Sedaris v.s. MacLean

David Sedaris' "SantaLand Diaries" and Stuart McLean's "Polly Anderson's Christmas Party" are perfect examples of two different styles of comedic writing. The fundamental differences between the two pieces lie in what is said, and how it is said.
Sedaris' humour comes from his descriptions. He makes his readers laugh by describing events and details in a very straight forward, matter of fact way. For example, "I tend to avoid leaflets, but it breaks my heart to see a grown man dressed as a taco." For whatever reason, just saying things as they are is funny. And Sedaris is good at that.
There are funny things that happen to him as well, such as being told "Congratulations, Mr. Sedaris. You are an elf." Of course, many of the things that happen to him in SantaLand are quite surreal, and therefore prime comedic material, but it's Sedaris' ability to describe details humourously that makes him a right cracker of a comedian.
McLean's humour, on the other hand, comes from the events in his stories. Usually, everything goes stupendously wrong from the very start for his protagonists. For example, Dave in "Polly Anderson's Christmas Party" starts the story off by receiving his drivers license renewed, but there's a hitch, of course: it says he needs to wear glasses, however he's never worn them in his life. That sets the stage for the Christmas party to spiral out of control. It finishes with Dave being pulled over while driving Bernie Schellenberger and his baby around in order to put the baby to sleep. Dave, however, obviously doesn't have his glasses, but he does have his drunk, bloodied, mono-shoed, and coatless son in the back, who proceeds to give the cop a hard time.
McLean's descriptions are far less direct, even bordering on poetic at times. For example, this funny section of poetic language uses a long metaphor, and appears towards the beginning of the story: "The star in his stomach was burning brightly now. Ahh, thought Dave, I know the name of the galaxy. It's the galaxy of bureaucratic misfortune - an abyss of swamps and labyrinths, a horror house of tunnels and mazes."
In short, McLean's humour comes from what is said, and Sedaris' humour comes from how it's said. Both, however, are absolutely hilarious, and thoroughly enjoyable to read.