Denver, Ep. 1

April 14, 2009—Healing the wounds left by the departure of Broncos’ quarterback Jay Cutler, the Literary Death Match debuted in the Mile High City at the Mercury Cafe, bringing with it a steady wave of goodwill and lunacy, as Daniel Grandbois out-bladed co-finalist Laura Pritchett in a rousing (and somewhat dangerous) game of Stab a Hole in Nebraska to bring home the LDM gold.

The night started fast and loose as Grandbois went story-to-story with Teague Bohlen. After winning the Hutong Teaball MasterToss™, Grandbois lit up the adoring crowd with a string of sensational tales, followed by Bohlen who fought back with three daring stories of his own. The judges--David Hicks, PhD (literary merit), Jody Reale (performance) and Shawn Owen Hazelwood (intangibles)--struggled to decide a winner, but after a long powwow declared Grandbois the night’s first finalist.

Daniel Grandbois leads off LDM Denver

After a 17-second intermission, Round 2 began with Kathy Fish going womano-a-womano against Pritchett. Pritchett went first, a tear-jerking story that left the crowd gasping for air and tissues, followed by Fish who dazzled with a series of short-shorts. The judges, tangled up in a tough decision for the second time of the night, decided on Pritchett as the night’s second finalist.

The night commenced with the LDM standby, Stab a Hole in Nebraska (the game first played in all debut LDM’s). An startling-eyed onlooker offered up a scarily dangerous blade to be used for the final event, which Grandbois delicately held as he was blindfolded and spun three times. Before making his stab, he turned first to a volunteer holding the map, then to the night’s visiting host, Todd Zuniga, who was narrowly self-preserved after a few convincing words. Finally, Grandbois turned and pierced the southeast of the map. Next up was Pritchett, whose skewering was no less frightening, as she overhand stabbed a hole right into Lake Erie. By only a 1.5” difference, Grandbois was declared the 32nd Literary Death Match champion of all-time.

 See all the photos from this event here!