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Candy' is dandy

Chris Azzopardi

Amy Sedaris is a lot like her "Strangers with Candy" character Jerri Blank – a 47-year-old ex-prostitute and junkie returning to, gasp, high school.
She's innocent. She's forgetful. She's a survivor. "But I'm not a junky whore," Sedaris tells BTL. "I stopped that a time ago."
Sedaris, like Blank, is also boyfriend-less. She's sick of inquiries about her current make-believe boyfriend, Ricky, and that's why she's tried killing him off. "More and more people ask about him and it takes the fun out of having an imaginary boyfriend," she says.
Unfortunately, in "Strangers with Candy" Jerri Blank doesn't even get that far with a guy. In "Candy" Sedaris, 45, revives her cancelled Comedy Central character, fat suit and all.
This isn't the first – or last time – she's paraded around in costumes. She recalls getting dolled up in wigs and make-up as a kid. "I've always played dress up and make believe," she says.
When I reveal my own desire to dress in clothing other than my own as a child, Sedaris says, laughing, "I hate to even ask what you're wearing right now."
And forget the Atkins or South Beat Diets; Sedaris learned an easier way to shed the pounds on the set of "Candy." "If you ever wanna lose weight, get a fat suit," she says.
Because of the heat, Sedaris lost 12 pounds. "I didn't realize I was losing weight 'cause I was living in it (the fat suit). When we were done shooting the movie and I was getting dressed to go out I was like, 'Oh my God, I've lost so much weight,'" she says, laughing.
Sedaris, though, succeeds in helping other people pile on the pounds with her cheeseball and cupcake business. Ten years ago, when Sedaris began raising her rabbit Tattletail, she decided to use the money to support the bunny.
Gourmet Garage (a fresh food grocer), where Sedaris used to work, then asked her to sell the goodies there. "I do this 'cause I don't have to do it," she says.
Although she has many requests from out-of-staters, like myself, for her vanilla cupcakes (she only makes chocolate upon request) and cheeseballs, she's not one to ship them nationwide.
"When people have asked me to mail cheeseballs, I'm so tempted to put it in a paper envelope and send it to them," she says. "I don't deal with packaging and mailing stuff off to people. It's bad enough to go to the post office to get stamps."
Sedaris hopes to get back in the swing of making her grub in between press for "Candy" and then finishing up her book, "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence," for its October release.
Although she won't let anyone who worked on the book read it until it's published, not even her gay brother and popular author David Sedaris, she says the recipe and craft idea collection is a take on old Betty Crocker books.
"I Like You," which includes a part about throwing out an unexpected gay visitor, is irony at its best.
"I hate surprises," Sedaris says. Her advice is to liquor up your guest, but "don't get him talking on the color tan versus beige 'cause then he'll never leave."

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