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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

david rakoff

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The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, the Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems David Rakoff's collection of autobiographical essays, Fraud, established him as one of our funniest, most insightful writers. In Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff journeys into the land of plenty that is contemporary North America. Rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly and wittily portrayed. Whether contrasting the elegance of one of the last flights of the supersonic Concorde with the good times and chicken wings of Hooters Air, portraying the rarified universe of Paris fashion shows where an evening dress can cost as much as four years of college, or traveling to a private island off the coast of Belize to watch a soft-core Playboy TV shoot, where he is provided with his very own personal manservant, David Rakoff takes us on a bitingly funny grand tour of our culture of excess, delving into the manic getting and spending that defines the North American way of life. Somewhere along the line, our healthy self-regard has exploded into obliterating narcissism, and Rakoff is there to map that frontier. He sits through the grotesqueries of "avant garde" vaudeville in Times Square immediately following 9/11. Twenty days without food allows him to experience firsthand the wonders of "detoxification," and the frozen world of cryonics, whose promise of eternal life is the ultimate status symbol, leaves him very cold indeed (much to our good fortune). At once a Wildean satire of our ridiculous culture of overconsumption and a plea for a little human decency, Don't Get Too Comfortable is a bitingly funnygrand tour of our special circle of gilded-age hell. "From the Hardcover edition.

null pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2005
Literary awards
lambda literary award, 

This edition

Format
null pages, Paperback
Published
September 12, 2006 by Broadway Books
ISBN
9789780767914
ASIN
9780767916
Language
English

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About the author

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david rakoff

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David Rakoff (November 27, 1964 – August 9, 2012) was an essayist, journalist, and actor. Originally from Canada, Rakoff was a graduate of Columbia University, he obtained dual Canadian-American citizenship in 2003, and resided for much of his life in New York City. His brother Simon is a stand-up comedian.

Rakoff wrote for the New York Times Magazine, Outside, GQ, Vogue and Salon. He was 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. He was openly gay, and his writings have been compared to those of essayist and friend David Sedaris. 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 was the only individual to host in place of Ira Glass a This American Life episode (Episode 248 - "Like It Or Not"). Rakoff made several appearances on the The Daily Show, and 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 included the Off-Broadway comedy 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.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
39(39%)
4 stars
33(33%)
3 stars
28(28%)
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0(0%)
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100 reviews All reviews
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Chiefsmakahoe
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Meh. I’ve heard others compare him to David Sedaris and for me I found Sedaris way more funny and interesting. I did have this on my book shelf for longer than I’d like to pretend so maybe it was dated, but the thing I found the most annoying was his way of ending an essay literally with no conclusion or resolution. They kind of left me hanging in a way that I didn’t enjoy or find reflective. I also got the book thinking it was more of a cultural critique of the rich and modern life but felt it was more like tales of me, me, me and you make your own conclusions from my story. I expected more “meat” in his criticism of class and culture I guess… I don’t think I literally laughed out loud once - more shoulder shrugging tales.
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ThotPatrol10
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I liked several of the stories, but it seemed like Rakoff was trying too hard to be clever and sound educated. He is mildly funny, but not as funny as he thinks he is. I have seen him compared to David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs, neither of which I am a fan of. The audiobook was narrated by the author, which only made to tone more smug and smarmy. An amusing enough read, but better experienced in print.
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taro_yanaka
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A collection of essays about wanting more, whether it be more beautiful, more self sufficient, more spiritual, or more included. Reading the essays one right after another was a bit much, I kept getting an image of Rakoff chortling "Oh the cleverness of me!" as he typed. Taken one at a time, they're entertaining and enlightening, especially the one about Log Cabin Republicans..
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KurokochiFTW
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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If I could give a negative number of stars for a book - this one would merit it. I am just SO grateful that Mr. Rakoff wrote this book. Without it I would never have known how much better and smarter and more intelligent the author is than the rest of us. Perhaps this book should be required reading in schools so that more people will be aware of what a pompous ass the author truly is. There was no way to win me back after he all but mocked the happiness of the new citizens as they took the oath and received their citizenship papers. Yes, by all means, that is the perfect moment to point out how foolish all of those peasants are for actually showing joy to be a citizen of the US.
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BlackLolitarose
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This was interesting, biting, and surprisingly insightful. Best quote — “Lenny Bruce described flamenco as being an art form wherein a dancer applauds his own ass.”

Also, his vocab was unmatched! Holy shit.

Goodwords:
Oenophile
Stultifying
Lachrymose
Monomaniacally
Metastatic
Bedouin
Elegiac
Erotophobe
Internecine
Seraglio
Aphoristic
Farthingaled
Architectonic
Lubricious
Cant
Arboreally
Tintinnabulate
Mediagenically
Perspicacious
Abstemiousness
Appestat
Self-abnegating
Hoosegow
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Beastman_
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torment of Low Thread Count, the Never-Ending Quest for Artisinal Olive Oil, and Other
First World Problems by David Rakoff. I picked this up at the library, having remembered that Rakoff is a funny writer. I first heard him on the
public radio program This American Life and he was sometimes compared to the most funnier David Sedaris, a mentor and a friend Unfortunately, I just
could not get into the autobiographical essays in this 221-page book, feeling neither engaged nor amused.

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shanerscott
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Really funny. Looking forward to the day I read a humorous book and there isn't a trans joke in there. Rakoff waited until about 2/3 of the way through to spring his unfunny and unnecessary use of the word "tranny". Especially disappointing as earlier in the book he gives people shit for using gay slurs.
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Hlebka
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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The title of this book is really catchy and I rushed out immediately to buy it. Instead of a critique of all the ridiculous things people do and care about in the first world, it was a random report of different experiences he did on purpose to see what it would be like. For example, is fasting a problem of the first world? Perhaps he means pushing aside food when there is plenty, but that is more like anorexia. Fasting is not a first world phenomena and I would say it is not widespread either. (think obesity) Yes, I chuckled here and there, particularly when he made fun of the Bushes, but overall this was a let down.
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