Upon seeing Amy Sedaris, one could not imagine the type of characters she takes on or the plays she writes with brother David. Amy Sedaris has acted as a number of off-color people such as Dennis Finch’s female copy in Just Shoot Me and most notably Jerri Blank from the cult TV classic Strangers With Candy. In Sedaris’ most famous role, she plays a 46 year old, ex-junkie that goes back to high school. Sedaris co-wrote the script with Paul Dinello, and Stephen Colbert. “I couldn’t really believe Jerri Blank was played by Amy Sedaris,” junior Kenna Stenback said. “She really is an impressive actor.” Sedaris has recently come out with a book titled I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. In this book she gives advice on topics that range from party advice to how to be a good guest and instructions on how to make items that include an “eye burrito” (something that you put on when you sleep that relieves wrinkles under the eyes) and it also includes recipes on many different types of food. She was recently at Iowa State University to talk about her book and her experiences as an actress and an author. “She told some really good stories and was just really entertaining.” Stenback said. “She showed how to make the eye burrito and she wanted to put ham flavoring in it.” The lecture was held in the Great Hall in the Memorial Union on the ISU campus. Highlights included multiple swearing rants, a story about her imaginary boyfriend Ricky and questions asked by the audience. “Some people in the audience asked her some really weird questions,” Stenback said. “One person asked her to sing happy birthday and a few people asked her to do impersonations. She wasn’t really afraid to make fun of the people who asked some stupid questions, which made it hilarious.” Sedaris was at ISU as a part of the “Can Laughter Save America?” lecture series. The series is sponsored by the ISU Committees on Lectures, which aims to bring comedians to ISU to discuss various issues. “What makes Amy Sedaris really special is that she is one of the few legitimately funny comedians in show business today,” Stenback said. “I really admire her because she isn’t afraid to be funny. Some women are too tentative in comedy, but she doesn’t hold back and it shows.” Upcoming speakers for “Can Laughter Save America” include Michael Ian Black from Comedy Central’s sketch troupe Stella on April 7th and Jon Oliver from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart the week of VEISHA.