recently came out in paperback!  (Although I think the hardcover edition is worth every penny as it is so visually stunning, I consider it a coffee table book.)

If you are an Ungirdled woman in her 40s or 50s, you will delight in the photos.  Everything was shot in Amy’s apartment and, she is an accomplished collector of all things retro.  Flipping through this beautiful book is like taking a trip back through your childhood.  The copy and features are HILARIOUS (Amy demonstrating how to properly put on pantyhose made me cry I was laughing so hard) and there are lots of really useful tips and recipes included.  It’s a terrific girlfriend gift.  It's also just been announced Amy will follow up this book with one devoted to crafts!  

 

Here are just a few of the things (and there are MANY) that make Amy Ungirdled (discover more on her website):

•  She taught Martha Stewart how to make a grilled cheese sandwich in prison by using an iron... in 2001. She also gave Martha a squirrel-shaped wooden bong which she carved herself, and told her it was packed.

•  She makes seasonal hats for her taxidermied squirrel, Winks, such as a pilgrim's buckle hat for Thanksgiving, and Indian headdress for an Indian summer.  (I loved learning this as I do the same for a very large wooden flamingo at our house!)

•  She collects fake food (plaster meat and vegetables), but won't buy it online because she considers that "cheating."  (She’s absolutely right.  It is.)

•  At an Obie awards reception, when Ethan Hawke told Amy that she had the prettiest dress at the party, she told him, "It looks better on the floor. You could talk me out of it."

Here, for your viewing enjoyment, is a link to just one of the many clips of Amy on David Letterman on YouTube.  Watching her is like having two cocktails without the calories!  I like that in a person.  You can see tons of clips of Amy on lots of other shows there, too.  You can even see her making Chelsea Handler a bit uncomfortable (how Ungirdled do you need to be to do that?!) in a clip where, while being interviewed by Chelsea, Amy produces a felt replica (beautifully crafted by Amy’s designer pal Todd Oldman) of a female hoo-ha that she uses to demonstrate how to properly clean said area for Chelsea’s audience.  I told you she is full of handy tips!

Just One Of Many Clips From Amy On Letterman