During the holidays we all specifically experienced some situations that would only happen during such a busy time. As the holidays pass, we look back and laugh at how ridiculous those times could be. David Sedaris shows this from his point of view when he applied to be an elf and Macy this holiday season and showed us what society looked like from inside an elf costume. Elf, although not a real story, is a movie about a human who thinks he is an elf who meets his father and experiences extreme culture shock while going to New York for the first time. In this essay I will compare these similarities between these two stories and the types of comedy found in each. The first scene in Elf that was similar to Santa Land Diaries was the scene where Buddy the Elf first arrives in New York City, specifically the part where he continually took pamphlets until people got mad. Sedaris, at the beginning of his story, explains a case in which he took pamphlets because he felt bad, he says: "I tend not only to accept the pamphlet, but to accept it graciously, saying, 'Thank you very much,' and thinking, poor, pathetic son of a bitch” (Sedaris 4), instead of the boys handing out flyers with a pathetic look, Buddy is the one who looks ridiculous they find themselves within five feet of each other until they both get angry and chase him away The external characters in these stories play different roles, as we notice from this scene external characters of Elf are more involved because Buddy involves them in the story with his actions. On the other hand, Sedaris is simply explaining the other characters and they act more like... half of the paper... Buddy the Elf takes them into his fantasy world like a real elf In the book we got to see how people acted in real-life situations during the holidays and how Sedaris used those situations to create his jokes. I felt more sympathy or pity for Sedaris than for Buddy based on the reality factor. I wouldn't want to work as an elf based on Sedaris' experiences described in his writings and it's very difficult to try to relate to Buddy as the whole movie could never realistically happen. Both are funny but, as I described, both took different approaches to the same type of situation. Works CitedElf. Director Jon Favreau. New Line Home Entertainment, 2004.Morreall, John. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.Sedaris, David. Ice holidays. 2nd ed. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2008. Print.