There is an unimpeachable warmth to Amy Sedaris—in her comedy, her writing, her character, even in her decor—that would make us feel more than comfortable inviting the actor, author, and now host of At Home with Amy Sedaris to our family gatherings. But that notion has never held truer than after the holiday-themed episode of her truTV craft and pseudo-cooking show which aired on Tuesday, in which Sedaris enlisted her buddies Darrell Hammond and David Costabile to help her overcome a cursed nutcracker who was spoiling her elaborate hosting plans. We can also only hope if Sedaris ever did show up to our home for the holidays, she would bring along fellow funny girl Jane Krakowski, who joined her on the episode in Sedaris's "Crafting Corner." (The season finale will air on December 19th at 10:30pm ET).
The author of I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence bridges a gap that we didn’t know existed between humor and domestic goddess (she’s like a trickster Demeter, a kitchen Loki), which makes her, in a word, irresistible. As Sedaris closes out the first season of her series—which also featured guests like Paul Giamatti, Michael Shannon, and Bob Saget—she shares with us the secrets behind her set design, what one could learn about cooking from Tammy Faye Bakker, and, ironically enough, not a single cooking tip.
Architectural Digest: Do you recall the best party you’ve been to—of any size?
Amy Sedaris: I don’t know about the best, but Natasha Richardson was an incredible hostess. You’d go to her place and she’d meet you at the driveway with a sterling silver champagne glass. No matter where you sat in her house—if you threw your arm over the couch there would be the right thing there. You’d go the bedroom and there’d be a fireplace and all you’d have to do is strike a match and light it. She thought of everything. The food was always really good and she cooked it all herself. I really miss going to her house.
AD: If you could host a party in any location, where would you host it?
AS: Oh gosh, I guess I would do it in my own home because I know where everything is. It would be easy.
AD: Do you host a lot of parties at your place?
AS: I used to. My brother [David Sedaris] moved to London and it kind of took the fun out of it. I would do huge events and after I did the cookbook, I Like You. But now I just do it for smaller groups—no more than four or five or one-on-one.
AD: You host a cooking show but there is not a ton of cooking happening on the show, right?
AS: We didn’t have running water or gas. And it takes so much time to do those things, so we just talk about what we’re going to do instead of actually making it. There’s enough information out there. If you need to know where to roast a chicken you can find out where to do that.
AD: Since your set was inspired by your own apartment, did you get to art-direct it?
AS: Yes. Me and one of my good friends, Adam Selman—who helped me work on the book Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People—we’re a good team. We worked with the art department and set designer. Some stuff I brought from home. They re-created all the crafts from the book. We used my fabric line for stuff. Artist friends of mine contributed artwork. I am a big fan of John Derian, so I got a lot of stuff from his stores.
AD: What did you bring from your actual home?
AS: A lot of little props. I had four shelves built in my dressing room and just filled them up, because I didn’t want to be on set and think, “Oh, I wish I had that papier-mâche cigar,” or what have you.
AD: Can you give us an idea of what your real home looks like?
AS: It’s not that big. You don’t see any wires and you don’t see the television set. I have a lot of artwork up, and my furniture is kind of tattered because I have a seven-pound rabbit hopping around that chews me out of house and home. It always smells good; I buy the incense at 45 RPM. It’s eclectic. It’s not modern. There’s rugs on top of rugs. I have a little taxidermy.
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AD: What kind of taxidermy?
AS: I have a nice duck and then I have a little bird. I used to have a chipmunk and a squirrel, but they got eaten.
AD: You talk about how much you loved those boring old domestic shows when you were younger—but your show is anything but boring. How did those shows inspire you?
AS: Some of them were boring, but I’m such a visual person, I just loved watching them in their house. Even soap opera sets or Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, or All in The Family . . . Rhoda’s apartment—the curtains were right; the rug was right, you could just see the design in all those shows. And then Red Skelton and Lawrence Welk and Frugal Gourmet, Julia Child, Two Fat Ladies—those were the shows I grew up with. And then there’s Tammy Faye Bakker on PTL. I was like, “Who is that woman?” And she would make really bad things, recipe-wise. So I really liked the idea of making something bad and selling it as something good.
AD: There is literally nothing more earnest in the world than public access shows in the 1980s.
AS: Ha, ha! They’re hard to get through, some of them. And then you zone out. Like Bob Ross, after you watch an episode of his, that’s how I want people to feel. So soothing, watching someone talking about what they’re doing. It’s like you go into a trance. That’s what I loved about those shows, like Lidia’s Family Table. And now so many of those shows are about games and competition.
AD: How do I make sure I’m a good host?
AS: Plan ahead. Give it some thought. That always shows. If people ask, “Can I bring something over?”, have an answer for them. You don’t have to be a great host, just be a great guest. You can think about it that way, too. Show up on time, ask if you can bring something, be energetic at the event. You were probably invited for a reason.
AD: My studio is small. Can I still invite people over for dinner if my bed is essentially in the same room as my dining room?
AS: That’s tricky. Chances are your friends’ apartments are probably just as small. You know, make sure your bed is made, or that there’s no one in it.
