Kicking off the career of one of the funniest writers in the world—we refer, of course, to David Sedaris—this 1994 collection features fictional tales of a suburban dad who saves money by performing home surgery, a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world, and a teenage girl who tries to incite a lynch mob at her own funeral. The autobiographical essays include the NPR holiday classic "SantaLand Diaries," in which Sedaris recounts his experiences working as an elf at Macy's.