David Rakoff
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| David Rakoff | |
|---|---|
 David Rakoff at the 2006 Texas Book Festival. |
|
| Born | 1964 |
| Occupation | Essayist, journalist, actor |
| Nationality | Canadian-American |
David Rakoff (born 1964) is an essayist, journalist, and actor. Originally from Canada, Rakoff is a graduate of Columbia University, he obtained dual Canadian-American citizenship in 2003, and currently resides in New York City. His brother Simon is a stand-up comedian.
Rakoff has written for the New York Times Magazine, Outside, GQ, Vogue and Salon. He has also been a frequent contributor to the radio program This American Life on Public Radio International.
Rakoff's essays have been collected in the books Fraud and Don’t Get Too Comfortable and are largely autobiographical and humorous.[1][2] He is openly gay, and his writings have been compared to those of essayist and friend David Sedaris.[3] Rakoff was even mistaken for Sedaris once while performing in a storefront window; both authors have written about this incident in their books.
Rakoff was featured in the This American Life episode 305, the holiday show on December 23, 2005, and episode 156, "What Remains", broadcast 21 March 2000. He is the only individual to host in place of Ira Glass a This American Life episode (Episode 248 - "Like It Or Not"). Rakoff has made several appearances on the The Daily Show, has voiced the reading part of Thomas Jefferson for Jon Stewart's, America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction.
Rakoff's acting roles include the Off-Broadway comed play, The Book of Liz, authored by friends David and Amy Sedaris, the film Strangers with Candy, also co-written by Amy Sedaris, and a cameo in the film Capote.
[edit] References
- ^ Rakoff, David (2001). Fraud: essays. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 038550084X.
- ^ Rakoff, David (2005). Don’t Get Too Comfortable. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0385510365.
- ^ Bahr, David. "The great indoors man", The Advocate, 3 July 2001. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
[edit] External links
- Video interview on his new book, Don't Get Too Comfortable, from CBC News: The Hour
- Daily Show Interview on his book, Don't Get Too Comfortable.
- David Letterman Interview on his book, Don't Get Too Comfortable.
- Reading report from Happy Endings with Jennifer Egan and Peter Behrens, published at bookishlove.net (Nov 2006)
- NPR's Fresh Air, which originally aired on Jan. 14, 2001.
