Lost time

John Hodgman--the humorist who in the last couple of years has risen to fame as the star of series of Apple commercials and is also a semiregular on The Daily Show--is so damned talented that it makes me jealous. His writing is an idiosyncratic mix of funny and geeky and odd. But the piece in the clip below, a monologue that comes from his second book, More Information Than You Require, turns downright moving toward the end. And as an actor (admittedly, just an amateur one), I also admire the way he performs this.

Note to David Sedaris: Watch your back.*

It's 18 minutes long, but make some time for this:



*I remain fan of Sedaris, but if he does have one fault as a writer, it's this: A number of his pieces take a turn toward pathos at the very end, and it usually feels unearned and a bit jarring. "Repeat After Me," from Dress Your Family ..., springs to mind immediately, but there are other examples.