Laugh, Damn It: David Rakoff at the Booksmith tomorrow

A long time ago, when we were temping in an office that reduced us to a trained data-entry monkey, the only way we could halt the onset of a mental breakdown was to stream archived episodes of NPR’s This American Life off the internerd. It was in this way that we discovered the delightfully snarky DAVID RAKOFF, who not only dresses better than like-minded contemporary David Sedaris but often delivers the acidic wit with 10 times the panache. And then there’s his Don’t Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems, which, lets face it, kicks major subtitle ass. Nobody’s off the hook in Rakoff’s essays — not even Karl Lagerfield. He’s at the Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline | 7 pm | free | 617.566.6660.

STREAM our fave Rakoff contributions to TAL:
1. Promised Land: He does a 20-day fast to see if it brings him any form of enlightenment. Weird and disturbing things come out of his body.
2. Meet the Pros: He visits his dream job, the craft department at Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Quite literally, one of the funniest things we've ever heard.
3. Office Politics: He's an editorial assisant at a NYC publishing house, but his boss keeps calling him a secretary. Major dramarama.