Episode 42 — Ben Tanzer

Summary: Ben Tanzer is the guest. He's the author of several books, including 99 PROBLEMS, YOU CAN MAKE HIM LIKE YOU, and MY FATHER'S HOUSE. He is also the proprietor of vast faux media empire. Michael Fitzgerald, author of Radiant Days, calls My Father's House "a sincere and important book full of grace, beauty, and...I'm happy to report...a delicious humor." A very good conversation with a writer whose work has won him many fans in the indie lit scene and beyond. Topics of conversation include: Chicago, sports fandom, Little League, running, endorphins, Obama, OCD, booze, drugs, regimens, maturity, The Grateful Dead, raves, lethargy, genetics, screenwriting, popularity, narrative formulas, painting, defining your audience, Stephen Gaghan, Traffic, luck, ambition, readings, theft, and The Nervous Breakdown. Monologue topics: friends, Crested Butte, storytelling, wayward youth, chemically enhanced situations, The Price is Right, Dickey Betts, homicide, mushrooms, amputees, and Vietnam.