Product Description
It all begins on Christmas morning, 1978. Dan Kennedy is ten years old and wants a black Gibson Les Paul guitar, the kind Peter Frampton plays. It will be his passport to the coolest (only) band in the neighborhood—Jokerz. He doesn’t get it. Instead, his parents present him with what they think he wants most, a real-estate loan calculator (called the Loan Arranger) and a maroon velour pullover shirt with a tan stripe across the chest. It is the first of what will become a lifetime of various-sized failures, misunderstandings, comical humiliations, and just plain silly choices that have dogged this “hipster Proust of youthful loserdom,” as author Jerry Stahl has so eloquently called Mr. Kennedy.
Dan’s hilarious and painfully awkward youth soon develops into a . . . uh . . . hilarious and painfully awkward adulthood. His first two choices for university are Yale (Lit or Drama) and Harvard (Business), so he reviews his high school transcripts and decides on Butte Community College in Oroville, California, where he studies for about four and a half weeks. We could go on here and describe in detail all of Dan’s good-natured stabs at ambition, but he, himself, sums it all up quite nicely: “If you’ve ever tried and failed miserably at being a rock star (no guitar/talent), a professional bass fisherman, an extra in the movie Sleepless in Seattle (guy drinking martini in bar while Tom Hanks makes a phone call), a Madison Avenue advertising executive, a clerk/towel person at a suburban health club (named Kangaroo Kourts), an espresso street-cart owner and operator (in the one neighborhood of that coffee-swilling town, Seattle, where, remarkably, no one really seems to drink coffee), a dot.com millionaire, an MTV VJ, or a forest fire fighter, this book is for you.”
Along the way, a few lessons are learned and we are treated to one of the most original, riotously funny, unsentimental, and offbeat memoirs in recent history. Dan’s a favorite in McSweeney’s and at the very popular Moth readings in New York City. We should be happy that he failed so miserably at so many things—and took notes!
|
Amazon.com Review
Many people spend their lives searching for their true calling, the one thing at which they excel and which will catapult them to fame and fortune. For Dan Kennedy, author of the darkly comic memoir Loser Goes First, that talent is decidedly not rock and roll. Kennedy details a life spent pining for the glory of rock stardom as a junior high student, an Austin, Texas, open-mic failure, and at various grim stops along the way as he shoots for the big time without the burden of talent or the tedium of learning to play an instrument. Kennedy's talent is also not acting, although he lands a gig as an extra in Sleepless in Seattle that leads, much to his chagrin, to nothing at all. Even his scrupulously cultivated talent of being an indie scenester is torpedoed when he willingly accepts an audition to be an MTV VJ, only to have the tryout be an unmitigated disaster. Finally, Kennedy discovers a pair of latent abilities. He finds, after he's into his thirties, that he has a knack for advertising copywriting that sets him on the path to his first financial success almost accidentally. And in writing Loser Goes First, he reveals a talent for relating his own dumb moves and embarrassing fiascoes with an honesty and wit that is vividly entertaining. Loser Goes First approaches narrative structure with the same indecisive distracted quality that Kennedy used in his actual life and the result is a chronicle of Kennedy's first 33 years peppered generously with film treatments, bullet point lists, imagined dialogue, and other snippets that seem transcribed from a very clever notebook. While such meandering could be perceived as too self-consciously quirky, it matches the story and keeps the humor crisp. --John Moe
|
|
 This Dan Kennedy Is Not The "Glazer/Kennedy" Dan Kennedy
I bought this book thinking it would be an amusing insight into the life of the master of all copywriting gurus, Dan Kennedy. Well, while the writer of this book is not that Dan Kennedy and I was dissapointed at first, I did find the book very entertaining and this Dan Kennedy does indeed have writing talent -- even if it's not really any help as far as commercial copywriting goes. I definitely recommend reading the book if you're looking for something hilarious to read. However, if you're looking for the Dan Kennedy of copywriting success -- you've got the wrong author.
|
 Watch what you buy: There are TWO Dan Kennedys
There's the McSweeney's writer Dan Kennedy who wrote "Loser Goes First" and there's this "How to Kick Butt at Sales and Make Millions!" Dan Kennedy. Don't get the Kennedy's confused like Amazon does --- I sadly realized this after paying for a book about making millions from selling things to friends and relatives or something. Not that I wouldn't mind making millions or anything, but my friends and relatives aren't going to buy anything from me, TRUST ME. Hey, maybe I should try to sell them this book abotu how to become a millionaire over night! At least I'd get my money back!
Loser Goes First is funny, surprise, surprise. One would imagine it would have to be after reading the author's stuff on McSweeney's every week or two. I was actually hoping the book would talk a little bit more about how his job there came about, but it was hilarious reading about every other less successful, disasterous trial and tribulation that occured before he got there.
|
Dorks everywhere, unite! ( redchurch )
Have you ever felt like you could conquer the world... if only that silly little thing called reality didn't get in the way? Dan Kennedy's wickedly funny life story is one that most of us can identify with, because at one time or another all of us have experienced painfully embarassing moments reminiscient of A Christmas Story or The Wonder Years. The writing is a little rough around the edges, which is fitting of the theme and the hilariously nagging reminder that we are all too human.
|
Absolutely Hilarious ( frozenpond )
I highly recommend this book if you enjoy edgy, humourous story telling. At several points during Loser Goes First, I had to put the book down as I knew I was going to laugh uncontrollably in a public space and didn't want to look like a raving lunatic. I purposely read this book slowly so to stretch out the enjoyment of it. It's that good. I enjoyed Dan's telling about all of his crazy jobs and experiences.
|
A funny memoir and enjoyable read ( bsharkey )
Dan Kennedy's first book, an autobiographical look at life, is a strong comedic effort which results in a light read you don't want to put down for long. He details growing up in Southern California and how various failures and near-successes were just par for the course in ending up in a respectable job and as a productive member of society.
Making mistakes that often remind me of myself and are often side-splitting yet mind boggling. In a way, you may have a hard time believing someone could fall into the same traps time and again, but it happens. At times one is left to wonder if Dan is suffering from some sort of mild mental disease or retardation, but that is just a sure sign his comedy and style of writing are working! Not to spoil it, but rest assured in the end (nearly) everything works out, and our narrator seems to actual stumble into some good fortune here and there. But getting there is one hell of a trip.
I recommend to all looking for a humorous, if not inspirational, look at life. It only makes you wonder what's coming next! I'll be "first" in line to find out.
|
|
View Larger
Add to Cart 
