In an entertainment industry notorious for fractured friendships, bitter creative disputes, and short-lived partnerships, the enduring 35-year creative bond between Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello stands as one of comedy’s rarest and most touching success stories.
Frequent collaborators across television (Strangers with Candy, Exit 57, At Home with Amy Sedaris), bestselling literature (Wigfield, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People), and the stage, Sedaris and Dinello have maintained a profound connection that seamlessly evolved from young romance into a lifelong, unconditional artistic marriage.
How They Met: The Chicago Second City Days (1988)
The story began in Chicago in 1988. Both aspiring comedic actors, Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello were already dating when they both walked into the audition rooms for The Second City’s national touring company. In an extraordinary stroke of luck, both were hired and assigned to the very same touring van.
Also on that historic bus were future comedy legends Chris Farley and a young, serious Northwestern graduate named Stephen Colbert. While Colbert and Dinello famously clashed at first—Colbert thinking Dinello was an “illiterate thug” and Dinello viewing Colbert as a “pretentious snob”—Sedaris acted as the playful catalyst who broke the ice, slipping fake teeth into a musical number to make Colbert break character onstage.
Soon, the three became an inseparable trio, creating an insular, darkly hilarious comedic shorthand that would define their careers for the next three decades.
The Eight-Year Romance and Amicable Breakup
Sedaris and Dinello dated for eight years throughout their formative Chicago years and their move to New York City in the mid-1990s. When their romantic relationship eventually ended, there were no bitter legal battles or professional ruptures.
Instead, their separation solidified into an unbreakable platonic friendship. As Sedaris frequently noted in profiles, Dinello remained her “creative soulmate” and the primary person whose artistic judgment she trusted above all others.
“Sedaris and Dinello are not a couple anymore,” noted journalist Darel Jevens in a famous 2003 Chicago Sun-Times profile, “but the pals are still happy melding their minds, being each other’s go-to guys, hearing out every idea and shooting some down with the candor you can accept only from a dear friend.”
Paul Dinello’s Marriage to Danielle St. Laurent & Family Life
In 2011, Paul Dinello married acclaimed New York portrait photographer Danielle St. Laurent. Known for her intimate editorial portraits and commercial photography, St. Laurent and Dinello built a home in New York and welcomed two sons.
Far from creating distance, Dinello’s marriage deepened the bond with Sedaris: Amy was chosen as the official godmother to both of Paul Dinello’s sons. Sedaris has spoken fondly of her godchildren in numerous interviews, frequently hosting family dinners and delighting them with her eccentric crafts and homemade culinary creations.
Their Major Creative Collaborations
- Exit 57 (1995–1996): Their first national television series on Comedy Central, which garnered five CableACE Award nominations.
- Strangers with Candy (1999–2000 Series & 2005 Feature Film): Sedaris played the unhinged Jerri Blank, while Dinello played the vain, closeted art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck and directed the Sundance prequel film.
- Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not (2003): The satirical novel co-written with Stephen Colbert, which launched a sold-out national stage tour.
- Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People (2010): The hilarious, bestselling crafting handbook co-authored by Sedaris and Dinello, packed with absurd homemade projects and deadpan instructional guides.
- At Home with Amy Sedaris (2017–2020): Dinello served as consulting producer and writer on Sedaris’ Emmy-nominated truTV variety series, frequently popping in for playful cameos.
Why Their Partnership Endures
When asked the secret to their decades-long creative harmony, both Sedaris and Dinello point to a total absence of ego.
“We can be brutally honest with each other,” Sedaris once explained. “If Paul tells me, ‘Amy, that’s not funny, that’s just stupid,’ I don’t get defensive. I just move to the next idea. When you love someone and know they have your back, you don’t waste energy protecting your pride.”
Thirty-five years after sharing a Second City touring bus, Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello remain the gold standard of what creative partnership can achieve.