For the first time in memory, I was unable to sleep not because I was anxious but because I was excited. To live in a damp crowded asshole and sing--if these guys don't know the secret to living, I don't know who does. (The Grieving Owl, page 157)

Sedaris was raised in a suburb of Raleigh North Carolina. Sedaris and his sister Amy shared "The Talent Family" credit on the latter's short-lived sketch comedy show Exit 57 while David was a contributing writer.

Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating and often concerns his family life his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh North Carolina Greek heritage jobs education drug use obsessive behaviors and his life in France London and the South Downs. He publiDavid Sedarisd his first collection of essays and short stories Barrel Fever in 1994. In 2010 he released a collection of anthropomorphic stories Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary.