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Loser Goes First: My Thirty-Something Years of Dumb Luck and Minor Humiliation
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 “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!
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 “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!
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Dan Kennedy
97 books56 followersThe New York novelist, comedy writer, and host of The Moth, has authored only the three books of humour and fiction referenced below.
Dan Kennedy is an American writer living in New York and host of The Moth storytelling podcast. He is the author of three books: "Loser Goes First" (Random House, 2004), "Rock On" (Algonquin, 2008), and "American Spirit: A Novel" (Amazon/Houghton Mifflin, 2013). A widely anthologized humorist, Kennedy first became popular as a columnist on McSweeney's dot net and as a performer of various comedic readings in downtown New York clubs. He tours occasionally, and often performs in and hosts events for The Moth, a storytelling collective founded in 1997 by novelist George Dawes Green (The Juror, Ravens).
AUTHOR DISAMBIGUATION: There are several authors named Dan Kennedy listed on Goodreads. The author described above is a New York based writer and the author of the above referenced titles. There should be no confusion between his works and certain/any Marketing, Dot Com, Sales or Financial Advice books, by other authors of the same name, as he has authored none, is not referenced in any such works, does not in any way endorse said works, and claims no legal responsibility for the advice given therein.
Dan Kennedy is an American writer living in New York and host of The Moth storytelling podcast. He is the author of three books: "Loser Goes First" (Random House, 2004), "Rock On" (Algonquin, 2008), and "American Spirit: A Novel" (Amazon/Houghton Mifflin, 2013). A widely anthologized humorist, Kennedy first became popular as a columnist on McSweeney's dot net and as a performer of various comedic readings in downtown New York clubs. He tours occasionally, and often performs in and hosts events for The Moth, a storytelling collective founded in 1997 by novelist George Dawes Green (The Juror, Ravens).
AUTHOR DISAMBIGUATION: There are several authors named Dan Kennedy listed on Goodreads. The author described above is a New York based writer and the author of the above referenced titles. There should be no confusion between his works and certain/any Marketing, Dot Com, Sales or Financial Advice books, by other authors of the same name, as he has authored none, is not referenced in any such works, does not in any way endorse said works, and claims no legal responsibility for the advice given therein.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
December 21, 2007
Laugh out loud funny, which can be kind of a problem if you're reading it in a surgeon's waiting room and no one else seems to be in the mood to listen to you giggle. Looking forward to his next one, which I think it due out in February.
July 11, 2017
My brother got this book for me.
I love my brother.
Dan Kennedy hosts The Moth.
I like The Moth a lot.
There are some funny anecdotes that made me laugh.
Laughing is one of my top three activities.
Add all that up and you get....
Three stars!
I love my brother.
Dan Kennedy hosts The Moth.
I like The Moth a lot.
There are some funny anecdotes that made me laugh.
Laughing is one of my top three activities.
Add all that up and you get....
Three stars!
September 14, 2008
I read this book yesterday. Yep, one book, one day. It's that short. The book came dangerously close to violating my primary directive of novels: don't use characters that take their bad luck and compound on it to make more bad luck. Clowngirl fell into this hole. Confederacy of Dunces did as well. Kennedy never quite sank to that level. His failures were balanced by his successes, and besides, he's funny. That's good enough for me.
July 9, 2008
Like most of the books that I read, this was a random pull from the library shelf. Dan Kennedy is very funny and wrote this book chronicling his attempt to reach adulthood. The interesting thing about this book is that it isn't just straight chapters and narrative. That normal prose is included, but there are also lists, open letters, imaginary speeches, and a variety of other random things that all come together to tell this story. It made me smile quite a few times.
April 4, 2013
My mind was exhausted. I wasn't ready for sleep, but I hadn't the stomach for TV. All the magazines and nonfiction books by my bed were just too much. I need an easy read---easier than any of the few dozen paperback mysteries piled up by my desk.
And there it was---Dan Kennedy's Loser Goes First....(read more)
And there it was---Dan Kennedy's Loser Goes First....(read more)
June 1, 2013
This book was in desperate need of an editor. I knew I was in trouble when I read the following on page 2: "I walked with the epic slow pace of a bishop...with the timing of a monk and the casual sort of confidence not unlike that of a pope or a church owner/manager or whatever men happened to walk in churches with a deliberate pace."
That is just one example of many tortured sentences. I made it to page 10 and called it a day.
That is just one example of many tortured sentences. I made it to page 10 and called it a day.
July 29, 2007
the title is pretty amazing. i like this book's honesty, and occasionally liked its style of humor, but it kinda meanders.
March 25, 2009
Some deeply hilarious moments, but maybe not enough. Seemed like a self-help primer for the Judd Apatow set.
September 26, 2011
Really well written. I believe I may have even LOL'd. A light, quick, easy read -- great for those of us enjoying an extended adolescence.
May 8, 2023
This book is hilarious and at the same time it gives a hint of reassurance that all will be ok:) It also helped steer my focus back to writing. The cover letter he faxes for a job - I am still laughing. Thank you!
September 28, 2013
Well, I thought this book was good because, it first took place on Christmas 1978 in Southern California, and the main charcter, Dan got a loan calculator, and some GE deejay stuff, as well.
Then, in 1979, Dan Kennedy the protagonist in the story, tries to become involved in a rock band at school, but he just gets humiliated by his friends. A year later in 1980, his family moves to a small mountain town in northern California to find work because of a transfer, so along the way Dan struggules with who he really thinks he is, and the fact that all the older boys keep humiliating him, but along the way he realizes a job offer about working in a warehouse, the next town over, and so he got a job there, then he , slowly but surely, he graduated high school, then he went to Butte Community college in Oroville, California.
After that, he got a job for the U.S, forest service as the helicopter crew of the USFS, MENDOCINO-29, for a few years, then he went to work as a towel clerk for a up scale, trendy, modern health club in the suburbs, in a major city, then after failing at that, he resorted to going to become a rockstar, so he went to Texas to become one.
He got hired to play in a band, so he tried to play in a band but he shriveled up after, a few months of attempts, so he moved to Seattle, Washington to own and operate a coffee machine right on the Seattle fairgrounds, surrounded by vexatious lumberjacks and pushy buisness people, he got jaded out and quit his job to move to Mannhattan in New York to work for a advertising mogul, but even though he came up with snappy advertisment quotes, he got laid off from that job and he regretted his life since then and he has lead to a life of shame because after a series of failed attempts to succeed as a rock star, coffee cart owner, advertising mogul on Madison avenue and 52nd street, he got laid off in a malicous way by a tech company, or a series of companies, he sees this man come up to him and say",Hey mister, why dont you have a car?"Then, after 24 years of humiliation, he tried to figure out the rest of his life as well as his relationship with his family then its just a book with no real ending, it feels empty in a sense.
Then, in 1979, Dan Kennedy the protagonist in the story, tries to become involved in a rock band at school, but he just gets humiliated by his friends. A year later in 1980, his family moves to a small mountain town in northern California to find work because of a transfer, so along the way Dan struggules with who he really thinks he is, and the fact that all the older boys keep humiliating him, but along the way he realizes a job offer about working in a warehouse, the next town over, and so he got a job there, then he , slowly but surely, he graduated high school, then he went to Butte Community college in Oroville, California.
After that, he got a job for the U.S, forest service as the helicopter crew of the USFS, MENDOCINO-29, for a few years, then he went to work as a towel clerk for a up scale, trendy, modern health club in the suburbs, in a major city, then after failing at that, he resorted to going to become a rockstar, so he went to Texas to become one.
He got hired to play in a band, so he tried to play in a band but he shriveled up after, a few months of attempts, so he moved to Seattle, Washington to own and operate a coffee machine right on the Seattle fairgrounds, surrounded by vexatious lumberjacks and pushy buisness people, he got jaded out and quit his job to move to Mannhattan in New York to work for a advertising mogul, but even though he came up with snappy advertisment quotes, he got laid off from that job and he regretted his life since then and he has lead to a life of shame because after a series of failed attempts to succeed as a rock star, coffee cart owner, advertising mogul on Madison avenue and 52nd street, he got laid off in a malicous way by a tech company, or a series of companies, he sees this man come up to him and say",Hey mister, why dont you have a car?"Then, after 24 years of humiliation, he tried to figure out the rest of his life as well as his relationship with his family then its just a book with no real ending, it feels empty in a sense.
