Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn. Drew McGarry is a writer. He was a longtime columnist at

Dead Spin. He's written features for GQ and the Atlantic. He's a novelist. In December

of 2018, he collapsed after an award show in New York. Nobody really knows why or how. His

friends found him in a heap on the ground, called 911 and paramedics rushed him to a hospital.

In the days and weeks that followed, his life changed profoundly. We'll get into the

particulars in our interview and as a heads up, things do get a little graphic. In the

night, the lights went out. Drew recounts the accident. He chronicles his experience with

brain damage and hearing loss. He interviews the people who cared for him while he recuperated.

He also writes frankly about how he and his family have dealt with the aftermath. The

book is harrowing as you'd expect in a book about traumatic brain injury. Drew writes

about his renewed appreciation for life, which you might also expect. But the night the

lights went out is unexpectedly grounded and funny. In the hospital, he tries to bribe

friends into sneaking him beer. Once he's out, he finds meaning and comfort in moments

as small as returning a gift to the store. Anyway, enough setup. Let's get into it. My

conversation with Drew McGarry. Drew McGarry, welcome to Bulls I Am. So happy to have you

on the show. Thank you, Jesse. Nice to be here. And I'm excited because you're the first

guest I've ever interviewed standing up. That is to say you are standing up. I am relaxing

in a in a high tech chair. Well, once I learned that Donald Rumsfeld stood at his desk,

you know, how could I not emulate the man in all his greatness? Who would not? Who would

argue with that? No, I have a bad back. And my surgeon 10 years ago said, well, do you

sit at your desk? I was like, yeah, I sound like everybody else where you sit, you know,

...