LA, Ep. 32

September 23, 2014 — To bring September to its narrative knees, Literary Death Match teamed with Soho House West Hollywood for a members-only event that ended with Jeremy Radin outdueling co-finalist Carlos Kotkin in LDM's Quiz of Death I by a score of 7-5 to win Radin the LDM LA, Ep. 32 crown. 

But before the finale was even a consideration, the night kicked brilliantly off with Carlos Kotkin, comedian, co-writer of Rio 2 and author of Please God Let it Be Herpes: A Heartfelt Quest For Love and Companionship, who told the hilariously-penned true tale of being invited to prom, and going to prom...at age 29. Next up was Marisa Matarazzo, author of Drenched: Stories of Love and Other Deliriums, who reeled off her short story "Ions," a sexy, strange and crowd-wowing piece. 

The mic was then handed over to the night's trio of all-star judges: Dustin Lance Black, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Milk, J. Edgar & Pedro; actor Lucas Neff from Fox's Raising Hope; and Sara Benincasa, author of Great and one of Flavorwire's 25 Female Comedians Everyone Should Know. The three heaped praise riddled with whimsy on the night's first-rounders, before huddling up and making the night's first impossible decision, declaring Kotkin as the night's first finalist. 

Then came Round 2, led off by Kristin Newman, TV writer for The Neighbors and author of What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding, who tore through an Icelandic-based romp featuring Bjork that had the crowd in throes. Finally it was Jeremy Radin, poet/actor and author of Slow Dance with Sasquatch, who blew minds with a pair of poems that discussed clumsy Twitter flirting and another from the point of view of his own body as he witnessed his father having a heart attack. 

Again the judges took center stage, with genius comments and hilarity abound before they huddled once again, and made the night's second impossible decision, finally deciding it would be Radin who would advance as the night's second finalist. 

Then LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga stepped up to announce the finale: Quiz of Death I, in which Kotkin and Radin went through three rounds of very strange, literary skewed questioning (famous first lines! daddy issues! literature v. idiot!) and with everything to play for it was Radin who buzzed in with the game on the line and answered correctly to snare the LDM LA, Ep. 32 medal, winning literary immortality to go with it. 

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