October 14, 2007
I kept waiting for this to get better and somehow it never did. I got this one on the strength of Mountain Man Dance Moves, which Kennedy contributed to and which was one of the funniest books I've read in the past ten years or so. This was a completely different genre, of course -- a memoir instead of a book of lists -- so I guess it wasn't quite fair to hold him to such high expectations, especially because he only contributed to the previous book. In any event, I was all set to love this, and going on the description alone I should have, but it never really seemed to get going, and was awfully monochromatic after about the first 25 pages. I kept pushing myself through, but I never stopped feeling disappointed. In fairness, maybe if I read it again in a year or so without the high expectations, I'll like it more.
February 3, 2010
Not nearly as good as "Rock On", his second book, this is a conglomeration of autobiographical detritus and journal entries. It reads like the first draft of a screenplay or sitcom or stand-up comedy routine. A) It can't decide what it is, B) There are some genuinely funny bits in it C) It has no real plot D) There's a lot of stuff that's funny... if you were there.
Dan Kennedy can write a devastatingly satirical piece on entertainment. Find his "light bulb" bit from "Rock On", it's incredibly funny. He has a little bit of a hard time balancing the funny with the drama of personal life; and he doesn't help his cause by essentially lucking into several great jobs and then bemoaning his situation in life. That's more of a critique of him than the book, I suppose.
Dan Kennedy can write a devastatingly satirical piece on entertainment. Find his "light bulb" bit from "Rock On", it's incredibly funny. He has a little bit of a hard time balancing the funny with the drama of personal life; and he doesn't help his cause by essentially lucking into several great jobs and then bemoaning his situation in life. That's more of a critique of him than the book, I suppose.
February 11, 2013
I knew 15 pages in that I didn't like this book, but I finished it anyway. It just wasn't interesting or funny.
The author has had opportunity after opportunity dropped in his lap and never shows any appreciation for it. Instead, he whines, squanders his chances, and unapologetically lets people down. The book was written in a stream of consciousness format that can be great if done properly, but this wasn't. All of that could make interesting, though frustrating reading if of were at least funny. But it wasn't. At all.
Maybe I'm just not enough of a Hipster to appreciate it....
The author has had opportunity after opportunity dropped in his lap and never shows any appreciation for it. Instead, he whines, squanders his chances, and unapologetically lets people down. The book was written in a stream of consciousness format that can be great if done properly, but this wasn't. All of that could make interesting, though frustrating reading if of were at least funny. But it wasn't. At all.
Maybe I'm just not enough of a Hipster to appreciate it....
April 28, 2009
I read this book because I listen to the Moth podcast and I always wondered who Dan Kennedy was. Then one day they started advertising the books he's written so I had to go out and find one. He writes like he speaks which is very comfortable and easy to read. I only gave 3 stars because his narrative doesn't go deep into the different stages of his life. It sometimes feels like he is still using humor as a defense mechanism and decided to write a whole book that way. Still, it was interesting and I'll probably read his other book.
November 1, 2012
I loved this book, but then Kennedy's work history is somewhat tangential to mine, so I can really relate. An autobiographical look at the moments in life when one must step back and ask, "Wait, how did I even get to this point?," Loser Goes First... is a simultaneous shot of confidence and reality for the other lucky losers of the world. If you aren't familiar, check out Kennedy's essays on McSweeney's Internet Tendency for a sampling of his sense of humor and style: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/authors/dan...
September 11, 2007
All I can say about this book is that while reading it I started laughing so hard that I was crying, and I happened to be at the airport and the lady in the chair next to me said "that's the best damn book recommendation a person can give!"
Don't know officially if it was really that funny, or if I was just on the verge of a professional nervous breakdown, but either way, I'm going to give it 4 stars...
Don't know officially if it was really that funny, or if I was just on the verge of a professional nervous breakdown, but either way, I'm going to give it 4 stars...
March 12, 2008
I laughed pretty hard at some choice moments in this book (his description of trying to dangle his legs out a window to fool a friend washing dishes on the first floor, which resulted in his falling out the window was pretty hilarious). Overall I thought it started strong and petered out. His tales of young humiliation were much funnier than his later years of just lucking into things. A quick, fun light-hearted read...but I still prefer Paul Feig's book Kick Me for a good tale of loserdom.
