New Series Dream Come True for Amy Sedaris

When Amy Sedaris was growing up in North Carolina she dreamed of being a television star. Not a child star in a Disney series or a network sitcom, but as the hostess in a homemaking show -- the kind she avidly watched on local television.

Such shows featured a middle-aged woman who invited the audiences into a world defined by do-it-yourself crafting, homemaking tips, recipes put together in a kitchen, safety guidelines and fashion ideas.

It has taken Sedaris five decades, but she has realized her dream with her new series "At Home With Amy Sedaris," which shows on truTV on Tuesday nights. But it was well worth the wait. There may not be a funnier show on television now, mostly because the show reflects the twisted sense-of-humor that is synonymous with the actress, writer and occasional waitress.

Sedaris is best-known for starring in Comedy Central's "Strangers With Candy" for three seasons. On it she played Jerri Blank, a 40-something ex-con who returns home and goes back to high school. The show (developed by Sedaris, Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello) was a hilarious send-up of an afterschool special.

She teams again with Dinello to develop the new series, which features Sedaris offering hospitality tips to her audience, be it picking the right fish for dinner, creating popsicle stick people or making potato "ships" (baked potatoes with sails). One of the funniest bits she introduced is a dead-pan 1960s-styled public service announcement that cautions viewers on crafting accidents, some horrifyingly fatal. She also has a stream of guest stars who visit her television home, a homey environ inspired by Sedaris's own apartment.

And while Jerri Blank may not make an appearance, Sedaris plays a number of characters on the show, most memorably Patty Hogg, a dead-on caricature of a middle-aged Southern woman that she created from the Southern women she knew growing up.

EDGE spoke to Sedaris recently about the show.

EDGE: How did the show come about?

Amy Sedaris: I have always wanted to do this show. I was inspired by local hospitality shows growing up. Shows like 'At Home With Peggy Mann' and 'The Bette Elliot Show.' They were our two local ladies. And they were extremely boring shows, but I just loved them because it was like these women were just sitting around the house just talking to you.

Well, I always wanted to do this kind of show and decided to do my own cook book and craft book ('I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence' and 'Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People') just to see if this show was something I wanted to pursue. After the books came out, I thought it was time to pursue doing the show. I always like to think of the show as a soup that has been cooking for, I don't know how long, since I was ten maybe. Then I seriously began to pitch it in 2005. It has been stewing for a long time.

EDGE: Is that your home in the show?

Amy Sedaris: No it is not. It's a set, but it is loosely based on my apartment so we try to make the apartment look as much as my apartment as possible, but it is prettier than my apartment and has more room obviously. But all the artwork is what I have hinging up in my home and the color scheme. And the just the little details -- the scalloped edges and diamond shaped woodcuts and the fake fireplace are all inspired by stuff that I have in my apartment.

EDGE: Any Food network or HGTV shows that you watch?

Amy Sedaris: No, not really. Once in awhile I catch 'Lydia's Table.' And when we were writing the show we watched some 'Barefoot Contessa,' which I really like. And I watched Martha's show, of course, Martha Stewart. But the biggest influence were old shows, from Red Skelton to Ernie Kovacs. Lawrence Welk, Galloping Gourmet, Julia Child, Two Fat Ladies... most of my references are old. The shows I grew up watching.

EDGE: I think I read where you said you are more inspired by Dinah Shore than Martha Stewart...

Amy Sedaris: Yes. I have nothing against Martha Stewart. I just don't relate to how good her stuff looks and I don't relate to all the gadgets you need to make half the stuff. But I like she spearheaded that whole genre. I liked her PBS show when she just did the cooking classes.

EDGE: In additional to being the host, you play a number of characters, with one in particular, named Patty, who is very funny. She's an old school Southern girl. Is that a good description?

Amy Sedaris: Yes. I grew up in the South and she is all the Southern women I ever came across in one character. I just made her up, but she's a force of nature. She's in five or six episodes.

EDGE: Another very funny character you created for the show is Ruth, the 'lady in the wood,' who is a craft obsessed lesbian living in a cabin with her girlfriend Estjer, with whom she has a passive/aggressive relationship. Do you know women like her?

Sure. I know women like that. Naturalist. My sister is a bit of a naturalist. That segment is based on an old tv show called 'Hodgepodge' from the 70s. Then we decided to make them a lesbian couple. I love that part of the show and it is in five episodes.

EDGE: Most of us know you from 'Strangers With Candy,' where you played Jerri Blank. Is Jerri going to make a guest appearance on the show?

Amy Sedaris: Jerri doesn't, but I have some Jerri mannerisms that pop up in every episode. there are some Jerri-isms for sure.

EDGE: And you have some great people coming in -- Justin Theroux and Cole Escola come immediately to mind....

Amy Sedaris: I loved working with Cole Escola. He's the best. And Justin Theroux is an old friend of mine. Rachel Dratch, Jane Krakowski, Michael Shannon and Stephen Colbert all make appearances. I couldn't believe the people we got to do the show.

EDGE: One of the funniest segments thus far is a public service announcement you created about reckless crafting that looks exactly like the kind of short film that would have been made in the 1960s. It's about being safe when doing crafts and features some pretty gruesome and hilarious accidents. Do you have a personal worst in reckless crafting?

Amy Sedaris: Wee did something like that PSA in the craft book, but changed it up for the television show. As for my worst reckless crafting event? I mean. I was painting something and I stepped into the bucket of paint because I have a small foot. And then the phone was ringing and my cat walked through the paint while my boyfriend was yelling at me. It all went down in a matter of seconds. Then there was white paint everywhere in my apartment. But I have had plenty of crafting accidents with glue guns and staple guns and stepping on nails.

EDGE: You were great on the final episode of Louis CK's 'Horace and Pete.' Are there any future dramatic roles?

Amy Sedaris: No. No more dramatic, but I liked doing that with Louie. I had never done anything like that before so I loved doing that.

EDGE: What's is it like to be back on TV?

EDGE: I like being back on my own show, but I also like being a guest star on other people's shows because it is a lot of fun. But when you do your own show it is an awful lot of work. You just have to keep your eye on everything. I forgot about so much of that. Even when I did 'Candy' I had Paul and Steven with me. Paul works on this show too, but it is a lot to keep your eye on.

EDGE: How would you describe the comedy in the show?

Amy Sedaris: I think a lot of the comedy comes out of character-driven things. You know the parts that the actors get to play -- the specialists that come on. I think there is comedy in seeing me do something that I take seriously that you see I clearly don't have the skills to do. I think there's funny in that. I think the writing is funny. I think it is a feel good show for the winter.

"At Home With Amy Sedaris" airs Tuesdays at 10:30pm on truTV. For more information, .

Eot1avrS-rQ