From stage performances to her role as Jerri Blank on Strangers with Candy to her guest column, "Sedaratives," in The Believer, Amy Sedaris has made a career out of making people laugh with her absurd brand of wit and charm. With I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, Sedaris has extended her talents to the world of cookbooks. In the informative and entertaining book, she shares some of her favorite recipes along with special tips for hostesses, such as how to get rid of drunk dinner guests. The ebullient playwright/actor/performer/writer took time out of her busy schedule while in Austin last weekend to answer a few of our questions.

When you decided to write the book, had you already pitched it and gotten Warner to sign off or did you just decide you'd write it and see who bit?

When I decided I was going to work on this book, I called Tracy Fisher at William Morris because she handled Wigfield a book that Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert and I worked on. She liked my idea and told me to write up a proposal, and then I had a friend make me a dress. I put on some panty hose, baked some ginger snaps and Tracy and I went to 12 book publishing places and I pitched the idea. I went with Warner because they promised I would have complete freedom, and they kept that promise.

Any chance that I Like You can change, even to a slight degree, the way authors and publishing houses approach and market cookbooks?

I don't understand that side yet. This is all very new to me. I completely forgot that anyone was even going to buy the book or try the recipes. It was all about the process for me; I would have been content if the book just lived on my coffee table.

I Like You definitely breaks any mold of the books I've read or even heard of. How concrete was your concept going in, or did you improvise as you went? Why did you think (or know) it would work? Did anyone help you with the structure or tone?

The book is exactly what I had in my head. I needed a lot of help—I'm not really a writer, so Paul Dinello and Antonia Xeares helped me organize my chaos. I would write what I wanted to say and they helped me bring it to the page a little better. As far as the drawings and hand lettering, I went through several people and told them what I wanted and how I wanted it -- I got a couple of surprises, which I love. The pictures were staged and created in my apartment using my props, and I had specific crafts in my head that I wanted to create.

I did a lot of improvising as I went along. I put together several mock books as I was working -- I'm more of a visual person; I always had to see what was going on and when I saw empty space, I filled it. When it was time to transfer what I had to the computer, I worked with two 20 year-old kids who would come to my house at seven o'clock Mon-Fri and weekends, and we sat around my kitchen table and designed the book. That was difficult -- transferring the mock-up book to the computer. I didn't want the book to lose its "scrapbook" feel. I like the stitches showing, but I think we did a good job. On this project I thought of myself as the Mr. Slate [figure]—he was the foreman of the rock quarry on the “Flintstones.”

As a single person, eating out can be almost as cost-effective as cooking for one, but I am determined to use my kitchen more often. Any good recipes you wanna share for the perpetually single?

I have a chapter “Cooking for One.” I cook for myself a lot. I like a quick pan fried steak or some broiled fish. I make spaghetti for myself a lot and Ill roast a chicken and toss a potato in the oven.

Your theatre and television has obviously been a bit out of the mainstream. In your creative ventures, how do you balance wanting to create on your terms vs. making a product that the entertainment suits will get behind?

I like creating my own projects and I like spring-boarding new talent. I enjoy being in charge. I enjoy being on someone else's turf but only when I know I can do my own thing afterwards. I don't set myself up for rejection. I do whatever I want to do. Everyone should.

My mother made three meals a night while we were growing up -- one for my dad because he was always dieting, one for our diabetic grandmother, and one for the rest of us -- 6 children and my mom.

You create characters that the audiences care about -- one of the biggest keys to making compelling art. Although many of your characters could be pitied, dismissed or laughed at if presented by another artist, you allow us to laugh with them. What is your relationship with these characters and how did you form a sensibility that sees them in a compassionate light instead of a judgmental one?

This would be hard for me to answer because it involves analyzing, and I'm not very articulate…this is a good example of why I needed help with the book. My head hurts when I have to think like this. My head exploded when I was trying to explain how one opens a baked potato to apply sour cream and butter.

You seem to be expressing your passion for, while to some degree still taking the piss out of, hostessing and cooking…challenging people's notions about who likes to have fun in the kitchen or with a big ball of thread.

My crafts and styling were inspired by Girl Scouts, Junior Achievements, old cook books that belonged to my mother and two local hospitality shows in the 60s. I've never seen a book about entertaining or crafts that were written after 1971. The ladies today don't and never have inspired me. I stopped growing physically and mentally when I turned 11. My feeling is go with what you know and what really makes you happy. It's transparent if you don't.

I read somewhere that you have a collection of fake meats. Holy crap. Would you say that you are kind of like Martha Stewart on acid? (Figurative acid, of course.)

I really don't know anything about Martha and wonder when she became our example. I like the ladies before her. I never got into her. I met her, and she is very nice, but I think we are from two different worlds. Her stuff is over my head -- I like for things to look like they are about to come alive. I love fake foods but I am very picky about them and where they come from. I like the old plaster kind.

To paraphrase screenwriter Hubert Selby, Jr., artists are generally motivated by one of two factors: faith or fear. You obviously land on the faith side of the continuum. Where did you find that faith in yourself and your art, that overwhelming sense of self-empowerment that comes across in the most humble and disarming of ways?

I failed first grade -- that’s when it all started. I am a very fearless person. I set myself up for failing every day and it's o.k. because all that matters is what I think. I do everything for myself. I have to. If I started worrying what other people thought, I would be in big trouble. So I have a great deal of faith in me failing everyday.

When did you realize the importance of being able to laugh at yourself?

You have to laugh at yourself because people are laughing at you. I was a girl scout until my senior year of high school, and I would wear my uniform to school because I knew people were making fun of it, so I just had to put myself out there even more.

How has your work in improvisational theatre helped you in other aspects of you life? Follow-up: Austin is a burgeoning hotbed of improv and sketch comedy. Any words for the growing improv audience and the performers in a somewhat fresh market?

I use improv as a tool. It helps you in every aspect of your life. As far as any words, I would just say, “It's o.k to fail, you'll learn more.”

You have worked in myriad mediums and had great success, but consider yourself unambitious, which seems funny. Any Sedarative-type words of wisdom for the creative (and wannabe creative) class of Austin?

I don't see how you 'wanna be creative;’ you either are or aren't. Just keep doing what you are doing and if you aren't doing it because of some other reason, then you must not want to do it badly enough. Everything will come to you…you'll see.

Do you know anything about breakfast tacos? They are quite a phenomenon here in Texas, with people generally eschewing bagel & cream cheese or cold cereal for the eggs/cheese/bean concoction wrapped in tortillas. Do you have an opinion of them?

I don't know anything about breakfast tacos. They sound funny, though.

What is next for Amy Sedaris?

Right now I am focusing on the book tour and then I am going to France to visit David with my older sister Lisa. No plans after that.

Colbert/Sedaris '08. Reaction?

Bring a book.

Buy Amy's new book, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, here.
Sample Recipes

Original photos (c) Matt Wright of Austinist.