Want to read
August 26, 2014This is the growing-up story (well, kind of, as I quit reading far past his legal adulthood but well before his becoming an actual grown-up) of the author, who through a series of poor decisions and laziness is on the fast track to Loserville. Parts of the book were quite funny, but a strong undercurrent of sadness floated just beneath the surface of the story. This is one of the few books I've had on my To Read list for years that I just could not finish.
August 29, 2008
I preferred Dan Kennedy's Rock On!, probably because it was more focused. However this book came first. This is basically a self-effacing bio of a Generation X-er, with all the miserable failures, terrible jobs, and slackerdom that seemed to define many people of my age in the 90s especially. Though his tales are often cringe-inducing, Kennedy is still a very funny writer. If you like his other stuff, you'll enjoy this one, too.
June 21, 2009
So not exactly the sort of book that requires a year to read, but a fun memoir of a guy whose endless string of wrong turns and poor choices culminates in a whatever happens, happens sort of life strategy. Not self help per se, but for a slacker or someone who is having trouble finding their way in life, this book helps to expose the very real fact that that sort of reality is not all that uncommon. Reassuring to say the least. Very funny at points, pretty witty and dry at points.
May 20, 2009
I got this from Amazon (bad for author's - I know, some of my books have sold for .01 Cents, I will never make royalties again, just enjoy an eternal Half Life of the embers of print) - because Rock On was so fricking hysterical. And this is, too. Except that nobody else gets to be ruefully self deprecating and honest, now, or have any sobered up perspective on adolescence, because you can't top this one!
Read
October 4, 2009A horrible book. I guess run-on sentences are supposed to be "hip"-like the author, but it was a boring read about an interesting life, with an interesting career path. But,the author is self-negating to a fault-just turning it into a depressing, unfunny joke.
If he can write a book on his life, probably any of us can. The only positive it shows is that with my weird path of various jobs probably isn't that unusual.
If he can write a book on his life, probably any of us can. The only positive it shows is that with my weird path of various jobs probably isn't that unusual.
August 6, 2014
I love a good memoir and Dan Kennedy gives a really good memoir. Just like "Rock On" he rides that perfect balance between honesty, self deprecation and humor that keeps you going. It's possible I just really identify with him and that's why I liked it so much but I think there's plenty of us out here enjoy his stories.
February 2, 2010
This book is pretty terrible.
I found it in a villa among many other not-awesome free books. I put it into my luggage thinking it would be better than nothing on the plane. I was was wrong.
It was only mildly entertaining, in the way reality television is. I do sort of like the random format. But it seems like it would benefit from some editing.
I found it in a villa among many other not-awesome free books. I put it into my luggage thinking it would be better than nothing on the plane. I was was wrong.
It was only mildly entertaining, in the way reality television is. I do sort of like the random format. But it seems like it would benefit from some editing.
November 27, 2009
I had read his other book about working as a writer for the music business and only months later stumbled onto this earlier book he had done. Hilarious read, but I will say that if you don't like it in the first chapter, you're not going to like it anymore by the last -- there's a motif here about losing that you either love or hate -- but if you're on board early you'll be LAUGHING HARD!!
August 3, 2013
Dan Kennedy's hilarious memoir about his journey of noble life failures, from the junior high school band he never quite joined to his position as creative director of a dotcom that e-mailed jokes to its subscribers. Here is where I would write the sentence that perfectly sums up this clever, hilarious, and at just the right number of times genuinely moving debut.
January 11, 2008
The first book Brian ever recommended to me. A great choice.
I wish I'd thought of this title. In about 6 months it will pretty accurately describe my own autobiography, if you take out the luck part.
I wish I'd thought of this title. In about 6 months it will pretty accurately describe my own autobiography, if you take out the luck part.
January 24, 2008
I'm not really much for funny books. Sadly. But this one makes me feel better about myself, and the world, then most anything I have ever read. And that's pretty cool. He singlehandedly keeps me coming back to McSweeney's webpage, too. Top drawer.
March 10, 2008
Memoir of a self-described loser. Kennedy seems like a decent guy, and there are parts which were laugh-out-loud funny, but the charm wears off somewhere around the three-quarter mark.
On the other hand, this book is likely to make you feel better about your own life.
On the other hand, this book is likely to make you feel better about your own life.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews