David Sedaris and David Simon: A cheat's guide.

David Simon is best known as one of the creators of the TV show The Wire, praised to the skies by anyone who’s ever seen it. David Sedaris is an American writer, sometimes described for want of a better term as a ‘humorist’. Simon started out as a journalist and somehow ended up running TV shows, and Sedaris was discovered by a radio producer whilst reading his diary out at a comedy club. These beginnings are a good thing – much like politicians, anyone who wants to work in the broadcast media shouldn’t be allowed.

As well as being a TV genius, David Simon is an excellent prose writer. After he spent a year covering the Baltimore Homicide squad, he produced his first, excellent, book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. This was followed by a further, excellent, book, looking at Baltimore from almost the opposite angle: The Corner: A Year In The Life of An Inner City Neighborhood. This book was written in collaboration with Ed Burns, a sometime Baltimore police officer who later became a teacher, and who would go on with Simon to create The Wire. The Wire, propelled by Simon and Burns’ writing talents, has been widely and wildly praised, with Salon.com calling it "a Homeric epic of modern America", Charlie Brooker calling it “the best TV show of the last 20 years” and even Barack Obama has said it’s his favorite television show.

Though it’s not his stock in trade, David Sedaris made one of the best television programmes I’ve ever seen – an extremely persuasive show about how everyone would benefit from not watching television. Essentially this was a filmed essay, and essays are his stock in trade. He’s best known in America for the witty essays, and short stories, he writes and reads out on National Public Radio’s This American Life programme. He’s been described as ‘caustic’, ‘mordant’, ‘droll’ and ‘sardonic’, all good things, and the spoken word versions of his work have been nominated for three Grammy awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy album. He’s a great reader, and watching him perform promises to be a treat.

We’re extremely pleased that The Skinny is sponsoring these events – both David Sedaris and David Simon are accomplished, talented writers who are very able speakers in front of a crowd. We wish them well for their events, and hope that as many of our readers as possible have got tickets.