Literary Death Match: Finally, I Won Something!

Last night I competed in my first Literary Death Match in Los Angeles. Miraculously, I didn’t have to go first (though I was in the first round and did lose the coin toss) and I did not take second place, as is my tradition in air guitar.

It was a lot of fun, and the readers and judges were all hilarious and utterly enjoyable. Kurt Braunohler was particularly genius, and if you’ve never seen his show Hot Tub at the Virgil every Monday night (that he co-hosts with the amazing Kristen Schaal), you should.

I read my recent piece from the New York Times, which I’m currently working on adapting into a book.

The show was very much like an air guitar competition, though there was no 4.0-6.0 olympic figure skating scale scoring, just a winner/loser for each round. The second round was “Pulitzer Prize Pictionary,” which I only won because someone shouted to me the final book, “The Color Purple.”

When I got home, Whisky wanted to wear my medal. How could I say no?

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Here’s who competed:
Margot Leitman, a Moth Grandslam winner & author of Gawky: Tales of an Extra Long Awkward Phase
Travis Sentell, screenwriter/novelist and author of Fluid
Kathy Ebel, TV writer (Cold Case, Law & Order) and author of Claudia Silver to the Rescue
Dan Crane, co-author of To Air is Human: One Man’s Quest to Become the World’s Greatest Air Guitarist (and called “Bill Murray trapped in the body of Sid Vicious…” by The New York Times)

THE JUDGES
Literary Merit: Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers & Telex from Cuba (a National Book Award finalist)
Performance: Ali Wongcomedian extraordinaire, who’s appeared on The Newsroom & VH1’s Best Week Ever
Intangibles: Kurt Braunohler, comedic genius, co-host of Hot Tub comedy show

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