LA, Ep. 31

August 26, 2014 — In an attempt to cool down the summer simmer, Literary Death Match returned to Largo at the Coronet for a wild adventure of literary delight, comedic miracles and more, that culminated in a brilliant finish that saw Lara Marie Schoenhals outduel Beau Sia in a raucous game of Literary Musical Chairs to win Schoenhals the LDM LA, Ep. 31 crown. 

But before the finale music started, the night kicked off with Lara Marie Schoenhals (the New York Times best-selling author of White Girl Problems series) who read from her latest: Psychos, a wonderfully funny and shocking excerpt that delved into anal play. Next up was comedian Jimmy Dore (host of the Jimmy Dore Show) who read from his all-new book Your Country Is Just Not That Into You — an excerpt about being exhausted by his peers' inability to see the political cause-and-effect that fuel bad things going down. 

The mic was then handed to the quartet of all-star judges: Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List and advisor for serialized fiction service Plympton; Daphne Zuniga, actress and star of Spaceballs, Melrose Place and One Tree Hill; Eliza Coupe, actress featured in ABC's Happy Endings, Scrubs and USA's upcoming Benched; and Thomas Middleditch, actor, comedian, writer and star of HBO's Silicon Valley. The four heaped gobs of praise on both authors with verbal pyrotechnics galore, before deciding by the narrowest of margins that it would be Schoenhals that would advance as the night's first finalist. 

Then came Round 2, that was led off by Karen Rizzo (author of Famous Baby and the memoir Things to Bring, S#!T to Do). Rizzo told the tale of an author who lets her husband plan her book tour around the family camping trip, and suffers great humiliation, injury and ugly pants along the way. Finally it was Beau Sia — actor and poet featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam — who performed the title piece from from his latest book: The Undisputed Greatest Writer of All Time, a heartaching piece about the great aims of youth, and the reality of being a real-life artist. 

Again the judges took center stage, with applause and clapter galore for both authors, mixed with hysterical commentary that had the crowd in throes. But after a long deliberation, the night's second impossible decision was made, as Sia was announced as the night's second finalist. 

Then host and LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga took center stage, announcing the night's finale: Literary Musical Chairs, featuring songs from past LDM judges. Teamed with two volunteers apiece from the audience, Team Sia took the early lead, but it was Team Schoenhals that sat harder in the end, winning Lara Marie literature's most recent, greatest prize — the LDM LA, Ep. 31 medal — and literary immortality to go with it. 

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